Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Men's 800 metres


The Men's 800 metres competition at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico. The event were held at the University Olympic Stadium on October 13–15.

Competition format

The competition had seven heats in the first round, two semi-finals and a final. The top two in the first round heats progressed, as did the four fastest non-qualifiers. The top four finishers in the semi-final race reached the finals.

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.
World record1:44.3Christchurch, New ZealandFebruary 2, 1962
Olympic record1:45.1Tokyo, JapanOctober 16, 1964

Results

Round 1

Qual. rule: first 2 of each heat plus the 4 fastest times qualified.
Heat 1
RankAthleteNationalityTimeNotes
1Thomas Saisi1:47.0Q
2Jean-Pierre Dufresne1:47.6Q
3Matias Habtemichael1:49.6
4Papa M'Baye N'Diaye1:51.3
5Wade Bell1:51.5
6Róbert Honti1:53.8

Heat 2
RankAthleteNationalityTimeNotes
1Dieter Fromm1:46.9Q
2Franz-Josef Kemper1:47.0Q
3Ron Kutschinski1:47.6q
4Ramasamy Subramaniam1:50.8
5Gilbert Van Manshoven1:52.3
Guillermo CuelloDNF

Heat 3
RankAthleteNationalityTimeNotes
1Walter Adams1:48.4Q
2Jozef Plachý1:48.6Q
3Noel Carroll1:49.0
4Ahmed Issa1:49.0
5Roberto Silva1:50.4
6Gerd Larsen1:51.9
Neville MytonDNF

Heat 4
RankAthleteNationalityTimeNotes
1Ralph Doubell1:47.2Q
2Henryk Szordykowski1:47.4Q
3Robert Ouko1:47.6q
4John Ametepey1:50.7
5Gilles Sibon1:50.8
6Chris Carter1:52.9
7José L'Oficial1:55.6
8Alfredo Cubías2:08.7

Heat 5
RankAthleteNationalityTimeNotes
1Wilson Kiprugut1:46.1Q
2Tom Farrell1:47.9Q
3Tomáš Jungwirth1:48.7
4Anders Gärderud1:48.9
5Jun Nagai1:51.2
6Angelo Hussein1:53.4
7Jacques Pennewaert1:53.8
8Francisco Menocal1:58.9

Heat 6
RankAthleteNationalityTimeNotes
1Dave Cropper1:47.9Q
2Ben Cayenne1:48.2Q
3Yevhen Arzhanov1:48.4q
4Byron Dyce1:48.5q
5Mamo Sebsibe1:49.7
6Gianni Del Buono1:50.2
7Xaver Frick Jr.1:52.6
8Carlos Báez1:52.6

Semifinals

Qual. rule: first 4 of each heat qualified.
Heat 1
RankAthleteNationalityTimeNotes
1Walter Adams1:46.4Q
2Dieter Fromm1:46.5Q
3Thomas Saisi1:46.6Q
4Ben Cayenne1:46.8Q
5Ron Kutschinski1:47.3
6Jean-Pierre Dufresne1:51.8
Henryk SzordykowskiDNS
Yevhen ArzhanovDNS

Heat 2
RankAthleteNationalityTimeNotes
1Ralph Doubell1:45.7Q
2Wilson Kiprugut1:45.8Q
3Jozef Plachý1:45.9Q
4Tom Farrell1:46.1Q
5Robert Ouko1:47.1
6Byron Dyce1:47.2
7Franz-Josef Kemper1:47.3
8Dave Cropper1:47.6

Final