Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics – Men's 800 metres

Men's 800 metres at the Games of the V Olympiad
200px The finish with Ted Meredith setting a new world record.
Venue	Stockholm Olympic Stadium
Dates	July 6 (heats) July 7 (semifinals) July 8 (final)
Competitors	48 from 16 nations
Medalists
Ted Meredith  United States Mel Sheppard  United States Ira Davenport  United States

Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m		men
200 m		men
400 m		men
800 m		men
1500 m		men
5000 m		men
10,000 m		men
110 m hurdles		men
4×100 m relay		men
4×400 m relay		men
3000 m team race		men
10 km walk		men
Road events
Marathon	men
Field events
Long jump	men
Triple jump	men
High jump	men
Pole vault	men
Standing long jump	men
Standing high jump	men
Shot put	men
Discus throw	men
Hammer throw	men
Javelin throw	men
2-hand shot put	men
2-hand discus	men
2-hand javelin	men
Combined events
Pentathlon	men
Decathlon	men
Cross-country events
Individual	men
Team	men

The men's 800 metres was a track and field athletics event held as part of the athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics programme. It was the fifth appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The competition was held from Saturday, July 6, 1912 to Monday, July 8, 1912.

Forty-eight runners from 16 nations competed. Including all three medalists from 1908, Olympic champion Mel Sheppard, the silver medalists Emilio Lunghi, and the bronze medalist Hanns Braun.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1912 Summer Olympics.

World Record	1:52.8(*)	Mel Sheppard	London (GBR)	July 21, 1908
	1:52.1(**)	Emilio Lunghi	Montreal (CAN)	September 15, 1909
Olympic Record	1:52.8(***)	Mel Sheppard	London (GBR)	July 21, 1908

(*) unofficial

(**) 880 yards (= 804.68 m)

(***) This track was 536.45 metres=​¹⁄₃ mile in circumference.

The world record of 1:52.8, which had seemed fairly safe through the first two rounds of competition, was broken by all three medalists and tied by the fourth-place runner in the final. Mel Sheppard, the previous record-holder, and Ira Davenport beat the old record by .8 seconds at 1:52.0, taking silver and bronze behind Ted Meredith and his new record of 1:51.9. This record became the first official world record for the 800 metres.

Results

Heats

All heats were held on Saturday, July 6, 1912.

Heat 1

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	David Caldwell (USA)	1:58.6	QS
2	Emilio Lunghi (ITA)		QS
3	Walter McClure (USA)
4	Eric Lindholm (SWE)	2:01.5
5	Joseph Caullé (FRA)

Heat 2

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Percy Mann (GBR)	1:56.0	QS
2	Herbert Putnam (USA)		QS
3	Jacob Pedersen (NOR)
DNF	Leopoldo Palma (CHI)	-

Heat 3

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	John Paul Jones (USA)	2:01.8	QS
2	Armando Cortesão (POR)		QS
3	Oscar Larsen (NOR)
4	Guido Calvi (ITA)

Heat 4

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Clarence Edmundson (USA)	1:56.5	QS
2	22x20px John Tait (CAN)		QS
3	Charles Poulenard (FRA)
4	Wilhelm Jahn (athlete) (GER)	2:02.0
—	Robert Burton (GBR)	DNF

Heat 5

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Ira Davenport (USA)	1:59.0	QS
2	Frederick Hulford (GBR)		QS
3	Ödön Bodor (HUN)
4	Julius Person (GER)
5	22x20px Dmitri Nazarov (RUS)
—	22x20px Zdeněk Městecký (BOH)	DNF
	Philip Baker (GBR)	DNF

Heat 6

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Harlan Holden (USA)	1:58.1	QS
2	Evert Björn (SWE)		QS
3	Richard Yorke (GBR)
4	Karl Haglund (SWE)	2:01.2
5-7	Ferenc Forgács (HUN)
	22x20px Aleksandr Elizarov (RUS)
	Federico Mueller (CHI)
—	Vahram Papazian (TUR)	DNF

Heat 7

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	James Soutter (GBR)	2:00.4	QS
2	Mel Sheppard (USA)		QS
3	Erich Lehmann (GER)
—	János Antal (HUN)	DNF
	22x20px Johannes Leopold Villemson (RUS)	DNS

Heat 8

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	22x20px Mel Brock (CAN)	1:57.0	QS
2	Ted Meredith (USA)		QS
3	22x20px John Victor (RSA)
—	Alan Patterson (GBR)	DNF

Heat 9

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Ernest Henley (GBR)	1:57.6	QS
2	Hanns Braun (GER)		QS
3	Erik Frisell (SWE)	1:59.2
4	Thomas Halpin (USA)	1:59.2
—	Lauri Pihkala (FIN)	DNF
	Károly Radóczy (HUN)	DNF

Semifinals

Both semi-finals were held on Sunday, July 7, 1912.

File:1912 Athletics men's 800 metre final.JPG

The start of the final.

File:1912 Athletics men's 800 metre final2.JPG

The final under way.

Semifinal 1

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Ted Meredith (USA)	1:54.4	QF
2	Hanns Braun (GER)	1:54.6	QF
3	Mel Sheppard (USA)	1:54.8	QF
4	Herbert Putnam (USA)	1:55.0	QF
5	22x20px John Tait (CAN)
6	Percy Mann (GBR)
—	Frederick Hulford (GBR)	DNF
	James Soutter (GBR)	DNF
	John Paul Jones (USA)	DNS

Semifinal 2

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	22x20px Mel Brock (CAN)	1:55.7	QF
2	Clarence Edmundson (USA)	1:55.8	QF
3	David Caldwell (USA)	1:55.9	QF
4	Ira Davenport (USA)	1:55.9	QF
5	Emilio Lunghi (ITA)
6-9	Evert Björn (SWE)
	Ernest Henley (GBR)
	Harlan Holden (USA)
	Armando Cortesão (POR)

Final

The final took place on Monday, July 8, 1912.

Place	Athlete	Time
1	Ted Meredith (USA)	1:51.9 WR
2	Mel Sheppard (USA)	1:52.0
3	Ira Davenport (USA)	1:52.0
4	David Caldwell (USA)	1:52.8
5	22x20px Mel Brock (CAN)	1:53.0
6	Hanns Braun (GER)	1:53.0
7	Clarence Edmundson (USA)
8	Herbert Putnam (USA)

References

• sports-reference.com