# Athletics at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Women's 800 metres

The women's 800 metres competition at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada was held at the Olympic Stadium from 23 to 26 July.

## Competition format

The competition consisted of heats (Round 1), Semifinals and a Final. The three fastest competitors from each race in the heats plus the next fastest overall qualified for the Semifinals. The four fastest competitors from each of the Semifinal races advanced to the Final.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Valentina Gerasimova (URS) | 1:56.0 | Kiev, USSR | 12 June 1976 |
| Olympic record | Hildegard Falck (FRG) | 1:58.55 | Munich, West Germany | 3 September 1972 |
The top four finishers in the final all went under the existing world record.

## Results
### Round 1

Qual. rule: first 3 of each heat (Q) plus the next fastest time (q) qualified.

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Svetlana Styrkina | Soviet Union | 2:00.12 | Q |
| 2 | Judy Amoore | Australia | 2:00.66 | Q |
| 3 | Doris Gluth | East Germany | 2:00.70 | Q |
| 4 | Rita Thijs | Belgium | 2:04.39 | |
| 5 | Abby Hoffman | Canada | 2:05.32 | |
| 6 | Carmen Valero | Spain | 2:06.14 | |
| 7 | Lilja Guðmundsdóttir | Iceland | 2:07.26 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Anita Weiß | East Germany | 2:00.48 | Q |
| 2 | Nikolina Shtereva | Bulgaria | 2:01.02 | Q |
| 3 | Gabriella Dorio | Italy | 2:01.63 | Q |
| 4 | Jozefína Čerchlanová | Czechoslovakia | 2:02.36 | |
| 5 | Kathy Weston | United States | 2:03.31 | |
| 6 | Joan Wenzel | Canada | 2:03.62 | |
| — | Chee Swee Lee | Singapore | DNF | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Svetla Zlateva | Bulgaria | 1:59.24 | Q |
| 2 | Valentina Gerasimova | Soviet Union | 1:59.68 | Q |
| 3 | Wendy Koenig | United States | 1:59.91 | Q |
| 4 | Mariana Suman | Romania | 2:00.00 | q |
| 5 | Liz Barnes | Great Britain | 2:01.70 | |
| 6 | Célestine N'Drin | Ivory Coast | 2:04.54 | |
| 7 | Maria Ritter | Liechtenstein | 2:14.39 | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Elfi Zinn | East Germany | 2:01.54 | Q |
| 2 | Charlene Rendina | Australia | 2:01.76 | Q |
| 3 | Ileana Silai | Romania | 2:02.82 | Q |
| 4 | Angela Creamer | Great Britain | 2:03.48 | |
| 5 | Magdolna Lázár | Hungary | 2:04.05 | |
| 6 | Ileana Hocking | Puerto Rico | 2:08.46 | |
| 7 | Ndew Niang | Senegal | 2:09.32 | |

#### Heat 5

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Tatyana Kazankina | Soviet Union | 2:00.15 | Q |
| 2 | Lilyana Tomova | Bulgaria | 2:00.54 | Q |
| 3 | Madeline Manning | United States | 2:00.62 | Q |
| 4 | Yvonne Saunders | Canada | 2:03.54 | |
| 5 | Anne-Marie Van Nuffel | Belgium | 2:04.09 | |
| 6 | Chris McMeekin | Great Britain | 2:04.54 | |
| 7 | Anne Audain | New Zealand | 2:05.78 | |

### Semifinals
#### Heat 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Anita Weiß | East Germany | 1:56.53 | Q OR |
| 2 | Tatyana Kazankina | Soviet Union | 1:57.49 | Q |
| 3 | Svetla Zlateva | Bulgaria | 1:57.93 | Q |
| 4 | Doris Gluth | East Germany | 1:59.32 | Q |
| 5 | Judy Amoore | Australia | 1:59.93 | |
| 6 | Ileana Silai | Romania | 2:02.22 | |
| 7 | Wendy Koenig | United States | 2:02.31 | |
| 8 | Gabriella Dorio | Italy | 2:02.46 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Svetlana Styrkina | Soviet Union | 1:57.28 | Q |
| 2 | Nikolina Shtereva | Bulgaria | 1:57.35 | Q |
| 3 | Elfi Zinn | East Germany | 1:57.56 | Q |
| 4 | Mariana Suman | Romania | 2:00.01 | Q |
| 5 | Charlene Rendina | Australia | 2:00.29 | |
| 6 | Valentina Gerasimova | Soviet Union | 2:01.00 | |
| 7 | Lilyana Tomova | Bulgaria | 2:01.97 | |
| 8 | Madeline Manning | United States | 2:07.25 | |

### Final

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| | Tatyana Kazankina | Soviet Union | 1:54.94 | WR |
| | Nikolina Shtereva | Bulgaria | 1:55.42 | |
| | Elfi Zinn | East Germany | 1:55.60 | |
| 4 | Anita Weiß | East Germany | 1:55.74 | |
| 5 | Svetlana Styrkina | Soviet Union | 1:56.44 | |
| 6 | Svetla Zlateva | Bulgaria | 1:57.21 | |
| 7 | Doris Gluth | East Germany | 1:58.99 | |
| 8 | Mariana Suman | Romania | 2:02.21 | |