1988 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 800 m (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	800 meter run
gender	Men
Attendees	70 athletes from 52 countries
Competition location	Seoul Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	September 23, 1988 (preliminary round) September 24, 1988 (quarter-finals) September 25, 1988 (semi-finals) September 26, 1988 (final)
Medalist Paul Ereng ( KEN )   Joaquim Cruz ( BRA )   Saïd Aouita ( MAR )

The men's 800-meter race at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul was held from September 23 to 26, 1988 in four rounds in the Seoul Olympic Stadium. Seventy athletes took part.

The Kenyan Paul Ereng was Olympic champion . He won ahead of the Brazilian Joaquim Cruz and the Moroccan Saïd Aouita .

With Peter Braun , a runner from the Federal Republic of Germany took part. Braun was eliminated in the semifinals.
Runners from the GDR, Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein did not take part.

Current title holders

Olympic champion 1984	Joaquim Cruz ( Brazil )	1: 43.00 min	Los Angeles 1984
World Champion 1987	Billy Konchellah ( Kenya )	1: 43.06 min	Rome 1987
European champion 1986	Sebastian Coe ( Great Britain )	1: 44.50 min	Stuttgart 1986
Pan American champion 1987	Johnny Gray ( USA )	1: 46.79 min	Indianapolis 1987
Central America and Caribbean Champion 1987	William Wuycke ( Venezuela )	1: 49.10 min	Caracas 1987
South America Champion 1987	Luis Migueles ( Argentina )	1: 47.35 min	São Paulo 1987
Asian champion 1987	Mohamed Ismail Youssef ( Qatar )	1: 47.81 min	Singapore 1987
African Champion 1988	Babacar Niang ( Senegal )	1: 46.99 min	Annaba 1988

Existing records

World record	1: 41.73 min	Sebastian Coe ( Great Britain )	Florence , Italy	June 10, 1981
Olympic record	1: 43.00 min	Joaquim Cruz ( Brazil )	Los Angeles final , USA	August 6, 1984

Preliminary round

Date: September 23, 1988

The athletes competed in a total of nine heats. For the quarter-finals, the three winners in each run qualified. In addition, the five fastest times, the so-called lucky losers , made it through. The directly qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue, the lucky losers in light green.

Forward 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Faouzi Lahbi	Morocco	1: 47.82 min
2	Nixon Kiprotich	Kenya	1: 48.68 min
3	Ryszard Ostrowski	Poland	1: 49.04 min
4th	Moussa case	Senegal	1: 49.14 min
5	Spyros Spyrou	Cyprus	1: 49.84 min
6th	Porfirio Méndez	Paraguay	1: 50.72 min
7th	Mansour Al-Baloushi	Oman	1: 51.03 min
8th	Yussuf Moli Yesky	Chad	1: 57.97 min

Forward 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Babacar Niang	Senegal	1: 47.65 min
2	Steve Cram	Great Britain	1: 47.77 min
3	Donato Sabia	Italy	1: 47.84 min
4th	Mohamed Ismail Youssef	Qatar	1: 48.20 min
5	Yu Tae-gyeong	South Korea	1: 48.61 min
6th	Eversley Linley	St. Vincent and the Grenadines	1: 51.71 min
7th	Lui Muavesi	Fiji	1: 54.48 min
DSQ	Haji Bakr Al-Qahtani	Saudi Arabia

Forward 3

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Johnny Gray	United States	1: 48.83 min
2	Ari Suhonen	Finland	1: 48.90 min
3	Ibrahim Okash	Somalia	1: 48.97 min
4th	Antonio Abrantes	Portugal	1: 49.01 min
5	Mauricio Hernández	Mexico	1: 49.03 min
6th	Kenneth Dzekedzeke	Malawi	1: 50.60 min
7th	Kuang-Liang Lin	Chinese Taipei	1: 52.95 min

Forward 4

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Vladimir Graudin	Soviet Union	1: 48.90 min
2	Pablo Squella	Chile	1: 48.99 min
3	Álvaro Silva	Portugal	1: 49.09 min
4th	Mark Everett	United States	1: 49.86 min
5	Michael Watson	Bermuda	1: 50.16 min
6th	Syed Meesaq Rizvi	Pakistan	1: 51.58 min
7th	Manlio Molinari	San Marino	1: 52.35 min
8th	John Siguria	Papua New Guinea	1: 56.12 min

