World Athletics Championships 1997/800 m women

6th World Athletics Championships
discipline	800 meter run
gender	Women
Attendees	36 athletes from 32 countries
venue	Athens
Competition location	Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	August 6th (preliminary) August 7th (semi-finals) August 9th (final)
Medalists Ana Fidelia Quirot ( RUS )   Jelena Afanassjewa ( RUS )   Maria de Lurdes Mutola ( MOZ )

The Athens Olympic Stadium in 2014

The 800-meter run for women at the 1997 World Athletics Championships was held from August 6th to 9th, 1997 in the Olympic Stadium in the Greek capital, Athens .

World champion was the Cuban defending champion, vice world champion from 1991 , Olympic runner-up from 1996 and Olympic runner-up from 1992 Ana Fidelia Quirot , who was the double winner over 400 and 800 meters at the Pan American Games in 1987 and 1991 . Second place went to the Russian Jelena Afanassjewa . Bronze went to the world champion from 1993 and Olympic third from 1996 Maria de Lurdes Mutola from Mozambique , who was also Africa champion from 1990 (here also over 1500 meters ) and from 1993 .

Existing records

World record	1: 53.28 min	Jarmila Kratochvílová	Munich , FR Germany	July 26, 1983
World Cup record	1: 54.68 min		1983 World Cup in Helsinki , Finland	August 9, 1983

Even at these world championships no one came to the already since the first World Championships in 1983 existing WM zoom -record.

Two national records were set.

• 2: 07.34 min - Leontine Tsiba ( Republic of the Congo ), 1st preliminary on August 6th
• 2: 16.74 min - Abok Shol ( Sudan ), 1st preliminary on August 6th

doping

In the 800-meter race , there was a doping case.

The Russian Lyubow Zioma , who was eliminated in the semifinals, was convicted of doping with stanozolol and disqualified.

The victim was the Indian Rosa Kutty , who had actually qualified for the semi-finals during her time, but could not start there because Ziomas was not yet positive for doping.

Preliminary round

The preliminary round was carried out in five runs. The first two athletes per run - highlighted in light blue - and the six fastest runners - highlighted in light green - qualified for the semi-finals.

Forward 1

August 6, 1997, 9:30 a.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Ludmila Formanová	Czech Republic	2: 01.46
2	Natallja Duchnowa	Belarus	2: 02.39
3	Linda Kisabaka	Germany	2: 03.22
4th	Julia Sakara	Zimbabwe	2: 03.55
5	Öznur Dursun	Turkey	2: 04.62
6th	Leontine Tsiba	Republic of the Congo	2: 07.34 NO
7th	Abok Shol	Sudan	2: 16.74 NO
DNS	Malin Ewerlöf	Sweden

Forward 2

August 6, 1997, 9:37 a.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Ana Fidelia Quirot	Cuba	2: 01.56
2	Olena Buschenko	Ukraine	2: 02.00
3	Toni Hodgkinson	New Zealand	2: 02.21
4th	Jill McMullen	United States	2: 06.16
5	Theoni Kostopoulou	Greece	2: 07.32
6th	Jolanda Batagelj	Slovenia	2: 10.97
7th	Adama Njie	Gambia	2: 13.50

Forward 3

August 6, 1997, 9:44 a.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Letitia Vriesde	Suriname	2: 00.92
2	Stella Jongmans	Netherlands	2: 01.06
3	Rosa Kutty	India	2: 02.22 actually qualified for the final
4th	Kathy Rounds	United States	2: 03.33
5	Dawn Sewer-Williams	Dominica	2: 03.35
6th	Natalia Al Farran	Lebanon	2: 18.11
7th	Donata Mutegwamaso	Rwanda	2: 25.07
DOP	Lyubov Zioma	Russia	admitted to the semifinals

• 

  Stephanie Graf (photo: 2008) , later Olympic and World Cup medalist, was eliminated as fifth in her preliminary run

