1976 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 800 m (women)

sport	athletics
discipline	800 meter run
gender	Women
Attendees	35 athletes from 20 countries
Competition location	Montreal Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	July 23, 1976 (preliminary) July 24, 1976 (semi-finals) July 25, 1976 (final)
Medalists Tatjana Kasankina ( URS )   Nikolina Schterewa ( BUL )   Elfi Zinn ( GDR )

The women's 800-meter run at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal was held on July 23, 24 and 26, 1976 in the Montreal Olympic Stadium. 35 athletes took part.

The Olympic champion was Tatjana Kasankina from the Soviet Union, who set a new world record in the final . Bulgarian Nikolina Schterewa won the silver medal, the bronze medal went to Elfi Zinn from the GDR.

In addition to the medalist, Doris Gluth and Anita Weiß also competed for the GDR. Both athletes reached the final just like Zinn. White was fourth, Gluth seventh. Maria Ritter from
Liechtenstein failed in her preliminary run. Runners from the Federal Republic of Germany, Switzerland and Austria did not take part.

Existing records

World record	1: 56.0 min	Valentina Gerasimowa ( Soviet Union )	Kiev , Soviet Union (now Ukraine )	June 12, 1976
Olympic record	1: 58.55 min	Hildegard Falck ( Federal Republic of Germany )	Final of Munich , Federal Republic of Germany	3rd September 1972

Conducting the competition

The athletes competed in five heats on July 23. The three best runners and the fastest after that made it to the semi-finals on July 24th. From this, the four best runners qualified for the final, which took place on July 26th.

Time schedule

July 23, 4:50 p.m .: Preliminaries
July 24
, 3:50 p.m . : Semi-finals July 26, 6:20 p.m .: Final

Note: All times are local Montreal time ( UTC − 5 )

The directly qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue, the others in light green.

Preliminary round

Date: July 23, 1976, from 4:50 p.m.

Forward 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Svetlana Styrkina	Soviet Union	2:00, 12 min
2	Judy Pollock	Australia	2: 00.66 min
3	Doris Gluth	GDR	2: 00.70 min
4th	Rita Thijs	Belgium	2: 04.39 min
5	Abby Hoffman	Canada	2: 05.32 min
6th	Carmen Valero	Spain	2: 06.14 min
7th	Lilja Guðmundsdóttir	Iceland	2: 07.26 min

Forward 2

GDR runner Anita Weiß - in the foreground - was Olympic champion

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Anita white	GDR	2: 00.48 min
2	Nikolina Shtereva	Bulgaria	2: 01.02 min
3	Gabriella Dorio	Italy	2: 01.63 min
4th	Jozefína Čerchlanová	Czechoslovakia	2: 02.36 min
5	Kathy Weston	United States	2: 03.31 min
6th	Joan Wenceslaus	Canada	2: 03.62 min
DNF	Chee Swee Lee	Singapore

Forward 3

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Svetla Slateva	Bulgaria	1: 59.24 min
2	Valentina Gerasimova	Soviet Union	1: 59.68 min
3	Wendy Knudson	United States	1: 59.91 min
4th	Mariana Suman	Romania	2: 00.00 min
5	Liz Barnes	Great Britain	2: 01.70 min
6th	Celestine N'Drin	Ivory Coast	2: 04.54 min
7th	Maria Ritter	Liechtenstein	2: 14.39 min

Forward 4

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Elfi tin	GDR	2: 01.54 min
2	Charlene Rendina	Australia	2: 01.76 min
3	Ileana Silai	Romania	2: 02.82 min
4th	Angela Creamer	Great Britain	2: 03.48 min
5	Magdolna Lázár	Hungary	2: 04.05 min
6th	Ileana Hocking	Puerto Rico	2: 08.46 min
7th	Ndew Niang	Senegal	2: 09.32 min
DNS	Nina Holmén	Finland

Forward 5

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Tatiana Kasankina	Soviet Union	2:00:15 min
2	Liljana Tomowa	Bulgaria	2: 00.54 min
3	Madeline Manning	United States	2: 00.62 min
4th	Yvonne Saunders	Canada	2: 03.54 min
5	Anne-Marie Van Nuffel	Belgium	2: 04.09 min
6th	Chris McMeekin	Great Britain	2: 04.54 min
7th	Anne Garrett	New Zealand	2: 05.78 min

Semifinals

Date: July 24, 1976, from 3:50 p.m.

