2000 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 800 m (women)

sport	athletics
discipline	800 meter run
gender	Women
Attendees	38 athletes from 30 countries
Competition location	Stadium Australia
Competition phase	September 22, 2000 (preliminary round) September 23, 2000 (semi-finals) September 25, 2000 (final)
Medalists Maria Mutola ( MOZ )   Stephanie Graf ( AUT )   Kelly Holmes ( GBR )

The women's 800-meter run at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney was held on September 22, 23 and 25, 2000 at Stadium Australia . 38 athletes took part.

The Olympic champion was the Mozambican Maria Mutola . She won ahead of the Austrian Stephanie Graf and Kelly Holmes from Great Britain.

Claudia Gesell started for Germany and was eliminated in the semifinals.
Athletes from Switzerland and Liechtenstein did not take part.

Current titleholders

Olympic champion 1996	Swetlana Masterkowa ( Russia )	1: 57.73 min	Atlanta 1996
World Champion 1999	Ludmila Formanová ( Czech Republic )	1: 56.68 min	Seville 1999
European Champion 1998	Jelena Afanassjewa ( Russia )	1: 58.50 min	Budapest 1998
Pan American Champion 1999	Letitia Vriesde ( Suriname )	1: 59.95 min	Winnipeg 1999
Central America and Caribbean champion 1999	Charmaine Howell ( Jamaica )	2: 03.85 min	Bridgetown 1999
South America Champion 1999	Luciana Mendes ( Brazil )	2: 05.62 min	Bogotá 1999
Asian Champion 2000	Lin Na ( People's Republic of China )	2: 03.46 min	Jakarta 2000
African champion 2000	Hasna Benhassi ( Morocco )	1: 59.01 min	Algiers 2000
Oceania Champion 2000	Rochelle Heron ( New Zealand )	2: 14.26 min	Adelaide 2000

Existing records

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

Note: All times are based on Sydney local time ( UTC + 10 ).

Preliminary round

A total of five preliminary runs were completed. 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 runners are highlighted in light blue, the lucky losers in light green.

Forward 1

September 22, 2000, 10:00 a.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	Maria Mutola	Mozambique	1: 59.88
2	Tamsyn Lewis	Australia	2: 00.33
3	Hasna Benhassi	Morocco	2: 00.50
4th	Natallja Duchnowa	Belarus	2: 03.20
5	Grace Birungi	Uganda	2: 03.32
6th	Olena Buschenko	Ukraine	2: 03.48
7th	Florencia Hunt	Netherlands Antilles	2: 03.78	NO
8th	Direma Banasso	Togo	2: 13.67

Forward 2

September 22, 2000, 10:07 a.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	Jearl Miles Clark	United States	2: 01.79
2	Brigita Langerholc	Slovenia	2: 01.89
3	Olga Raspopova	Russia	2: 01.95
4th	Letitia Vriesde	Suriname	2: 02.09
5	Amina Ait Hammou	Morocco	2: 03.25
6th	Leontine Tsiba	Republic of the Congo	2: 04.08	NO
7th	Elena Iagăr	Romania	2: 07.56
8th	Roda Ali Wais	Djibouti	2: 31.71

Forward 3

The Czech world champion Ludmila Formanová had to retire due to an injury in her preliminary run

September 22, 2000, 10:14 a.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	Mayte Martínez	Spain	1: 59.60
2	Irina Mistyukevich	Russia	1: 59.73
3	Zulia Calatayud	Cuba	2: 00.18
4th	Joetta Clark	United States	2: 00.19
5	Charmaine Howell	Jamaica	2: 01.14
6th	Christine Mukamutesi	Rwanda	2: 14.15
7th	Anhel Cape	Guinea-Bissau	2: 17.05
DNF	Ludmila Formanová	Czech Republic

Forward 4

September 22, 2000, 10:21 am

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	Kelly Holmes	Great Britain	2: 01.76
2	Hazel Clark	United States	2: 01.99
3	Natalia Zyganova	Russia	2: 02.26
4th	Sandra Stals	Belgium	2: 02.33
5	Susan Andrews	Australia	2: 03.31
6th	Irina Latve	Latvia	2: 06.05
7th	Delfina Cassinda	Angola	2: 15.02

Forward 5

The British Diane Modahl was eliminated as the fifth of her preliminary run

September 22, 2000, 10:28 a.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	Stephanie Graf	Austria	1: 58.39
2	Claudia Gesell	Germany	1: 58.56
3	Helena Fuchsová	Czech Republic	1: 58.97
4th	Toni Hodgkinson	New Zealand	1: 59.37
5	Diane Modahl	Great Britain	2: 02.41
6th	Adama Njie	Gambia	2: 07.90
7th	Anna Nassiljan	Armenia	2: 14.86
DNS	Tina Paulino	Mozambique

Semifinals

The first three 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 runners are highlighted in light blue, the lucky losers in light green.

