The 800-meter race of the men at the Olympic Games in 1896 was on 6 and 9 April 1896 in Panathinaiko Stadium in Athens held. According to information from the SportsReference website mentioned below , nine athletes from six nations took part; according to the literature by Ekkehard zur Megede listed below , there were eight runners from five nations. In the Panathinaiko Stadium, the athletes had to run a little more than two laps for the distance of 800 meters. There were no lanes separating the runners from one another.
The preliminary round was divided into two runs. The two best placed in each heat - highlighted in light green - qualified for the final. The preliminary runs took place on April 6, 1896.
As with many other competitions, different results are presented in the various sources mentioned below. For comparison, the results are compared in the tables listed.
Only three of the four runners with starting authorization entered the race. The Frenchman Albin Lermusiaux , who qualified for the finals, decided not to start in order to spare himself for the marathon race that followed the next day .
From the start, the Australian Teddy Flack - correct name actually Edwin Flack - set the pace. His 400 meter split was 65.5 seconds. The Greek Dimitrios Golemis very soon lost contact with his two opponents and ran far behind. The Hungarian Nándor Dáni, however, only let himself be shaken off in the decisive phase. With a lead of just under a second, Flack was Olympic champion for the second time after his success over 1500 meters two days earlier . He missed his Olympic record from the run-up by exactly one second.
For the finale there are consistent information in all sources used here.