Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Men's 800 metres


The men's 800 metres was the middle of the seven men's track races in the Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics program in Tokyo. It was held on 14 October, 15 October, and 16 October 1964. 47 athletes from 32 nations entered, with one not starting the first round. The first round was held on 14 October, with the semifinals on 15 October and the final on 16 October.

Summary

The runners used a crouch start without blocks and a single turn stagger start. Returning to the final from four years earlier were defending champion Peter Snell and bronze medalist George Kerr. While Snell started strongly, he found himself in third place at the break, led by aggressive front-running by Wilson Kiprugut. As others moved forward, Snell found himself boxed along the rail, so as the runners came onto the home stretch he had to slow to come out the back of the box, then as the bell approached, he glided along the outside to catch up to Kiprugut and Kerr in the lead. With free running room, Snell kept going, taking the lead on the penultimate turn. After establishing a three-metre lead, he held his position, even extending it a little to take the repeat gold. Down the backstretch, Bill Crothers made his way around Kiprugut while Kerr was trying to chase down Snell. Crothers came off the final turn with more speed, passing Kerr on the home stretch. Kerr began to struggle. Snell was too far ahead for Crothers to catch, but Kiprugut closed down on Kerr, passing him and sealing the bronze medal with a dip at the finish.
Snell became the third to defend his 800-metre title after Douglas Lowe and Mal Whitfield. The feat would not be accomplished again for 52 years until David Rudisha repeated in 2016. Kiprugut won Kenya's first ever Olympic medal, unleashing a floodgate of national dominance in distance running events, particularly the 3000 meters steeplechase in subsequent Olympics.

Results

First round

The top four runners in each of the 6 heats advanced.

First round, heat 1

PlaceAthleteNationTime
1Wilson Kiprugut1:47.8
2Tom Farrell1:48.6
3Valery Bulyshev1:48.6
4Joseph Lambrechts1:48.9
5François Châtelet1:48.9
6Ibrahim Yazdan Panah1:54.7
7Hugo Walser1:57.5
8Nipon Pensuvabharp1:58.8

First round, heat 2

PlaceAthleteNationTime
1Dieter Bogatzki1:50.3
2Stig Lindback1:50.8
3Chris Carter1:51.0
4Pekka Juutilainen1:51.0
5Neville Myton1:52.4
6Michel Medinger1:52.6
7Dulamyn Amarsanaa1:56.3
8Anar Khan1:56.4

First round, heat 3

PlaceAthleteNationTime
1Manfred Kinder1:49.5
2Ahmed Issa1:49.7
3Derek McCleane1:49.9
4Rein Tölp1:50.0
5Peter Francis1:50.1
6Morgan Groth1:51.4
7José Neira1:55.6
8Ramasamy Subramaniam1:58.5

First round, heat 4

PlaceAthleteNationTime
1Peter Snell1:49.0
2Jerome Francis Siebert1:49.2
3Jacques Pennewaert1:49.2
4Abram Krivosheev1:49.5
5Alan Dean1:49.6
6Jeong Gyo-mo1:51.8
7Don Bertoia1:52.2
8Sebsibe Mamo1:52.8

First round, heat 5

PlaceAthleteNationTime
1John Boulter1:48.9
2George E. Kerr1:48.9
3Tony Blue1:49.7
4Manfred Matuschewski1:50.0
5Noel Carroll1:51.1
6Rolf Jelinek1:54.6
—Amos GiladDid not finish

First round, heat 6

PlaceAthleteNationTime
1William Crothers1:49.3
2Maurice Lurot1:49.8
3Mamoru Morimoto1:49.9
4Rudolf Klaban1:49.9
5Francesco Bianchi1:50.2
6Paul Roekaerts1:50.9
7Patrick Field1:54.0
8Hassan Dyamwale1:54.9

Semifinals

The top two runners in each of the three semifinals qualified for the final, as did the two runners with the fastest times from among the 3rd-8th spots across all of the semifinals.

Semifinal 1

PlaceAthleteNationTime
1Peter Snell1:46.9
2Jerome Francis Siebert1:47.0
3Jacques Pennewaert1:47.0
4Manfred Matuschewski1:47.3
5Valery Bulyshev1:47.5
6Morimoto Mamoru1:47.7
7Maurice Lurot1:49.7
8Stig Lindback1:49.8

Semifinal 2

Kerr and Kiprugut both crossed the finish line in 1:46.1, breaking the old Olympic record of 1:46.3.
PlaceAthleteNationTime
1George E. Kerr1:46.1 OR
2Wilson Kiprugut1:46.1 OR
3Dieter Bogatzki1:46.9
4John Peter Boulter1:47.1
5Rudolf Klaban1:47.4
6Abram Krivosheev1:47.5
7Derek George McCleane1:48.4
8Pekka Juutilainen1:50.3

Semifinal 3

PlaceAthleteNationTime
1William Crothers1:47.3
2Tom Farrell1:47.8
3Manfred Kinder1:47.9
4Chris Carter1:49.1
5Rein Tölp1:49.1
6Ahmed Issa1:49.4
7Tony Blue1:49.6
8Joseph Lambrechts1:52.8

Final

No fewer than four runners broke the Olympic record that had been set in the semifinals, including the two runners that had set it. Despite the record performances by the other three runners, defending Olympic champion and world record holder Peter Snell still won by half a second to take the gold medal and set the new Olympic record at 1:45.1.
PlaceAthleteNationTime
1Peter Snell1:45.1 OR
2William Crothers1:45.6
3Wilson Kiprugut1:45.9
4George E. Kerr1:45.9
5Tom Farrell1:46.6
6Jerome Francis Siebert1:47.0
7Dieter Bogatzki1:47.2
8Jacques Pennewaert1:50.5