Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's 800 metres

The Men's 800 metres competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom, was held at the Olympic Stadium on 6–9 August.

Contents

• Competition format
• Records
• Schedule
• Round 1
• Semifinals
• References

Reigning world champion David Rudisha won the race in 1:40.91, becoming the first person to break 1:41 and improving on his own world record (the first world record in an Olympic men's 800m final since 1976). The reigning world junior champion Nigel Amos finished second in 1:41.73, establishing a new world junior record and Botswana national record. In an exceptionally fast final, all runners except Abubaker Kaki (who ran a seasonal best) set personal bests, including three national records (Kenya, Botswana, and Ethiopia). The finishing times were the fastest recorded for each placing and it constituted the first time that eight athletes ran under 1:44 in the same race. All the athletes in the race produced times that would have won the final in Beijing. The eighth-place finisher, Andrew Osagie, produced a time that would have won the gold medal at all but three of the previous Olympic 800m finals.

Rudisha led from the start of the race, easing from lane 4 to the break with a determined Kaki in tow. By the halfway mark in 49.28 Mohammed Aman lined up off Kaki's shoulder. During the next 200 meters, Rudisha put a gap on the field and Kaki began falling back. The scramble was on to see who had anything left or, like Kaki, who would pay the price. As Rudisha showed the strain of his effort, Nigel Amos and Timothy Kitum started to make up a little of the ground Rudisha had built up. Running at the back of the field, Duane Solomon and Nick Symmonds made a late run, finishing just a step out of the medals.

Amos' silver medal was the first Olympic medal ever for Botswana.