Athletics at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Men's 800 metres

Men's 800 metres at the Games of the XXI Olympiad
Medalists
Alberto Juantorena  Cuba Ivo van Damme  Belgium Rick Wohlhuter  United States

Athletics at the 1976 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
10,000 m		men
100 m hurdles				women
110 m hurdles		men
400 m hurdles		men
3000 m steeplechase		men
4×100 m relay		men		women
4×400 m relay		men		women
Road events
Marathon		men
20 km walk		men
Field events
Long jump		men		women
Triple jump		men
High jump		men		women
Pole vault		men
Shot put		men		women
Discus throw		men		women
Javelin throw		men		women
Hammer throw		men
Combined events
Pentathlon				women
Decathlon		men

These are the official results of the Men's 800 metres event at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. The competition was held on July 23, 1976, July 24, 1976, and on July 25, 1976.

From the gun Alberto Juantorena took an apparent lead against the field through the staggered start. Passing the break at 300 metres, the long striding Cuban was a couple of steps ahead of the noticeably smaller American Rick Wohlhuter. Sriram Singh came from more than 10 metres back at the break to sprint past Juantorena and the rest of the field, to take the lead just after the bell. Singh's lead was short lived as the field bunched then started to make their way around him. Wohlhuter stuck less than a mere step behind Juantorena all the way through the final turn as Ivo van Damme, Willi Wülbeck and future champion Steve Ovett jockeyed for position. Coming off the turn, Juantorena found more speed to pull away from Wohlhuter. As he struggled down the home stretch, Wohlhuter was passed by van Damme 20 metres before the finish.

Juantorena's 1:43.5 clearly broke Marcello Fiasconaro's hand timed world record of 1:43.7. When automatic times became a requirement the following year, the time time 1:43.50, accurate to the hundredth, became the world record. Despite the erratic pace, Singh's time in 7th place stood as the Asian record until it was broken by Lee Jin-il in 1994.

Records

These are the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1976 Summer Olympics.

World Record	1:43.7	Marcello Fiasconaro	Milan (ITA)	June 27, 1973
Olympic Record	1:44.40	Ralph Doubell	Mexico City (MEX)	October 15, 1968

Final

• Held on July 25, 1976

RANK	FINAL	TIME
	Alberto Juantorena (CUB)	1:43.50 (WR)
	Ivo van Damme (BEL)	1:43.86
	Rick Wohlhuter (USA)	1:44.12
4.	Willi Wülbeck (FRG)	1:45.26
5.	Steve Ovett (GBR)	1:45.44
6.	Luciano Sušanj (YUG)	1:45.75
7.	Sriram Singh (IND)	1:45.77
8.	Carlo Grippo (ITA)	1:48.39

Semifinals

• Held on July 24, 1976

RANK	HEAT 1	TIME
1.	Alberto Juantorena (CUB)	1:45.88
2.	Ivo van Damme (BEL)	1:46.00
3.	Steve Ovett (GBR)	1:46.14
4.	Sri Ram Singh (IND)	1:46.42
5.	James Robinson (USA)	1:46.43
6.	Marian Gęsicki (POL)	1:47.06
7.	Thomas Wessinghage (FRG)	1:48.18
—	Horace Tuitt (TRI)	DNF

RANK	HEAT 2	TIME
1.	Rick Wohlhuter (USA)	1:46.72
2.	Carlo Grippo (ITA)	1:46.95
3.	Luciano Sušanj (YUG)	1:47.03
4.	Willi Wülbeck (FRG)	1:47.18
5.	Seymour Newman (JAM)	1:47.22
6.	Leandro Civil (CUB)	1:47.31
7.	Viktor Anokhin (URS)	1:47.71
8.	Frank Clement (GBR)	1:48.28

Heats

• Held on July 23, 1976

RANK	HEAT 1	TIME
1.	Rick Wohlhuter (USA)	1:45.71
2.	Sri Ram Singh (IND)	1:45.86
3.	Leandro Civil (CUB)	1:45.88
4.	Marian Gęsicki (POL)	1:46.36
5.	Thomas Wessinghage (FRG)	1:46.56
6.	Viktor Anokhin (URS)	1:46.81
7.	Muhammad Younis (PAK)	1:48.50

RANK	HEAT 2	TIME
1.	Frank Clement (GBR)	1:47.51
2.	James Robinson (USA)	1:47.56
3.	John Walker (NZL)	1:47.63
4.	22x20px Andrés Ballbé (ESP)	1:48.38
5.	Fernando Mamede (POR)	1:49.58
6.	Francisco Solis (DOM)	1:55.56
7.	22x20px Wilnor Joseph (HAI)	2:15.26

RANK	HEAT 3	TIME
1.	Steve Ovett (GBR)	1:48.27
2.	Seymour Newman (JAM)	1:48.46
3.	Paul-Heinz Wellmann (FRG)	1:48.47
4.	Jozef Plachý (TCH)	1:48.63
5.	22x20px Günther Hasler (LIE)	1:48.83
6.	Evert Hoving (NED)	1:48.99
7.	Roy Bottse (SUR)	1:49.85
8.	Erasmo Gómez (NCA)	1:57.97

RANK	HEAT 4	TIME
1.	Alberto Juantorena (CUB)	1:47.15
2.	Carlo Grippo (ITA)	1:47.21
3.	János Zemen (HUN)	1:47.40
4.	Milovan Savić (YUG)	1:47.73
5.	Jorge Ortíz (PUR)	1:51.38
—	Roqui Sanchez (FRA)	DSQ
—	Markku Taskinen (FIN)	DNS

RANK	HEAT 5	TIME
1.	Willi Wülbeck (FRG)	1:48.47
2.	Horace Tuitt (TRI)	1:48.48
3.	Vladimir Ponomaryov (URS)	1:48.59
4.	Åke Svensson (SWE)	1:48.86
5.	José Marajo (FRA)	1:49.60
6.	Orlando Greene (BAR)	1:51.43
7.	Attiya Al-Qahtani (KSA)	1:57.67

RANK	HEAT 6	TIME
1.	Ivo van Damme (BEL)	1:47.80
2.	Luciano Sušanj (YUG)	1:47.82
3.	Mark Enyeart (USA)	1:47.96
4.	Rolf Gysin (SUI)	1:48.69
5.	Niall O'Shaughnessy (IRL)	1:49.29
6.	Luis Medina (CUB)	1:50.15
7.	Marcel Philippe (FRA)	1:50.81

See also

• 1972 Men's Olympic 800 metres (Munich)
• 1978 Men's European Championships 800 metres (Prague)
• 1980 Men's Olympic 800 metres (Moscow)

References

• Results