Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's 800 metres

Summary

Kenya's David Rudisha entered the competition as the reigning 2012 Olympic champion and the 2015 World Champion. He also held the season's fastest time at 1:43.35 minutes. His principal challengers included Kenyans Alfred Kipketer and Ferguson Rotich, the African champion Nijel Amos of Botswana, and Olympic 1500 metres champion Taoufik Makhloufi.

In the first round, Amos was a surprise elimination, faring poorly at the end of a slow, tactical race. The semi-finals saw the elimination of world #1 Amel Tuka who has not shown evidence of his finishing kick this year, and world championship silver medalist Adam Kszczot. Frenchman Pierre-Ambroise Bosse and Algerian Makhloufi shared the semi-final's leading time of 1:43.85 in the first semi-final, with Rudisha just three hundredths slower. Kipketer won the third semi-final.

In the final, Kenyan trials winner Kipketer took the lead, closing off Rudisha's challenge after the break. Kipketer took the 200 in 23.2 and continued to lead at 400 in 49.3 but Rudisha was just a step behind. Through the turn, Rudisha went around Kipketer and accelerated down the backstretch. The next chaser was Bosse, in position to challenge at the 600 metres in 1:16.1, but most of the field was really in contention, within about a second. Through the final turn, Rudisha established separation, with Bosse the last to fall off. Taoufik Makhloufi tracked Bosse through the turn and sped by as they hit the straightaway. Makhloufi took off in chase of Rudisha but was too far back to make any headway. Clayton Murphy came from sixth place to sprint past Bosse to take the bronze.

While it was "only" Rudisha's eleventh best performance, only four other men have ever run faster. It was also Rudisha's best race since 2012. Makhloufi set the national record for Algeria and became the seventeenth fastest man in history. Murphy became #31 and the #3 American in history. Rudisha joined Douglas Lowe, Mal Whitfield and Peter Snell in defending the Olympic 800 metres championship, the first to accomplish the feat in over 50 years.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

The following national record was established during the competition:

Schedule

All times are Brasília Time (UTC−3).

Heats

Qualification rule: First 3 in each heat (Q) and the next 3 fastest (q) advance to the Semifinals.

Semifinals

Qualification rule: First 2 in each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest (q) advance to the Final.