Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's 800 metres


The Men's 800 metres at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place from 20-23 August at the Beijing National Stadium. The final on 23 August resulted in a triumph for Kenyan runner Wilfred Bungei in an official time of 1:44.65. The qualifying standards were 1:46.00 and 1:47.00.
Along the way to the final, defending champion Yuriy Borzakovskiy was eliminated as his fast closing tactics didn't get him into a qualifying place or time. In the final, most of the field got off fairly evenly, with Ismail Ahmed Ismail showing the least interest in joining the pack of seven. By 200 metres, Wilfred Bungei, wearing sunglasses in the Beijing night, had found his way to the lead with his Kenyan teammate Alfred Kirwa Yego protecting him on his shoulder. Ismail joined the back of the pack and without leaving the rail, almost casually worked his way to being a step behind Bungei at the end of the first lap. Bungei and the field accelerated on the back stretch with Ismail staying on the rail running into a box inside of Yego. As Yego faltered through the final turn, Yeimer López ran around him into the perfect strategic position, still leaving Ismail boxed into no-mans land. Coming off the turn, Ismail simply ran faster and ran out of the trap, López was out of gas. Bungei took off into a sprint with his right arm flapping, opening up two metres on Ismail, who drifted out to lane 2 for clear running. Ten metres before the finish, Bungei let up and coasted over the finish line, Ismail tried to pass, dipping at the line but Bungei's lead was just enough to hold onto gold. In the final rush for bronze, Kenyan mercenary running for Bahrain Yusuf Saad Kamel looked to have the edge, but Yego moved out to lane 3 to avoid López and run down Kamel. With a final rush, Gary Reed caught Kamel at the line, still a step behind Yego.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows:
No new world or Olympic records were set for this event.

Qualification

Each National Olympic Committee was able to enter up to three entrants providing they had met the A qualifying standard in the qualifying period. NOCs were also permitted to enter one athlete providing he had met the B standard in the same qualifying period.

Results

Round 1

The first round was held on 20 August. The first two runners of each heat plus the next eight overall fastest runners qualified for the second round.
RankHeatAthleteCountryTimeNotes
11Wilfred Bungei1:44.90Q, SB
21Yuriy Borzakovskiy1:45.15Q
31Nadjim Manseur1:45.62q
48Yeimer López1:45.66Q
58Boaz Kiplagat Lalang1:45.72Q
68Nabil Madi1:45.75q
75Manuel Olmedo1:45.78Q
85Ismail Ahmed Ismail1:45.87Q
98Marcin Lewandowski1:45.89q, SB
108Belal Mansoor Ali1:45.95q, SB
114Nick Symmonds1:46.01Q
125Gary Reed1:46.02q
134Alfred Kirwa Yego1:46.04Q
148Sajjad Moradi1:46.10q
154Antonio Manuel Reina1:46.30q
161Fabiano Peçanha1:46.54q
174Andy González1:46.59
184Mouhssin Chehibi1:46.75
198Yassine Bensghir1:46.88
207Mohammad Al-Azemi1:46.94Q
217Yusuf Saad Kamel1:46.94Q
227Robert Lathouwers1:46.94
232Abubaker Kaki1:46.98Q
242Mohammed Al-Salhi1:47.02Q
257Andrew Wheating1:47.05
265Dmitrijs Miļkevičs1:47.12
278Mikko Lahtio1:47.20
285Samson Ngoepe1:47.42
295Aunese Curreen1:47.45NR
302Dmitriy Bogdanov1:47.49
317Abdoulaye Wagne1:47.50
323Michael Rimmer1:47.61Q
333Mbulaeni Mulaudzi1:47.64Q
334Eduard Villanueva1:47.64
351Thomas Chamney1:47.66
353Paweł Czapiewski1:47.66
376Amine Laalou1:47.86Q
382Onalenna Baloyi1:47.89
396Abraham Chepkirwok1:47.93Q
403Miguel Quesada1:48.06
416Jakub Holuša1:48.19
417Aldwyn Sappleton1:48.19
436Christian Smith1:48.20
443Li Xiangyu1:48.44
456Kléberson Davide1:48.53
462Jozef Repcìk1:48.64
476Achraf Tadili1:48.87
483Vitalij Kozlov1:48.96
491Lachlan Renshaw1:49.19
501Ehsan Mohajer Shojaei1:49.25
512Leonardo Price1:49.39
527Sergey Pakura1:50.54
536Fadrique Iglesias1:50.57
543Samwel Mwera1:50.67
554Nguyen Dinh Cuong1:52.06
566Mohammed Al-Yafaee1:54.82
575Souleymane Ould Chebal1:57.43
584Derek Mandell1:57.48PB
5Byron PiedraDNS
3Nick WillisDNS
2Antar ZerguelaineDNS

Semifinals

Qual. rule: first 2 of each heat plus the 2 fastest times qualified.

Semifinal 1

21 August 2008 - 19:50
RankLaneAthleteCountryTimeNotes
18Wilfred Bungei1:46.23Q
25Yeimer López1:46.40Q
37Yuriy Borzakovskiy1:46.53
44Amine Laalou1:46.74
56Nick Symmonds1:46.96
69Mohammed Al-Salhi1:47.14
72Marcin Lewandowski1:47.24
83Mohammad Al-Azemi1:47.65

Semifinal 2

21 August 2008 - 19:58
RankLaneAthleteCountryTimeNotes
15Alfred Kirwa Yego1:44.73Q
26Ismail Ahmed Ismail1:44.91Q
37Yusuf Saad Kamel1:44.95q
49Nadjim Manseur1:45.54q
58Sajjad Moradi1:46.08
64Mbulaeni Mulaudzi1:46.24
72Antonio Manuel Reina1:46.40
83Fabiano Peçanha1:47.07

Semifinal 3

21 August 2008 - 20:06
RankLaneAthleteCountryTimeNotes
12Nabil Madi1:45.63Q
24Gary Reed1:45.85Q
35Boaz Kiplagat Lalang1:45.87
49Manuel Olmedo1:45.91
53Belal Mansoor Ali1:46.37
68Michael Rimmer1:48.07
77Abraham Chepkirwok1:49.16
86Abubaker Kaki1:49.19

Final

23 August 2008 - 19:30
RankLaneAthleteCountryTimeNotes
3Wilfred Bungei1:44.65SB
8Ismail Ahmed Ismail1:44.70
5Alfred Kirwa Yego1:44.82
46Gary Reed1:44.94
54Yusuf Saad Kamel1:44.95
67Yeimer López1:45.88
72Nabil Madi1:45.96
89Nadjim Manseur1:47.19

Splits