# Athletics at the 1983 Summer Universiade – Men's 800 metres

The men's 800 metres event at the 1983 Summer Universiade was held at the Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Canada, on 8, 10 and 11 July 1983.

## Medalists

| Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Ryszard Ostrowski Poland | Graham Williamson Great Britain | Mohamed Alouini Tunisia |

## Results
### Heats

| Rank | Heat | Athlete | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | Chris McGeorge | Great Britain | 1:48.17 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | Konstantin Russkikh | Soviet Union | 1:48.32 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | André Lavie | France | 1:48.48 | Q |
| 4 | 5 | Takatsune Teranishi | Japan | 1:48.73 | q |
| 5 | 3 | James Mays | United States | 1:49.06 | Q |
| 6 | 3 | Mohamed Alouini | Tunisia | 1:49.12 | Q |
| 7 | 4 | Graham Williamson | Great Britain | 1:49.14 | Q |
| 8 | 4 | Babacar Niang | Senegal | 1:49.25 | Q |
| 9 | 4 | Stefano Cecchini | Italy | 1:49.39 | Q |
| 10 | 1 | Viktor Kalinkin | Soviet Union | 1:49.42 | Q |
| 11 | 4 | Andres Garcia | France | 1:49.45 | |
| 12 | 3 | Petru Drăgoescu | Romania | 1:49.57 | Q |
| 13 | 3 | Riccardo Materazzi | Italy | 1:49.58 | |
| 14 | 3 | Simon Hoogewerf | Canada | 1:49.93 | |
| 15 | 4 | Steven Burgess | Bermuda | 1:50.24 | |
| 16 | 2 | Mark Handelsman | Israel | 1:50.62 | Q |
| 17 | 5 | Kim Bok-joo | South Korea | 1:50.70 | |
| 18 | 2 | Ryszard Ostrowski | Poland | 1:50.73 | Q |
| 19 | 2 | Ulrich Karck | West Germany | 1:50.95 | Q |
| 20 | 1 | Stanley Redwine | United States | 1:51.11 | Q |
| 21 | 2 | Paul Gilbert | Australia | 1:51.24 | |
| 22 | 1 | Moussa Fall | Senegal | 1:51.75 | Q |
| 23 | 1 | Jama Aden | Somalia | 1:52.20 | |
| 24 | 2 | Ghislain Obounga | Congo | 1:52.88 | |
| 25 | 1 | Christian Cifuentes | Chile | 1:53.05 | |
| 26 | 2 | Balbr Singh Basra | India | 1:53.15 | |
| 27 | 3 | Fernando Fonseca | Angola | 1:54.20 | |
| 28 | 1 | Alberto López | Guatemala | 1:55.18 | |
| 29 | 4 | Andrew Boyd | Jamaica | 1:55.18 | |
| 30 | 5 | Héctor Juarez | Guatemala | 1:58.56 | |
| 31 | 3 | Gideon Mthembu | Swaziland | 2:01.70 | |

### Semifinals

| Rank | Heat | Athlete | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Viktor Kalinkin | Soviet Union | 1:47.78 | Q |
| 2 | 1 | Mark Handelsman | Israel | 1:48.08 | Q |
| 3 | 1 | James Mays | United States | 1:48.09 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | Ryszard Ostrowski | Poland | 1:48.16 | q |
| 5 | 2 | Stanley Redwine | United States | 1:48.26 | Q |
| 6 | 1 | Chris McGeorge | Great Britain | 1:48.29 | q |
| 6 | 2 | Graham Williamson | Great Britain | 1:48.29 | Q |
| 8 | 2 | Mohamed Alouini | Tunisia | 1:48.89 | Q |
| 9 | 1 | Babacar Niang | Senegal | 1:49.05 | |
| 10 | 2 | Ulrich Karck | West Germany | 1:49.22 | |
| 11 | 1 | Takatsune Teranishi | Japan | 1:50.05 | |
| 12 | 2 | Konstantin Russkikh | Soviet Union | 1:50.31 | |
| 13 | 2 | André Lavie | France | 1:50.94 | |
| 14 | 2 | Stefano Cecchini | Italy | 1:51.92 | |
| 15 | 1 | Moussa Fall | Senegal | 1:54.76 | |
| | 2 | Petru Drăgoescu | Romania | ?:??.?? | |

### Final

| Rank | Athlete | Nationality | Time |
| | Ryszard Ostrowski | Poland | 1:46.29 |
| | Graham Williamson | Great Britain | 1:46.66 |
| | Mohamed Alouini | Tunisia | 1:46.75 |
| 4 | James Mays | United States | 1:46.76 |
| 5 | Mark Handelsman | Israel | 1:46.87 |
| 6 | Chris McGeorge | Great Britain | 1:48.13 |
| 7 | Viktor Kalinkin | Soviet Union | 1:49.07 |
| 8 | Stanley Redwine | United States | 1:50.98 |