Run 1

Race scene from the first semi-final:
Gesell (1906), Lewis (1122), Mutola (2588), Miles Clark (3362)

September 23, 2000, 7:10 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	Maria Mutola	Mozambique	1: 58.86
2	Hasna Benhassi	Morocco	1: 59.19
3	Zulia Calatayud	Cuba	1: 59.30
4th	Tamsyn Lewis	Australia	1: 59.33
5	Jearl Miles Clark	United States	1: 59.44
6th	Claudia Gesell	Germany	1: 59.69
7th	Charmaine Howell	Jamaica	2: 00.63
8th	Mayte Martínez	Spain	2: 03.27

Run 2

September 23, 2000, 7:17 pm

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	Stephanie Graf	Austria	1: 57.56
2	Kelly Holmes	Great Britain	1: 58.45
3	Helena Fuchsová	Czech Republic	1: 58.82
4th	Brigita Langerholc	Slovenia	1: 59.09	NO
5	Hazel Clark	United States	1: 59.12
6th	Toni Hodgkinson	New Zealand	1: 59.84
7th	Irina Mistyukevich	Russia	2: 02.95
8th	Joetta Clark	United States	2: 04.12

• 

  The Australian Tamsyn Lewis reached the semifinals and was eliminated there in fourth of her run

• 

  The co-favorite American Jearl Miles Clark was eliminated in fifth place in her semi-final run

• 

  The Spaniard Mayte Martínez finished eighth in her semi-final and did not reach the final

final

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	Maria Mutola	Mozambique	1: 56.15
2	Stephanie Graf	Austria	1: 56.64	NO
3	Kelly Holmes	Great Britain	1: 56.80
4th	Brigita Langerholc	Slovenia	1: 58.51	NO
5	Helena Fuchsová	Czech Republic	1: 58.56
6th	Zulia Calatayud	Cuba	1: 58.66
7th	Hazel Clark	United States	1: 58.75
8th	Hasna Benhassi	Morocco	1: 59.17

September 25, 2000, 9:35 p.m.

Eight athletes from eight different nations qualified for the final.

After the reigning world champion , the Czech Ludmila Formanová, was eliminated in the preliminary round due to injury, the favorite role fell to the vice world champion Maria Mutola from Mozambique. Her main competitors were the US World Cup fourth Jearl Miles Clark and the Austrian Stephanie Graf, who had only finished seventh at the previous World Championships, but had improved a lot in the Olympic season. Mutola's training colleague Kelly Holmes from Great Britain was also eligible for the medals. Miles Clark, however, was eliminated in the semi-finals.

The first lap of the final race was determined by the Czech Helena Fuchsová. She set a high pace, the 400-meter split was 55.04 seconds. That was an excellent basis for a very good end time. The field was expanded accordingly and there were already gaps. Fuchsová now even pulled away from her opponents a little, but on the back straight the Slovenian Brigita Langerholc and the American Hazel Clark came up again. After 600 meters the situation changed completely. Holmes now took over the lead, followed by Mutola and Graf, who fought for a good starting position with very close gaps in the target curve. The Moroccan Hasna Benhassi ran there on the very outside. At the beginning of the home straight, Holmes was leading, Mutola was behind her. But in the last fifty meters, Maria Mutola was the fastest and sprinted four meters ahead of Stephanie Graf, who was also able to overtake Kelly Holmes. The three medal winners had a clear lead over the next runners. Brigita Langerholc took fourth place ahead of Helena Fuchsová and the Cuban Zulia Calatayud.

Maria Mutola won the first ever Olympic gold medal for Mozambique.

Stephanie Graf was the first Austrian medalist in this discipline.

• 

  Olympic champion Maria Mutola from Mozambique

• 

  Silver medalist Stephanie Graf from Austria

• 

  Bronze medalist Kelly Holmes, Great Britain

• 

  The US Olympic seventh Hazel Clark

Web links

• SportsReference 800m , accessed April 5, 2018
• Results on the IAAF website , accessed April 5, 2018
• Official Report of the XXVIIth Olympiad, Results , English / French (PDF, 17,708 MB), accessed on April 5, 2018

Video

• 2000, Olympic Games, 800m, Women, Final, Sydney , published June 17, 2013 on youtube.com, accessed April 4, 2018

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Beijing 2015, page 795 , accessed on April 5, 2018