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Anita white	GDR	1: 56.53 min	OR
2	Tatiana Kasankina	Soviet Union	1: 57.49 min
3	Svetla Slateva	Bulgaria	1: 57.93 min
4th	Doris Gluth	GDR	1: 59.32 min
5	Judy Pollock	Australia	1: 59.93 min
6th	Ileana Silai	Romania	2: 02.22 min
7th	Wendy Knudson	United States	2: 02.31 min
8th	Gabriella Dorio	Italy	2: 02.46 min

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Svetlana Styrkina	Soviet Union	1: 57.28 min
2	Nikolina Shtereva	Bulgaria	1: 57.35 min
3	Elfi tin	GDR	1: 57.56 min
4th	Mariana Suman	Romania	2:00:01 min
5	Charlene Rendina	Australia	2: 00.29 min
6th	Valentina Gerasimova	Soviet Union	2: 01.00 min
7th	Liljana Tomowa	Bulgaria	2: 01.97 min
8th	Madeline Manning	United States	2: 07.25 min

final

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Tatiana Kasankina	Soviet Union	1: 54.94 min	WR
2	Nikolina Shtereva	Bulgaria	1: 55.42 min
3	Elfi tin	GDR	1: 55.60 min
4th	Anita white	GDR	1: 55.74 min
5	Svetlana Styrkina	Soviet Union	1: 56.44 min
6th	Svetla Slateva	Bulgaria	1: 57.21 min
7th	Doris Gluth	GDR	1: 58.99 min
8th	Mariana Suman	Romania	2: 02.21 min

Date: July 26, 1976, 6:20 p.m.

The Soviet runners had been considered the favorites for the medals before these games. However, it was already evident in the semi-finals that there were other strong middle distance athletes among the participants who would definitely have a say. In the first preliminary decision, Anita Weiß from the GDR, previously known under her name Anita Barkusky, set a new Olympic record in a courageous solo effort and in the second, equally quick semi-final, Bulgarian Nikolina Schterewa and GDR runner Elfi Zinn were only narrowly beaten Second and third behind Svetlana Styrkina from the USSR. In addition, the world record holder Valentin Gerasimowa could not prevail in her semifinals and was eliminated.

The final race was initially determined by Elfi Zinn, but before the end of the first lap she was overtaken by several runners. The pace was very fast right from the start. On the back straight, Tatiana Kasankina, USSR, who was sixth, pulled again strongly and overtook the participants in front of her on the outside. On the home straight she sprinted towards the Olympic victory and won the gold medal in a new world record time. In second place was Nikolina Schterewa, only 18 hundredths of a second behind, Elfi Zinn won bronze in front of Anita Weiß. The four first-placed runners all undercut Gerasimowa's previously valid world record.

Nikolina Schtereva won the first Bulgarian medal over 800 meters .

Four days later, Tatjana Kasankina won the double in the middle distance with her victory over 1500 meters .

literature

• Ernst Huberty / Willy B. Wange, The Olympic Games Montreal Innsbruck 1976, Lingen-Verlag, Cologne 1976, p. 242

Video

• Extraordinarily Strong Women's 800 meters run at the 1976 Summer Olympics , first semifinals, posted May 20, 2016 on youtube.com, accessed December 19

Web links

• SportsReference 800m , accessed December 19, 2017
• Montréal 1976 Official Report, Volume III, Results , p. 34f, English / French (PDF, 23 MB), accessed on December 19, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009 Page 642 (Engl.) ( Memento of 29 June 2011 at the Internet Archive ), accessed on 19 December 2017
2. ↑ Montréal 1976 Official Report, Volume III, Results , p. 23, English / French (PDF, 23 MB), accessed on December 19, 2017
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Montréal 1976 Official Report, Volume III, Results , p. 35, English / French (PDF, 23 MB), accessed on December 19, 2017
4. ↑ SportsReference , accessed December 19, 2017