European Athletics Championships 1966/800 m men

8th European Athletics Championships
discipline	Men's 800-meter run
city	Budapest
Stadion	Népstadion
Attendees	37 athletes from 21 countries
Competition phase	September 2nd (preliminary) September 3rd (semi-finals) September 4th (final)
Medalist
gold	Manfred Matuschewski ( GDR )
silver	Franz-Josef Kemper ( FRG )
bronze	Bodo Bottlenose Dolphin ( FRG )

The Népstadion at an event
in 1953

The men's 800-meter run at the European Athletics Championships in 1966 was held from September 2nd to 4th, 1966 in Budapest's Népstadion .

With silver and bronze there were two medals for German middle distance athletes . European champion was Manfred Matuschewski from the GDR. He won in front of the European record holder Franz-Josef Kemper . Bronze went to the 1,500 meter European champion Bodo Tümmler .

Records

Existing records

World record	1: 44.3 min	Peter Snell	Christchurch , New Zealand	3rd February 1962
European record	1: 44.9 min	Franz-Josef Kemper	Hanover , then BR Germany (now Germany )	7th August 1966
EM record	1: 47.1 min	Lajos Szentgáli	EM Bern , Switzerland	August 28, 1954

Record improvement

European champion Manfred Matuschewski improved the existing championship record by 1.2 seconds to 1: 45.9 minutes.  

Preliminary round

2nd September 1966

The preliminary round was carried out in five runs. The first three athletes per run - highlighted in light blue - as well as the fastest runner - highlighted in light green - qualified for the semifinals.

Forward 1

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Mathias Seidler	GDR	1: 48.3
2	Franz-Josef Kemper	BR Germany	1: 48.4
3	Jean-Michel Pellez	France	1: 48.6 PB
4th	Derek McCleane	Ireland	1: 48.6
5	Arne Kvalheim	Norway	1: 49.4 PB
6th	Petr Blaha	Czechoslovakia	1: 49.9 PB
7th	Marnix Cocquyt	Belgium	1: 53.7 PB

Forward 2

As before, over 400 meters , Jacques Pennewaert did not survive the preliminary round

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Jürgen May	GDR	1: 48.1 SB
2	Guy Taillard	France	1: 48.1
3	Pavel Penkava	Czechoslovakia	1: 48.2 PB
4th	John Boulter	Great Britain	1: 48.4
5	Jacques Pennewaert	Belgium	1: 48.4 SB
6th	Francesco Arese	Italy	1: 49.6 SB
7th	Imre Nagy	Hungary	1: 50.4 SB

Forward 3

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Chris Carter	Great Britain	1: 48.7
2	Tomáš Jungwirth	Czechoslovakia	1: 48.9
3	Purely Telp	Soviet Union	1: 49.1 SB
4th	Hansueli Mumenthaler	Switzerland	1: 49.3 SB
5	Lorant Stoll	Hungary	1: 50.3 PB
6th	Heikki Pippola	Finland	1: 51.7
7th	Gani Alia	Albania	1: 52.4 NO
DSQ	Paul Roekaerts	Belgium

Forward 4

Fifth place in his preliminary run was not enough for Kenth Andersson to reach the next round

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Noel Carroll	Ireland	1: 48.1
2	Alberto Esteban	Spain	1: 48.2
3	Vadim Mikhailov	Soviet Union	1: 48.4
4th	Walter Adams	BR Germany	1: 48.8 SB
5	Kenth Andersson	Sweden	1: 49.0 PB
6th	Erik Zelazny	Poland	1: 50.2 PB
7th	Konstantinos Mihailidis	Greece	1: 51.9 PB
8th	Jože Međimurec	Yugoslavia	1: 53.5 SB

Forward 5

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Bodo Bottlenose Dolphin	BR Germany	1: 48.6
2	Maurice Lurot	France	1: 48.8
3	Manfred Matuschewski	GDR	1: 48.9
4th	Rudolf Klaban	Austria	1: 49.0 SB
5	Remir Mitrofanov	Soviet Union	1: 49.2 PB
6th	Preben Glue	Denmark	1: 50.2 SB
7th	Ian Hamilton	Ireland	1: 53.7 PB

Semifinals

Maurice Lurot reached the semifinals and was eliminated there when he was eighth of his race

Jürgen May (here in a leading position) was eliminated in seventh place in his semi-final run - he later fled to Germany and was banned for a long time

3rd September 1966

In each of the two semi-finals, the first three athletes - highlighted in light blue - qualified for the final.

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Franz-Josef Kemper	BR Germany	1: 47.9
2	Tomás Jungwirth	Czechoslovakia	1: 48.0
3	Chris Carter	Great Britain	1: 48.1
4th	Noel Carroll	Ireland	1: 48.3
5	Vadim Mikhailov	Soviet Union	1: 48.7
6th	Mathias Seidler	GDR	1: 48.8
7th	Guy Taillard	France	1: 49.2
8th	Maurice Lurot	France	1: 49.9

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Manfred Matuschewski	GDR	1: 49.3
2	John Boulter	Great Britain	1: 49.4
3	Bodo Bottlenose Dolphin	BR Germany	1: 49.5
4th	Alberto Esteban	Spain	1: 49.5
5	Purely Telp	Soviet Union	1: 49.8
6th	Pavel Penkava	Czechoslovakia	1: 49.8
7th	Jürgen May	GDR	1: 50.0
8th	Jean-Michel Pellez	France	1: 51.8

final

Surprisingly, Manfred Matuschewski (center) - also known as a millimeter runner - became European champion and defeated the European record holder Franz-Josef Kemper - a highly explosive duel under the sign of the East-West conflict

4th September 1966

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Manfred Matuschewski	GDR	1: 45.9 CR / NO
2	Franz-Josef Kemper	BR Germany	1: 46.0
3	Bodo Bottlenose Dolphin	BR Germany	1: 46.3 PB
4th	Chris Carter	Great Britain	1: 46.3 NO
5	Tomás Jungwirth	Czechoslovakia	1: 46.7 NO
6th	John Boulter	Great Britain	1: 47.0
7th	Alberto Esteban	Spain	1: 47.4 NO
8th	Noel Carroll	Ireland	1: 47.9 SB

• 

  Vice European champion Franz-Josef Kemper - caught in the last meters

• 

  Bronze medalist Bodo Tümmler (third from right) - three days earlier European champion over 1500 meters

Web links

• European Athletics Championships - Budapest 1966 at european-athletics.org, accessed on May 21, 2019
• Men 800m European Championship 1966 Budapest on todor66.com, accessed on May 21, 2019
• European Athletics Championships Zurich 2014 - Statistics Handbook , Men 800m European Championship 1962 Beograd, p. 398 (PDF, 13,363 kB), in English at european-athletics.org, accessed on May 21, 2019
• Track and Field Statistics, EM 1966 on trackfield.brinkster.net, accessed on May 21, 2019
• Results of all European Athletics Championships - 1966, 800 m men on sportschau.de, accessed on May 21, 2019
• 8th European Athletics Championships 1966 in Budapest, Hungary from ifosta.de, accessed on May 21, 2019

Video

• European Championship Athletics, Stockholm 1958 800m , on youtube.com, published August 4, 2018, accessed May 27, 2019

References and comments

1. ↑ IAAF world records. 800m men , accessed May 21, 2019
2. ↑ Progression of the European Outdoor Records, 800 m Men , p. 11 (PDF, 271 kB), accessed on May 21, 2019