1996 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 800 m (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	800 meter run
gender	Men
Attendees	56 athletes from 42 countries
Competition location	Centennial Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	July 28, 1996 (preliminary round) July 29, 1996 (semi-finals) July 31, 1996 (final)
Medalist Vebjørn Rodal ( NOR )   Hezekiél Sepeng ( RSA )   Frederick Onyancha ( KEN )

The men's 800-meter run at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta was held on July 28, 29 and 31, 1996 at the Centennial Olympic Stadium . 56 athletes took part.

Olympic champion was the Norwegian Vebjørn Rodal . He won ahead of the South African Hezekiél Sepeng and the Kenyan Frederick Onyancha .

German participants were Joachim Dehmel and Nico Motchebon . While Dehmel failed in the preliminary round, Motchebon qualified for the final, in which he finished fifth. André Bucher started
for Switzerland . He was eliminated in the semifinals. Athletes from Austria and Liechtenstein did not take part.

Current title holders

Olympic champion 1992	William Tanui ( Kenya )	1: 43.66 min	Barcelona 1992
World Champion 1995	Wilson Kipketer ( Denmark )	1: 45.08 min	Gothenburg 1995
European Champion 1994	Andrea Benvenuti ( Italy )	1: 46.12 min	Helsinki 1994
Pan American champion 1995	José Luíz Barbosa ( Brazil )	1: 46.02 min	Mar del Plata 1995
Central America and Caribbean champions 1995	Mario Watson ( Jamaica )	1: 46.88 min	Guatemala City 1995
South American Champion 1995	José Luíz Barbosa ( Brazil )	1: 46.16 min	Manaus 1995
Asian champion 1995	Kim Yong-hwan ( South Korea )	1: 50.05 min	Jakarta 1995
African champion 1996	Frederick Onyancha ( Kenya )	1: 46.69 min	Yaoundé 1996
Oceania Champion 1994	Mark Tonks ( New Zealand )	1: 50.38 min	Auckland 1994

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

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

Preliminary round

July 28, 1996, from 7:15 p.m.

The athletes competed in a total of eight heats. The first two athletes per run qualified for the semifinals. In addition, the eight 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 (min)	annotation
1	Vebjørn Rodal	Norway	1: 45.30
2	Curtis Robb	Great Britain	1: 45.85
3	José Luíz Barbosa	Brazil	1: 46.58
4th	David Matthews	Ireland	1: 46.76
5	Joachim Dehmel	Germany	1: 47.12
6th	Joseph Rakotoarimanana	Madagascar	1: 47.33
7th	Tommy Asinga	Suriname	1: 48.29

Forward 2

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	Philip Kibitok	Kenya	1: 45.34
2	Nico Motchebon	Germany	1: 45.82
3	Bruno Konczylo	France	1: 46.04
4th	Adem Hecini	Algeria	1: 47.23
5	Abdul Rahman Abdulla	Qatar	1: 48.52
6th	Flávio Godoy	Brazil	1: 48.91
7th	Chérif Baba Aidara	Mauritania	1: 56.20

Forward 3

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Norberto Téllez	Cuba	1: 47.24
2	Craig Winrow	Great Britain	1: 47.41
3	Pavel Soukup	Czech Republic	1: 47.67
4th	Andrés Manuel Díaz	Spain	1: 47.86
5	Atle Douglas	Norway	1: 48.60
6th	Cedric Harris	Dominica	1: 51.46
7th	Fernando Arlete	Guinea-Bissau	2: 00.07

Forward 4

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	David Kiptoo	Kenya	1: 45.11
2	Giuseppe D'Urso	Italy	1: 45.27
3	Johan Botha	South Africa	1: 45.63
4th	Jimmy Jean-Joseph	France	1: 45.64
5	Ibrahim Mohamed Aden	Somalia	1: 47.31
6th	Charles Nkazamyampi	Burundi	1: 47.95
7th	Tavakalo Kailes	Vanuatu	1: 55.07
8th	Naseer Ismail	Maldives	1: 58.70

Forward 5

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	Johnny Gray	United States	1: 45.87
2	Einārs Tupurītis	Latvia	1: 45.88
3	Savieri Ngidhi	Zimbabwe	1: 46.46
4th	Balázs Korányi	Hungary	1: 46.63
5	Antonio Abrantes	Portugal	1: 47.73
6th	Clive Terrelonge	Jamaica	1: 48.29
7th	Themba Makhanya	Swaziland	1: 59.02

Forward 6

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	Arthémon Hatungimana	Burundi	1: 47.10
2	Andrea Benvenuti	Italy	1: 47.45
3	Marius van Heerden	South Africa	1: 47.46
4th	David Strand	Great Britain	1: 47.96
5	Boris Kaweschnikow	Kyrgyzstan	1: 48.88
6th	José Parrilla	United States	1: 49.99
7th	Yaya Terap Adoum	Chad	1: 52.68

Forward 7

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	Benyounès Lahlou	Morocco	1: 45.85
2	Frederick Onyancha	Kenya	1: 46.07
3	Paul Byrne	Australia	1: 47.05
4th	Alex Morgan	Jamaica	1: 47.40
5	Mohamed Babiker	Sudan	1: 48.50
6th	Manlio Molinari	San Marino	1: 56.08
DNS	Roberto Parra	Spain

Forward 8

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	Hezekiél Sepeng	South Africa	1: 46.45
2	André Bucher	Switzerland	1: 46.85
3	Andrea Giocondi	Italy	1: 47.26
4th	Brandon Rock	United States	1: 48.47
5	Jean Derstine	Haiti	1: 48.82
6th	Saeed Basweidan	Yemen	1: 49.35
7th	Greg Rhymer	British Virgin Islands	1: 50.03

Semifinals

July 29, 1996, from 6:50 p.m.

