# Athletics at the 1924 Summer Olympics – Men's 800 metres

The men's 800 metres event was part of the track and field athletics programme at the 1924 Summer Olympics. The competition was held from Sunday, July 6, 1924, to Tuesday, July 8, 1924. As with all other races the track was 500 metres in circumference. Fifty middle distance runners from 24 nations competed.
The event was won by Douglas Lowe of Great Britain. It was the second of four consecutive British victories in the event, and the third overall 800 metres title for Great Britain. Lowe would successfully defend his title four years later, the first man to repeat in the 800 metres. Paul Martin's silver was Switzerland's first medal in the 800 metres.

## Background

This was the seventh appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Two finalists from 1920 returned: fourth-place finisher Edgar Mountain of Great Britain and seventh-place finisher Adriaan Paulen of the Netherlands. The favorites for 1924 were Schuyler Enck of the United States (who had the best time in 1924 with 1:53.2), H. B. Stallard of Great Britain (AAA champion), and Paul Martin of Switzerland.
Austria, Brazil, Haiti, Ireland, Mexico, and Poland appeared in the event for the first time. Great Britain and the United States each made their sixth appearance, tied for the most among all nations.

## Competition format

The competition used the three-round format introduced in 1912, with the nine-man final introduced in 1920. There were eight first-round heats of between 4 and 7 athletes each; the top three runners in each heat advanced to the semifinals. There were three semifinals with 8 athletes each; the top three runners in each semifinal advanced to the nine-man final.

## Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1924 Summer Olympics.
| World record | Ted Meredith (USA) | 1:51.9 | Stockholm, Sweden | 8 July 1912 |
| Olympic record | Ted Meredith (USA) | 1:51.9 | Stockholm, Sweden | 8 July 1912 |
No world or Olympic records were set during the competition.

## Schedule

The rounds were each on separate days again, following a one-time experiment with the semifinals and final being held one after the other in 1920.
| Date | Time | Round |
| Sunday, 6 July 1924 | 15:15 | Round 1 |
| Monday, 7 July 1924 | 15:30 | Semifinals |
| Tuesday, 8 July 1924 | 15:15 | Final |

## Results
### Round 1

All heats were held on Sunday, July 6, 1924.
The best three finishers of every heat qualified for the semi-finals.

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | René Wiriath | France | 1:59.0 | Q |
| 2 | Bill Richardson | United States | 1:59.6 | Q |
| 3 | Gösta Jansson | Finland | 1:59.9 | Q |
| 4 | Charles Davis | South Africa | Unknown | |
| 5 | Ludwig Deckardt | Austria | Unknown | |
| 6 | Vilém Šindler | Czechoslovakia | Unknown | |
| 7 | Édouard Armand | Haiti | Unknown | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Clarence Oldfield | South Africa | 1:58.0 | Q |
| 2 | Harry Houghton | Great Britain | 1:58.4 | Q |
| 3 | Schuyler Enck | United States | 1:58.6 | Q |
| 4 | Maurice Grosclaude | France | Unknown | |
| 5 | Mario-Giuseppe Bonini | Italy | Unknown | |
| 6 | Eduard Riedl | Czechoslovakia | 2:02.5 | |
| 7 | Juan Escutia | Mexico | Unknown | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Paul Martin | Switzerland | 2:00.2 | Q |
| 2 | Sven Emil Lundgren | Sweden | 2:01.4 | Q |
| 3 | Jack Harris | Canada | 2:01.6 | Q |
| 4 | Malcolm Boyd | Australia | Unknown | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Adriaan Paulen | Netherlands | 1:59.2 | Q |
| 2 | John Watters | United States | 1:59.8 | Q |
| 3 | Tom McKay | Canada | 2:00.1 | Q |
| 4 | Puccio Pucci | Italy | Unknown | |
| 5 | Roy Norman | Australia | Unknown | |
| 6 | Narciso Costa | Brazil | Unknown | |
| — | Józef Jaworski | Poland | DNF | |