Forward 5

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Said Aouita	Morocco	1: 49.67 min
2	Simon Hoogewerf	Canada	1: 49.76 min
3	Cheikh Tidiane Boye	Senegal	1: 49.89 min
4th	Tracy Baskin	United States	1: 50.38 min
5	Ado Maude	Nigeria	1: 50.48 min
6th	Eulucane Ndagijimana	Rwanda	1: 52.08 min
7th	Maher Abbas	Lebanon	1: 53.76 min
8th	David Sawyerr	Sierra Leone	1: 57.88 min

Forward 6

The Dutchman Rob Druppers reached the quarter-finals and was eliminated there in fifth of his run

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Peter Braun	BR Germany	1: 47.32 min
2	Rob Druppers	Netherlands	1: 47.48 min
3	Tonino Viali	Italy	1: 47.74 min
4th	Kebapetse Gaseitiwe	Botswana	1: 48.08 min
5	Agberto Guimarães	Brazil	1: 48.49 min
6th	Fahmi Abdul Wahab	North Yemen	1: 55.24 min
7th	Baba Njie	Gambia	1: 55.57 min
8th	Nimley Twegbe	Liberia	1: 58.43 min

Forward 7

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Peter Elliott	Great Britain	1: 46.83 min
2	Robin van Helden	Netherlands	1: 46.99 min
3	Juma Ndiwa	Kenya	1: 47.11 min
4th	Tomás de Teresa	Spain	1: 47.32 min
5	Ahmed Belkessam	Algeria	1: 47.96 min
6th	Duan Xiuquan	People's Republic of China	1: 52.17 min
DSQ	Tommy Asinga	Suriname
	Kazanga Makok	Zaire

Forward 8

Josep Gralls was the first Andorra athlete to take part in the Olympic Games.

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Paul Ereng	Kenya	1: 46.14 min
2	José Luíz Barbosa	Brazil	1: 46.32 min
3	Slobodan Popović	Yugoslavia	1: 46.49 min
4th	Colomán Trabado	Spain	1: 46.76 min
5	Paul Osland	Canada	1: 47.16 min
6th	Mohamed Hossain Milzer	Bangladesh	1: 51.16 min
7th	Josep Gralls	Andorra	1: 55.57 min

Forward 9

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Joaquim Cruz	Brazil	1: 47.16 min
2	Tom McKean	Great Britain	1: 47.24 min
3	Melford Homela	Zimbabwe	1: 47.36 min
4th	Reda Abdenouz	Algeria	1: 47.67 min
5	Dale Jones	Antigua and Barbuda	1: 49.31 min
6th	João N'Tyamba	Angola	1: 53.23 min
7th	Oslen Barr	Guyana	1: 55.95 min
8th	William Taramai	Cook Islands	1: 58.80 min

Quarter finals

Date: September 24, 1988

The first four athletes (highlighted in light blue) qualified for the semi-finals in each of the four races.

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Joaquim Cruz	Brazil	1: 46.10 min
2	Paul Ereng	Kenya	1: 46.38 min
3	Cheikh Tidiane Boye	Senegal	1: 46.62 min
4th	Reda Abdenouz	Algeria	1: 46.97 min
5	Vladimir Graudin	Soviet Union	1: 47.07 min
6th	Paul Osland	Canada	1: 48.02 min
7th	Tonino Viali	Italy	1: 50.85 min
DNF	Ari Suhonen	Finland

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Johnny Gray	United States	1: 45.96 min
2	Simon Hoogewerf	Canada	1: 45.99 min
3	José Luíz Barbosa	Brazil	1: 46.20 min
4th	Ibrahim Okash	Somalia	1: 46.55 min
5	Rob Druppers	Netherlands	1: 46.91 min
6th	Juma Ndiwa	Kenya	1: 47.27 min
7th	Faouzi Lahbi	Morocco	1: 57.32 min
DSQ	Tom McKean	Great Britain		Obstruction of competitors by using elbows

Run 3

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Said Aouita	Morocco	1: 45.24 min
2	Slobodan Popović	Yugoslavia	1: 45.30 min
3	Babacar Niang	Senegal	1: 45.38 min
4th	Nixon Kiprotich	Kenya	1: 45.68 min
5	Pablo Squella	Chile	1: 46.45 min
6th	Steve Cram	Great Britain	1: 46.47 min
7th	Robin van Helden	Netherlands	1: 46.61 min
8th	Tomás de Teresa	Spain	1: 48.01 min

Run 4

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Donato Sabia	Italy	1: 46.58 min
2	Peter Elliott	Great Britain	1: 46.61 min
3	Alvaro Silva	Portugal	1: 46.65 min
4th	Peter Braun	BR Germany	1: 46.86 min
5	Ahmed Belkessam	Algeria	1: 46.93 min
6th	Ryszard Ostrowski	Poland	1: 47.72 min
7th	Colomán Trabado	Spain	1: 48.12 min
8th	Melford Homela	Zimbabwe	1: 49.62 min

Semifinals

Date: September 25, 1988

The first four athletes in each of the two runs qualified for the final (highlighted in light blue).