From the three semi-finals, the first two athletes of each run qualified for the final. In addition, the two 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.

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	Hezekiél Sepeng	South Africa	1: 45.16
2	Nico Motchebon	Germany	1: 45.40
3	Philip Kibitok	Kenya	1: 45.58
4th	André Bucher	Switzerland	1: 46.41
5	Giuseppe D'Urso	Italy	1: 46.97
6th	Paul Byrne	Australia	1: 47.58
7th	Bruno Konczylo	France	1: 48.02
8th	Craig Winrow	Great Britain	1: 48.57

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	Benyounès Lahlou	Morocco	1: 43.99
2	Johnny Gray	United States	1: 44.00
3	Frederick Onyancha	Kenya	1: 44.02
4th	Arthémon Hatungimana	Burundi	1: 44.92
5	Savieri Ngidhi	Zimbabwe	1: 46.78
6th	Curtis Robb	Great Britain	1: 47.48
7th	Johan Botha	South Africa	1: 48.06
8th	José Luíz Barbosa	Brazil	1: 50.33

Run 3

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	Norberto Téllez	Cuba	1: 43.79
2	David Kiptoo	Kenya	1: 43.90
3	Vebjørn Rodal	Norway	1: 43.96
4th	Einārs Tupurītis	Latvia	1: 46.41
5	David Matthews	Ireland	1: 47.83
6th	Jimmy Jean-Joseph	France	1: 48.50
7th	Balázs Korányi	Hungary	1: 50.03
DNF	Andrea Benvenuti	Italy

final

The Norwegian Olympic champion Vebjørn Rodal

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	Vebjørn Rodal	Norway	1: 42.58	OR
2	Hezekiél Sepeng	South Africa	1: 42.74
3	Frederick Onyancha	Kenya	1: 42.79
4th	Norberto Téllez	Cuba	1: 42.85
5	Nico Motchebon	Germany	1: 43.91
6th	David Kiptoo	Kenya	1: 44.19
7th	Johnny Gray	United States	1: 44.21
8th	Benyounès Lahlou	Morocco	1: 45.52

July 31, 1996

Two Kenyans qualified for the final. The final field was completed by one starter each from Germany, Cuba, Morocco, Norway, South Africa and the USA.

The reigning world champion Wilson Kipketer from Kenya, who competed internationally for Denmark, could not compete. He had not yet received Danish citizenship and was therefore not approved by the Kenyan Association. The Kenyans Frederick Onyancha and David Kiptoo represented in the final were still relatively unknown and therefore difficult to assess. Vice World Champion Arthémon Hatungimana and also European Champion Andrea Benvenuti from Italy were eliminated in the semifinals. So it wasn't easy to find a favorite group for this race. These included the Norwegian World Cup third and European runner-up Vebjørn Rodal, the South African Hezekiél Sepeng and the German World Cup and European Championship fourth Nico Motchebon.

The final race was led for a long time by the American Johnny Gray, who competed here for the fourth time at the Olympic Games and set a very high pace. The 400 meter mark was even passed in less than fifty seconds with 49.55 s. Onyancha and the Moroccan Benyounès Lahlou followed in second and third place. On the back straight, Rodal, who had been lying further back up until then, oriented himself further forward past the field. In the last corner he was level with Gray, but had to run outside. Kiptoo and the Cuban Norberto Téllez sprinted right behind them. At the end of the bend nothing was decided, it was extremely tight. On the home stretch the order changed significantly again. Vebjørn Rodal prevailed with the best sprint to the finish and crossed the finish line as an Olympic champion. From the back field, the South African Hezekiél Sepeng overtook everyone else and won the silver medal just ahead of Frederick Onyancha. Both and fourth-placed Norberto Téllez were faster than the previous Olympic record set by Brazilian Joaquim Cruz in 1984 . Nico Motchebon was fifth ahead of David Kiptoo. Johnny Gray had no more strength on the home stretch and crossed the finish line in seventh place, while Moroccan Benyounès Lahlou finished eighth.

Vebjørn Rodal was the first Norwegian Olympic champion over 800 meters .

literature

• Gerd Rubenbauer (ed.), Olympic Summer Games Atlanta 1996 with reports by Britta Kruse, Johannes Ebert, Andreas Schmidt and Ernst Christian Schütt, comments: Gerd Rubenbauer and Hans Schwarz, Chronik Verlag im Bertelsmann Verlag, Gütersloh / Munich 1996, p. 33f

Web links

• SportsReference 800m , accessed February 26, 2018
• Official report, part III on the Olympic Games in Atlanta , athletics results: p. 74f, English / French (PDF, 13,520 MB), accessed on February 26, 2018

Video

• Men's 800m Final Atlanta Olympics 1996 , posted June 21, 2016 on youtube.com, accessed February 26, 2018

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Beijing 2015, page 669 , accessed on February 26, 2018
2. ↑ Official Report, Part III on the Olympic Games in Atlanta ( Memento of the original from October 7, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Athletics results: p. 74f, English / French (PDF, 13,520 MB), accessed on February 26, 2018 
3. ↑ ^{a b} Official Report, Part III on the Olympic Games in Atlanta ( Memento of the original from October 7, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Results athletics: p. 75, English / French (PDF, 13,520 MB), accessed on February 26, 2018