#### Heat 5

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Rudolf Johansson | Sweden | 1:57.6 | Q |
| 2 | François Morren | Belgium | Unknown | Q |
| 3 | Edgar Mountain | Great Britain | Unknown | Q |
| 4 | Ferruccio Bruni | Italy | Unknown | |
| 5 | Hec Phillips | Canada | Unknown | |
| 6 | Stefan Ołdak | Poland | 2:09.0 | |
| — | Wim Bolten | Netherlands | DNF | |

#### Heat 6

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Kai Jensen | Denmark | 1:58.4 | Q |
| 2 | Norman McEachern | Ireland | Unknown | Q |
| 3 | Ray Dodge | United States | Unknown | Q |
| 4 | Stefan Kostrzewski | Poland | 2:01.6 | |
| 5 | Menso Johannes Menso | Netherlands | Unknown | |
| 6 | Christophe Mirgain | Luxembourg | 2:05.2 | |
| 7 | Jack Newman | Australia | Unknown | |

#### Heat 7

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | H. B. Stallard | Great Britain | 1:57.6 | Q |
| 2 | Louis Philipps | France | 1:58.6 | Q |
| 3 | Albert Larsen | Denmark | 1:58.8 | Q |
| 4 | Tokushige Noto | Japan | Unknown | |
| 5 | Erik Byléhn | Sweden | Unknown | |
| 6 | Ömer Besim Koşalay | Turkey | Unknown | |

#### Heat 8

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Douglas Lowe | Great Britain | 1:58.0 | Q |
| 2 | Georges Baraton | France | 1:59.2 | Q |
| 3 | Charles Hoff | Norway | 2:02.1 | Q |
| 4 | Karel Přibyl | Czechoslovakia | 2:03.8 | |
| 5 | Guillermo Amparan | Mexico | Unknown | |

### Semifinals

All semi-finals were held on Monday, July 7, 1924.
The best three finishers of every heat qualified for the final.

#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | H. B. Stallard | Great Britain | 1:54.2 | Q |
| 2 | Bill Richardson | United States | 1:55.0 | Q |
| 3 | Paul Martin | Switzerland | 1:55.6 | Q |
| 4 | Rudolf Johansson | Sweden | 1:55.7 | |
| 5 | Kai Jensen | Denmark | Unknown | |
| 6 | Clarence Oldfield | South Africa | Unknown | |
| 7 | Georges Baraton | France | 1:57.6 | |
| 8 | Tom McKay | Canada | 1:58.5 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Douglas Lowe | Great Britain | 1:56.8 | Q |
| 2 | Harry Houghton | Great Britain | 1:57.3 | Q |
| 3 | John Watters | United States | 1:57.4 | Q |
| 4 | Sven Emil Lundgren | Sweden | 1:57.6 | |
| 5 | Norman McEachern | Ireland | 1:58.3 | |
| 6 | François Morren | Belgium | 1:58.5 | |
| 7 | René Wiriath | France | 1:59.6 | |
| 8 | Albert Larsen | Denmark | 2:00.2 | |

#### Semifinal 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Ray Dodge | United States | 1:57.0 | Q |
| 2 | Schuyler Enck | United States | 1:57.6 | Q |
| 3 | Charles Hoff | Norway | 1:58.4 | Q |
| 4 | Adriaan Paulen | Netherlands | 1:58.8 | |
| 5 | Gösta Jansson | Finland | 1:59.4 | |
| 6 | Jack Harris | Canada | Unknown | |
| 7 | Edgar Mountain | Great Britain | Unknown | |
| 8 | Louis Philipps | France | Unknown | |

### Final

The final was held on Tuesday, July 8, 1924.
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time |
| | Douglas Lowe | Great Britain | 1:52.4 |
| | Paul Martin | Switzerland | 1:52.6 |
| | Schuyler Enck | United States | 1:53.0 |
| 4 | H. B. Stallard | Great Britain | 1:53.0 |
| 5 | Bill Richardson | United States | 1:53.8 |
| 6 | Ray Dodge | United States | 1:54.2 |
| 7 | John Watters | United States | 1:54.8 |
| 8 | Charles Hoff | Norway | 1:56.7 |
| 9 | Harry Houghton | Great Britain | 1:58.0 |