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Paul Ereng	Kenya	1: 44.55 min
2	Joaquim Cruz	Brazil	1: 44.75 min
3	Donato Sabia	Italy	1: 44.90 min
4th	Peter Elliott	Great Britain	1: 44.94 min
5	Babacar Niang	Senegal	1: 45.09 min
6th	Slobodan Popović	Yugoslavia	1: 45.11 min
7th	Simon Hoogewerf	Canada	1: 47.30 min
8th	Peter Braun	BR Germany	1: 47.43 min

Run 2

The Moroccan Saïd Aouita won the bronze medal

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Nixon Kiprotich	Kenya	1: 44.71 min
2	Said Aouita	Morocco	1: 44.79 min
3	José Luíz Barbosa	Brazil	1: 44.99 min
4th	Johnny Gray	United States	1: 45.04 min
5	Alvaro Silva	Portugal	1: 45.12 min
6th	Cheikh Tidiane Boye	Senegal	1: 45.93 min
7th	Reda Abdenouz	Algeria	1: 45.95 min
8th	Ibrahim Okash	Somalia	1: 46.62 min

final

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Paul Ereng	Kenya	1: 43.45 min
2	Joaquim Cruz	Brazil	1: 43.90 min
3	Said Aouita	Morocco	1: 44.06 min
4th	Peter Elliott	Great Britain	1: 44.12 min
5	Johnny Gray	United States	1: 44.80 min
6th	José Luíz Barbosa	Brazil	1: 46.39 min
7th	Donato Sabia	Italy	1: 48.03 min
8th	Nixon Kiprotich	Kenya	1: 49.55 min

Date: September 26, 1988

Two Brazilians and two Kenyans had qualified for the final. The field was completed by one runner each from Great Britain, the USA, Morocco and Italy.

The favorites were the Moroccan Saïd Aouita, Olympic champion of 1984 over 5000 meters , who was very strong on all distances between 800 and 10,000 meters , the 800-meter Olympic champion of 1984 Joaquim Cruz from Brazil, the British Peter Elliott, vice world champion from 1987 , and the World Cup third José Luíz Barbosa from Brazil.

The final was initially led by Kenyan Nixon Kiprotich, who approached the race at an extremely fast pace. At around 350 meters, Barbosa took the lead. The 400 meters were passed in 49.54 s, which was the course for a new world record . The field was stretched wide. But now it was slowing down and the runners came closer together again. In front were Cruz and Kiprotich, who attacked again on the back straight, but fell back a little later. In the finish curve, Cruz was back in the lead, with Elliott and Aouita attacking on the outside. At the start of the home stretch, Cruz led with a small gap in front of Elliott, the Kenyan inside Paul Ereng and Aouita. In the last fifty meters, Paul Ereng, who went into the race as an outsider, played out his reserves of strength, passed Cruz 30 meters from the finish and won the gold medal. Joaquim Cruz was able to secure the silver medal from Saïd Aouita. Peter Elliott finished fourth ahead of US runner Johnny Gray. Behind them came José Luíz Barbosa, the Italian Donato Sabia and, last, Nixon Kiprotich.

Paul Ereng ran for the first Kenyan Olympic victory over 800 meters.

Saïd Aouita won the first Moroccan medal in this discipline.

Web links

• SportsReference 800m , accessed January 23, 2018
• Official report on the Olympic Games in Seoul Volume two, part two , athletics results: pp. 224–226, English / French (PDF, 25.64 MB), accessed on January 23, 2018

Video

• 800m. 1988 Olympic Games, Seoul. (Ereng / Cruz / Aouita) , published February 24, 2016 on youtube.com, accessed January 23, 2018

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Beijing 2015, page 669 , accessed on January 23, 2018
2. ↑ Official report on the Olympic Games in Seoul Volume two, part two , Athletics results: p. 224f, English / French (PDF, 25.64 MB), accessed on January 23, 2018
3. ↑ Official report on the Olympic Games in Seoul Volume two, part two , athletics results: p. 225f, English / French (PDF, 25.64 MB), accessed on January 23, 2018
4. ↑ ^{a b} Official report on the Olympic Games in Seoul Volume two, part two , Athletics results: p. 226, English / French (PDF, 25.64 MB), accessed on January 23, 2018