1992 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 800 m (women)

sport	athletics
discipline	800 meter run
gender	Women
Attendees	36 athletes from 26 countries
Competition location	Olympic Stadium Barcelona
Competition phase	July 31, 1992 (preliminary round) August 1, 1992 (semi-finals) August 3, 1992 (final)
Medalists Ellen van Langen ( NED )   Lilija Nurutdinova ( EUN )   Ana Fidelia Quirot ( CUB )

The women's 800-meter run at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona was held in three rounds on July 31, August 1 and August 3, 1992 in the Barcelona Olympic Stadium. 36 athletes took part.

The Dutchwoman Ellen van Langen became Olympic champion . She won ahead of the Russian Lilija Nurutdinova , who started for the united team, and the Cuban Ana Fidelia Quirot .

Sigrun Grau , Christine Wachtel and Sabine Zwiener competed for Germany . Wachtel, 1988 silver medalist for the GDR, and Zwiener failed in the preliminary round. Grau, the 1988 Olympic champion - under her then name Wodars, was eliminated in the semifinals.
Athletes from Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein did not take part.

Current titleholders

Olympic champion in 1988	Sigrun Wodars ( GDR )	1: 56.10 min	Seoul 1988
World Champion 1991	Lilija Nurutdinova ( Soviet Union )	1: 57.50 min	Tokyo 1991
European champion in 1990	Sigrun Wodars ( GDR )	1: 55.87 min	Split 1990
Pan American Champion 1991	Ana Fidelia Quirot ( Cuba )	1: 58.71 min	Havana 1991
Central America and Caribbean champion 1991	Angelita Lind ( Puerto Rico )	2: 05.96 min	Xalapa 1991
South American Champion 1991	Maria Figueiredo ( Brazil )	2: 00.45 min	Manaus 1991
Asian champion 1991	Qu Yunxia ( People's Republic of China )	2: 04.65 min	Kuala Lumpur 1991
African champion 1992	Zwede Haile Mariam ( Ethiopia )	2: 06.20 min	Belle Vue Maurel 1992
Oceania Champion 1990	Helen Hawley ( New Zealand )	2: 09.35 min	Suva 1990

Existing records

World record	1: 53.28 min	Jarmila Kratochvilová ( Czechoslovakia )	Munich , Germany	July 26, 1983
Olympic record	1: 53.43 min	Nadija Olisarenko ( Soviet Union )	Final of Moscow , Soviet Union (today Russia )	July 27, 1980

Preliminary round

The gold and silver medal winners from 1988 failed even before the final: Christine Wachtel (left) in the prelim and Sigrun Grau (right) in the semi-finals

Date: July 31, 1992

The runners competed in a total of five preliminary runs. The first two athletes of each run qualified for the semi-finals. In addition, the six fastest drivers, 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	Sigrun Wodars	Germany	2: 00.31 min
2	Lilia Nurutdinova	EUN	2: 00.37 min
3	Diane Edwards	Great Britain	2: 00.39 min
4th	Shiny Abraham	India	2: 01.90 min
5	Stella Jongmans	Netherlands	2: 02.26 min
6th	Brigitte Nganaye	Central African Republic	2: 15.70 min
DSQ	Rosalie Gangué	Chad

Forward 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Joetta Clark	United States	1: 59.62 min
2	Ellen van Langen	Netherlands	1: 59.86 min
3	Carla Sacramento	Portugal	2: 00.57 min
4th	Christine Wachtel	Germany	2: 01.39 min
5	Paula Fryer	Great Britain	2: 02.72 min
6th	Sukanya Sang-Nguen	Thailand	2: 09.94 min
7th	Andrea Garae	Vanuatu	2: 28.61 min

Forward 3

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Ella Kovacs	Romania	1: 59.62 min
2	Letitia Vriesde	Suriname	1: 59.93 min
3	Julie Jenkins	United States	1: 59.96 min
4th	Sabine Zwiener	Germany	2: 00.87 min
5	Fabia Trabaldo	Italy	2: 01.44 min
6th	Sriyani Dhammika Manike	Sri Lanka	2: 03.85 min
7th	Prisca Singamo	Malawi	2: 20.84 min

Forward 4

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Inna Yevseeva	EUN	1: 58.58 min
2	Ana Fidelia Quirot	Cuba	1: 59.06 min
3	Charmaine Crooks	Canada	1: 59.52 min
4th	Lorraine Baker	Great Britain	2: 00.50 min
5	Liliana Sălăgeanu	Romania	2: 01.44 min
6th	Zewdie Haile Mariam	Ethiopia	2: 03.85 min
DSQ	Carol Galea	Malta

