# Athletics at the 1997 Summer Universiade – Men's 800 metres

The men's 800 metres event at the 1997 Summer Universiade was held at the Stadio Cibali in Catania, Italy, on 29 and 30 August.

## Medalists

| Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Norberto Téllez Cuba | Hezekiél Sepeng South Africa | Bryan Woodward United States |

## Results
### Heats

Held on 29 August
| Rank | Heat | Athlete | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Djabir Saïd-Guerni | Algeria | 1:48.13 | Q |
| 2 | 6 | Oleg Stepanov | Russia | 1:48.35 | Q |
| 3 | 1 | Balázs Tölgyesi | Hungary | 1:48.47 | Q |
| 4 | 3 | Shaun Benefield | United States | 1:48.73 | Q |
| 5 | 3 | Andy Hart | Great Britain | 1:48.84 | Q |
| 6 | 1 | Daryl Fillion | Canada | 1:48.91 | q |
| 7 | 6 | Mark Sesay | Great Britain | 1:48.92 | Q |
| 8 | 3 | Jean-Gilles Talin | France | 1:49.00 | q |
| 9 | 1 | Duarte Ponte | Portugal | 1:49.13 | q |
| 10 | 6 | Paul Byrne | Australia | 1:49.29 | q |
| 11 | 6 | Celso Ficagna | Brazil | 1:49.69 | q |
| 12 | 8 | Bryan Woodward | United States | 1:50.15 | Q |
| 13 | 5 | Gert-Jan Liefers | Netherlands | 1:50.26 | Q |
| 14 | 8 | Bjørn Arild Bøhleng | Norway | 1:50.30 | Q |
| 15 | 8 | Miklós Árpási | Hungary | 1:50.33 | q |
| 16 | 5 | Panagiotis Stroumbakos | Greece | 1:50.35 | Q |
| 17 | 8 | Barnaby Shone | South Africa | 1:50.49 | q |
| 18 | 1 | Eyvind Solbu | Norway | 1:50.82 | q |
| 19 | 2 | Norberto Téllez | Cuba | 1:50.93 | Q |
| 20 | 2 | Tim Rogge | Belgium | 1:50.96 | Q |
| 21 | 2 | Urmet Uusorg | Estonia | 1:51.06 | |
| 22 | 5 | Kim Soon-hyung | South Korea | 1:51.07 | |
| 23 | 7 | Sergey Kozhevnikov | Russia | 1:51.21 | Q |
| 24 | 7 | Nico Motchebon | Germany | 1:51.21 | Q |
| 25 | 5 | Aleš Tomič | Slovenia | 1:51.36 | |
| 26 | 7 | Grzegorz Krzosek | Poland | 1:51.52 | |
| 27 | 7 | Dennis van Tongeren | Netherlands | 1:51.95 | |
| 28 | 2 | Sylvere Ntibushinitse | Burundi | 1:52.11 | |
| 29 | 8 | Noureddine Djazouli | Algeria | 1:52.50 | |
| 30 | 2 | Christian Díaz | Argentina | 1:52.57 | |
| 31 | 4 | Hezekiél Sepeng | South Africa | 1:52.66 | Q |
| 32 | 4 | Roman Oravec | Czech Republic | 1:53.22 | Q |
| 33 | 5 | Vanko Stoyanov | Macedonia | 1:53.51 | |
| 34 | 7 | Hamid Sadjadi | Iran | 1:53.60 | |
| 35 | 7 | Mark Harris | New Zealand | 1:53.79 | |
| 36 | 1 | Xandru Grech | Malta | 1:54.08 | |
| 37 | 6 | Petrus Ndara | Namibia | 1:54.09 | |
| 38 | 4 | Philip Rotich | Kenya | 1:54.12 | |
| 39 | 4 | Sylvester Simelane | Swaziland | 1:54.22 | |
| 40 | 8 | Lameck King | Botswana | 1:54.56 | |
| 41 | 3 | Jean-Paul Niyonsaba | Burundi | 1:55.50 | |
| 42 | 7 | Luis Romero | Peru | 1:55.72 | |
| 43 | 5 | Choge Kipsang | Kenya | 1:55.92 | |
| 44 | 4 | Kabemba Mwape | Zambia | 1:56.08 | |
| 45 | 3 | Junior Anguyo | Uganda | 1:56.20 | |
| 46 | 8 | Carlos Sequeira | Nicaragua | 1:56.36 | |
| 47 | 5 | Christophe Irumwa | Rwanda | 1:56.58 | |
| 48 | 4 | Jeremy Deere | Canada | 1:56.97 | |
| 49 | 6 | Chris Musenze | Uganda | 1:57.01 | |
| 50 | 4 | Fadi Hatamleh | Jordan | 1:57.43 | |
| 51 | 6 | Omar Khalaf | Jordan | 1:57.87 | |
| 52 | 2 | Gerald Grech | Malta | 1:59.29 | |
| 53 | 2 | Ma Wai Hou | Macau | 1:59.31 | |
| 54 | 8 | Tang Win Kin | Hong Kong | 2:03.08 | |
| 55 | 3 | Md Safiqul Islam | Bangladesh | 2:03.90 | |
| 56 | 3 | Gordon Kapak | Papua New Guinea | 2:09.76 | |
| 57 | 7 | Tam Hoi Keng | Macau | 2:10.02 | |
| | 1 | Noor Aslam | Pakistan | DNF | |
| | 3 | Modise Bakupi | Botswana | DNF | |

