Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's 800 metres

Men's 800 metres; at the Games of the XXX Olympiad
Venue	Olympic Stadium
Date	6–9 August
Competitors	56 from 44 nations
Winning time	1:40.91 WR
Medalists
	← 2008 2016 →

Official Video

Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m	men	women
200 m	men	women
400 m	men	women
800 m	men	women
1500 m	men	women
5000 m	men	women
10,000 m	men	women
100 m hurdles		women
110 m hurdles	men
400 m hurdles	men	women
3000 m steeplechase	men	women
4×100 m relay	men	women
4×400 m relay	men	women
Road events
Marathon	men	women
20 km walk	men	women
50 km walk	men
Field events
Long jump	men	women
Triple jump	men	women
High jump	men	women
Pole vault	men	women
Shot put	men	women
Discus throw	men	women
Javelin throw	men	women
Hammer throw	men	women
Combined events
Heptathlon		women
Decathlon	men
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The Men's 800 metres competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom, was held at the Olympic Stadium on 6–9 August.^[1]

Reigning world champion David Rudisha won the race in 1:40.91, becoming the first person to break 1:41 and improving on his own world record (the first world record in an Olympic men's 800m final since 1976). The reigning world junior champion Nigel Amos finished second in 1:41.73, establishing a new world junior record and Botswana national record. In an exceptionally fast final, all runners except Abubaker Kaki (who ran a seasonal best) set personal bests, including three national records (Kenya, Botswana, and Ethiopia). The finishing times were the fastest recorded for each placing and it constituted the first time that eight athletes ran under 1:44 in the same race. All the athletes in the race produced times that would have won the final in Beijing.^[2] The eight place finisher, Andrew Osagie, produced a time that would have won the gold medal at all three of the previous Olympic 800m finals.

Rudisha led from the start of the race, easing from lane 4 to the break with a determined Kaki in tow. By the halfway mark in 49.28 Mohammed Aman lined up off Kaki's shoulder. During the next 200 meters, Rudisha put a gap on the field and Kaki began falling back. The scramble was on to see who had anything left or, like Kaki, who would pay the price. As Rudisha showed the strain of his effort, Nigel Amos and Timothy Kitum started to make up a little of the ground Rudisha had built up. Running at the back of the field, Duane Solomon and Nick Symmonds made a late run, finishing just a step out of the medals.

Amos' silver medal was the first Olympic medal ever for Botswana.^[3]

Competition format

The competition had seven heats in the first round, three semi-finals and a final.^[4] The top three in the first round heats progressed, as did the three fastest non-qualifiers. The top two finishers in the semi-final race reached the finals and the two fastest runners outside these runners made up the eight finalists.^[5]

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

World record	David Rudisha (KEN)	1:41.01	Rieti, Italy	29 August 2010
Olympic record	Vebjørn Rodal (NOR)	1:42.58	Atlanta, United States	31 July 1996
2012 World leading	David Rudisha (KEN)	1:41.54	Paris, France	6 July 2012

The following records were established during the competition:

Date	Event	Name	Nationality	Time	Record
9 August	Final	David Rudisha	Kenya	1:40.91	WR

The following national records were set during the competition.

Kenya national record	David Rudisha (KEN)	1:40.91 s
Botswana national record	Nijel Amos (BOT)	1:41.73 s
Ethiopia national record	Mohammed Aman (ETH)	1:43.20 s

Schedule

All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)

Date	Time	Round
Monday, 6 August 2012	10:50	Round 1
Tuesday, 7 August 2012	19:55	Semifinals
Thursday, 9 August 2012	20:00	Finals

Results

Official Video of Round 1

Round 1

Qual. rule: first 3 of each heat (Q) plus the 3 fastest times (q) qualified.

Heat 1

Rank	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes^[6]
1	Nijel Amos	Botswana	1:45.90	Q
2	Fabiano Pecanha	Brazil	1:46.29	Q
3	Luis Alberto Marco	Spain	1:46.86	Q
4	Khadevis Robinson	United States	1:47.17
5	Marcin Lewandowski	Poland	1:47.64	q^[7]
6	Ivan Tukhtachev	Russia	1:49.77
7	Derek Mandell	Guam	1:58.94
N/A	Mohammad Al-Azemi	Kuwait	N/A	DQ

Heat 2

Rank	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes^[6]
1	David Rudisha	Kenya	1:45.90	Q
2	Musaeb Abdulrahman Balla	Qatar	1:46.37	Q
3	Andrew Osagie	Great Britain	1:46.42	Q
4	Wesley Vazquez	Puerto Rico	1:46.45
5	Jeffrey Riseley	Australia	1:46.99
6	Ismail Ahmed Ismail	Sudan	1:48.79
7	Anis Ananenka	Belarus	1:49.61
8	Samorn Kieng	Cambodia	1:55.26	SB

Heat 3

Rank	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes^[6]
1	Abubaker Kaki	Sudan	1:45.51	Q
2	Timothy Kitum	Kenya	1:45.72	Q
3	Abdulaziz Mohammed	Saudi Arabia	1:46.09	Q
4	Andy González	Cuba	1:46.24	q
5	Gareth Warburton	Great Britain	1:46.97
6	Tamás Kazi	Hungary	1:47.10	SB
7	Sören Ludolph	Germany	1:48.57
8	Arnold Sorina	Vanuatu	1:54.29

Heat 4

Rank	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes^[6]
1	Nick Symmonds	United States	1:45.91	Q
2	Geoffrey Harris	Canada	1:45.97	Q
3	Adam Kszczot	Poland	1:45.99	Q
4	Pierre-Ambroise Bosse	France	1:46.03	q
5	Yuriy Borzakovskiy	Russia	1:46.29	q
6	Andreas Bube	Denmark	1:46.40
7	Manuel Antonio	Angola	1:52.54
N/A	Brice Etes	Monaco	N/A	DQ

Heat 5

Rank	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes^[6]
1	Hamada Mohamed	Egypt	1:48.05	Q
2	Sajad Moradi	Iran	1:48.23	Q
3	Kevin Lopez	Spain	1:48.27	Q
4	Masato Yokota	Japan	1:48.48
5	Michael Rimmer	Great Britain	1:49.05
6	Moussa Camara	Mali	1:51.36
7	Edgar Cortez	Nicaragua	1:58.99
N/A	Taoufik Makhloufi	Algeria	N/A	DNF

Heat 6

Rank	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes^[6]
1	Mohammed Aman	Ethiopia	1:47.34	Q
2	Anthony Chemut	Kenya	1:47.42	Q
3	Antonio Manuel Reina	Spain	1:47.44	Q
4	Rafith Rodriguez	Colombia	1:47.70
5	Adnan Taess Akkar	Iraq	1:47.83
6	Amine El Manaoui	Morocco	1:48.48
7	Prince Mumba	Zambia	1:49.07
8	Erzhan Askarov	Kyrgyzstan	1:59.56

Heat 7

Rank	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes^[6]
1	Duane Solomon	United States	1:46.05	Q
2	Robert Lathouwers	Netherlands	1:46.06	Q
3	André Olivier	South Africa	1:46.42	Q
4	Jakub Holuša	Czech Republic	1:46.87
5	Julius Mutekanga	Uganda	1:48.41
6	Moise Joseph	Haiti	1:48.46
7	Benjamín Enzema	Equatorial Guinea	1:57.47
N/A	Kleberson Davide	Brazil	N/A	DNS