• 

  Charmaine Crooks (here in 2013) did not reach the semifinals with her sixth place in the fourth heat

Forward 4

August 6, 1997, 9:58 a.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Maria de Lurdes Mutola	Mozambique	2: 00.88
2	Joetta Clark	United States	2: 01.15
3	Petya Strashilova	Bulgaria	2: 01.49
4th	Nouria Mérah-Benida	Algeria	2: 01.54
5	Stephanie Graf	Austria	2: 02.52
6th	Charmaine Crooks	Canada	2: 02.84
7th	Yaznee Nasheeda	Maldives	2: 36.18
DNS	Alberta Cape	Guinea-Bissau

• 

  Her fifth place in the last heat was not enough for Iryna Lishchynska to participate in the semi-finals

Forward 5

August 6, 1997, 9:58 a.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Jelena Afanassjewa	Russia	2:00, 12
2	Luciana Mendes	Brazil	2: 00.89
3	Hasna Benhassi	Morocco	2: 01.56
4th	Malgorzata Rydz	Poland	2: 01.68
5	Iryna Lishchynska	Ukraine	2: 03.56
6th	Monika Kinnunen	Finland	2: 04.11
7th	Monica Randi	San Marino	2: 16.00

Semifinals

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

Semi-final run 1

As the seventh of her semi-final run, Hasna Benhassi did not reach the final

August 7, 1997, 7:50 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Maria de Lurdes Mutola	Mozambique	1: 57.49
2	Jelena Afanassjewa	Russia	1: 59.05
3	Stella Jongmans	Netherlands	1: 59.32
4th	Joetta Clark	United States	1: 59.34
5	Luciana Mendes	Brazil	1: 59.45
6th	Olena Buschenko	Ukraine	2: 02.62
7th	Hasna Benhassi	Morocco	2: 03.70
8th	Malgorzata Rydz	Poland	2: 05.00

Semi-final run 2

August 7, 1997, 8:00 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Ana Fidelia Quirot	Cuba	1: 59.37
2	Letitia Vriesde	Suriname	1: 59.62
3	Ludmila Formanová	Czech Republic	1: 59.71
4th	Toni Hodgkinson	New Zealand	2: 00.25
5	Natallja Duchnowa	Belarus	2: 00.91
6th	Nouria Mérah-Benida	Algeria	2: 01.08
7th	Petya Strashilova	Bulgaria	2: 01.44
DOP	Lyubov Zioma	Russia

• 

  This time the bronze medal went to the world champion from 1993 and Olympic third from 1996 Maria Mutola

• 

  Ludmila Formanová reached fifth place

final

August 9, 1997, 6:10 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Ana Fidelia Quirot	Cuba	1: 57.14
2	Jelena Afanassjewa	Russia	1: 57.56
3	Maria de Lurdes Mutola	Mozambique	1: 57.59
4th	Letitia Vriesde	Suriname	1: 58.12
5	Ludmila Formanová	Czech Republic	1: 59.52
6th	Toni Hodgkinson	New Zealand	2: 00.40
7th	Joetta Clark	United States	2: 02.05
8th	Stella Jongmans	Netherlands	2: 05.50

Video

• Uncut - 800m Women Final Athens 1997 on youtube.com, accessed June 28, 2020

Web links

• 6th IAAF World Championships In Athletics , accessed June 28, 2020
• Women 800m Athletics VI World Championship 1997 Athens (GRE) on todor66.com, accessed June 28, 2020
• Results in the IAAF Statistics Handbook for the 2019 World Cup in Doha, Women 800 m, Athens 1997, p. 269 (PDF; 10.3 MB), English, accessed on June 28, 2020

References and comments

1. ↑ IAAF world records. 800 m women on rekorde-im-sport.de, accessed on June 28, 2020
2. ↑ Ivanova stripped of silver after positive drug test on apnews.com, August 10, 1997, accessed June 28, 2020