### Semifinals

Held on 30 August
| Rank | Heat | Athlete | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 2 | Hezekiél Sepeng | South Africa | 1:47.35 | Q |
| 2 | 1 | Balázs Tölgyesi | Hungary | 1:47.42 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | Bryan Woodward | United States | 1:47.45 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | Shaun Benefield | United States | 1:47.60 | Q |
| 5 | 1 | Sergey Kozhevnikov | Russia | 1:47.63 | q |
| 6 | 2 | Djabir Saïd-Guerni | Algeria | 1:47.71 | q |
| 7 | 2 | Panagiotis Stroumbakos | Greece | 1:47.73 | |
| 8 | 1 | Andy Hart | Great Britain | 1:47.74 | |
| 9 | 1 | Nico Motchebon | Germany | 1:47.83 | |
| 10 | 2 | Jean-Gilles Talin | France | 1:48.44 | |
| 11 | 1 | Duarte Ponte | Portugal | 1:48.81 | |
| 11 | 3 | Norberto Téllez | Cuba | 1:48.81 | Q |
| 13 | 3 | Oleg Stepanov | Russia | 1:48.87 | Q |
| 14 | 3 | Miklós Árpási | Hungary | 1:48.92 | |
| 15 | 3 | Gert-Jan Liefers | Netherlands | 1:49.03 | |
| 16 | 1 | Paul Byrne | Australia | 1:49.24 | |
| 17 | 3 | Mark Sesay | Great Britain | 1:49.70 | |
| 18 | 3 | Tim Rogge | Belgium | 1:50.19 | |
| 19 | 2 | Roman Oravec | Czech Republic | 1:50.38 | |
| 20 | 1 | Eyvind Solbu | Norway | 1:50.56 | |
| 21 | 2 | Daryl Fillion | Canada | 1:50.60 | |
| 22 | 2 | Celso Ficagna | Brazil | 1:50.88 | |
| 23 | 3 | Bjørn Arild Bøhleng | Norway | 1:50.93 | |
| 24 | 3 | Barnaby Shone | South Africa | 1:52.32 | |

### Final

Held on 30 August
| Rank | Athlete | Nationality | Time |
| | Norberto Téllez | Cuba | 1:47.63 |
| | Hezekiél Sepeng | South Africa | 1:47.77 |
| | Bryan Woodward | United States | 1:48.43 |
| 4 | Shaun Benefield | United States | 1:48.65 |
| 5 | Balázs Tölgyesi | Hungary | 1:49.13 |
| 6 | Djabir Saïd-Guerni | Algeria | 1:49.41 |
| 7 | Sergey Kozhevnikov | Russia | 1:49.51 |
| 8 | Oleg Stepanov | Russia | 1:50.74 |