Forward 5

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Lyubov Gurina	EUN	2: 00.27 min
2	Maria de Lurdes Mutola	Mozambique	2: 00.83 min
3	Meredith Rainey	United States	2: 01.33 min
4th	Viviane Dorsile	France	2: 01.54 min
5	Amaya Andrés	Spain	2: 02.67 min
6th	Gladys Wamuyu	Kenya	2: 03.01 min
7th	Edith Nakiyingi	Uganda	2: 03.55 min
8th	Mantokoane Pitso	Lesotho	2: 29.77 min

Semifinals

The British Diane Edwards reached the semifinals, where she was eliminated as seventh of her run

Date: August 1, 1992

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

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Lilia Nurutdinova	EUN	1: 58.04 min
2	Maria de Lurdes Mutola	Mozambique	1: 58.16 min
3	Inna Yevseeva	EUN	1: 58.20 min
4th	Joetta Clark	United States	1: 58.22 min
5	Letitia Vriesde	Suriname	1: 58.28 min
6th	Charmaine Crooks	Canada	1: 58.55 min
7th	Lorraine Baker	Great Britain	2: 02.17 min
8th	Sabine Zwiener	Germany	2: 02.64 min

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Lyubov Gurina	EUN	2: 00.64 min
2	Ellen van Langen	Netherlands	2: 00.68 min
3	Ana Fidelia Quirot	Cuba	2: 00.86 min
4th	Ella Kovacs	Romania	2: 00.89 min
5	Sigrun gray	Germany	2: 00.91 min
6th	Carla Sacramento	Portugal	2: 02.85 min
7th	Diane Edwards	Great Britain	2: 04.32 min
8th	Julie Jenkins	United States	2: 06.53 min

final

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Ellen van Langen	Netherlands	1: 55.54 min
2	Lilia Nurutdinova	EUN	1: 55.99 min
3	Ana Fidelia Quirot	Cuba	1: 56.80 min
4th	Inna Yevseeva	EUN	1: 57.20 min
5	Maria de Lurdes Mutola	Mozambique	1: 57.49 min
6th	Ella Kovacs	Romania	1: 57.59 min
7th	Joetta Clark	United States	1: 58.06 min
8th	Lyubov Gurina	EUN	1: 58.13 min

Date: August 1, 1992

For the final on August 3, three athletes from the united team qualified. There was also one runner each from Cuba, Mozambique, the Netherlands, Romania and the USA.

After the 1988 Olympic champion and reigning European champion Sigrun Grau was eliminated in the semifinals, the favorite role was with the world champion Lilija Nurutdinowa, who started here for the united team, and the world’s best of the year, Ellen van Langen from the Netherlands. Other medal candidates were Vice World Champion Ana Fidelia Quirot from Cuba and the World Cup third Ella Kovacs from Romania.

In the final race, Nurutdinova took the lead, but could not break away from her pursuers. She was followed by Quirot and Maria Mutola from Mozambique, who placed behind Nurutdinova before the end of the first lap. The 400-meter split was very fast with 55.73 s. Mutola ran in the now following curve, slightly offset to the outside, closely behind the leading Russian. Van Langen always stayed smart on the inside lane in sixth place and had contact with the athletes running in front of her. On the back straight, the order in front didn't change, Nurutdinova continued ahead of Mutola and Quirot. He was followed by Kovacs, van Langen was now fifth and on the inside of the target curve passed the now declining Kovacs. Mutola and Quirot also cleared the inside lane at the start of the home straight, so that the Dutchwoman could orient herself further forward by the shortest possible route. Nurutdinova was still in the lead just ahead of van Langen. The distance to Mutola and Quirot, however, increased noticeably. In the last forty meters, Ellen van Langen passed Lilija Nurutdinova inside and secured the gold medal. In the battle for bronze, Ana Quirot finally prevailed. Maria Mutola, who now ran out of strength, even had to let Ukrainian Inna Evsejewa, who runs for the united team, pass. Ella Kovacs came in sixth behind, ahead of the American Joetta Clark and the Russian Lyubow Gurina, here participant of the combined team.

Ellen van Langen achieved the first Dutch Olympic victory over 800 meters for women.

Ana Fidelia Quirot won the first Cuban medal in this discipline.

Web links

• SportsReference 800m , accessed February 15, 2018
• Official report on the Olympic Games in Barcelona , athletics results: p. 68, Catalan / Spanish / English / French (PDF, 38.871 MB), accessed on February 15, 2018

Video

• Women's 800m Final Barcelona Olympics 1992 , published November 5, 2015 on youtube.com, accessed February 15, 2018

Individual evidence

1. ^ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Beijing 2015, page 795 , accessed on February 15, 2018
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Official report on the Olympic Games in Barcelona , athletics results: p. 68, Catalan / Spanish / English / French (PDF, 38.871 MB), accessed on February 15, 2018