# Athletics at the 2002 Commonwealth Games – Men's 800 metres

The men's 800 metres event at the 2002 Commonwealth Games took place between 27 and 29 July at the City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England. Mbulaeni Mulaudzi won the gold medal with a time of 1:46.32 giving South Africa its first victory in the event. Kenyan Joseph Mutua placed second, taking the silver medal in 1:46.57. He finished ahead of Kris McCarthy of Australia who won the bronze.
This was the ninth running of the 800 metres event at the Commonwealth Games after converting to metric at the 1970 Edinburgh Games. An 880 yards event was contested between 1930 and 1966. 27 competitors from 21 nations entered the event. The champion from Kuala Lumpur, Japheth Kimutai was unable to defend his title finishing fifth in the final. Whilst the silver medallist in both 1994 and 1998, South African Hezekiél Sepeng, failed to arrive in Manchester for the Games after sustaining a hamstring injury.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing records were as follows:
Records before the 2002 Commonwealth Games :
| Record | Time (s) | Athlete (nation) | Meet | Location | Date |
| World record | 1:41.11 | Wilson Kipketer (DEN) | Weltklasse in Köln | Cologne, Germany | 24 August 1997 |
| Commonwealth record | 1:41.73 | Sebastian Coe (GBR) | | Florence, Italy | 10 June 1981 |
| Games record | 1:43.22 | Steve Cram (ENG) | Commonwealth Games | Edinburgh, Scotland | 31 July 1986 |

## Results
### Heats

The heats were held on 27 July, starting at 11:10 in the morning.
Qualification Rules: First 3 in each heat (Q) and the best 4 of remaining athletes (q) advance to the semi finals.

#### Heat 1

Results of heat 1 :
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Otukile Lekote | Botswana | 1:47.68 | Q |
| 2 | Paskar Owor | Uganda | 1:47.87 | Q, SB |
| 3 | Nathan Brannen | Canada | 1:48.04 | Q |
| 4 | Prince Mumba | Zambia | 1:48.40 | q, PB |
| 5 | Sherridan Kirk | Trinidad and Tobago | 1:48.51 | q |
| 6 | Nickie Peters | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 1:52.73 | |

#### Heat 2

Results of heat 2 :
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Joseph Mutua | Kenya | 1:48.53 | Q |
| 2 | Kris McCarthy | Australia | 1:48.85 | Q |
| 3 | Neil Speaight | England | 1:49.67 | Q |
| 4 | Constantinos Hadjimarkou | Cyprus | 1:51.26 | |
| 5 | Clive Baron | Dominica | 1:59.48 | |
| | Ebrima Ceesay | The Gambia | DQ | |
| | Clement Abai | Papua New Guinea | DNS | |

#### Heat 3

Results of heat 3 :
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Japheth Kimutai | Kenya | 1:49.62 | Q |
| 2 | Zach Whitmarsh | Canada | 1:49.92 | Q |
| 3 | Glody Dube | Botswana | 1:50.16 | Q |
| 4 | Curtis Robb | England | 1:50.34 | |
| 5 | Amilcar Leal | Mozambique | 1:50.85 | |
| 6 | Marvin Watts | Jamaica | 1:51.39 | |
| 7 | Daryl Vassallo | Gibraltar | 1:57.66 | |

#### Heat 4

Results of heat 4 :
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Mbulaeni Mulaudzi | South Africa | 1:49.08 | Q |
| 2 | James McIlroy | Northern Ireland | 1:49.21 | Q |
| 3 | Joel Kidger | England | 1:49.47 | Q |
| 4 | Matthew Shone | Wales | 1:49.67 | q |
| 5 | Isireli Naikelekelevesi | Fiji | 1:50.01 | q |
| 6 | Sylvester Chishiba | Zambia | 1:50.86 | PB |
| 7 | Dauda Manasary | Sierra Leone | 2:04.59 | |

### Semi finals

The semi finals were held on 28 July, starting at 18:45 in the evening.
Qualification: First 3 of each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest (q) qualified for the final.

#### Semi final 1

Results of semi final 1 :
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Joseph Mutua | Kenya | 1:46.43 | Q |
| 2 | Otukile Lekote | Botswana | 1:46.65 | Q |
| 3 | James McIlroy | Northern Ireland | 1:46.93 | Q, |
| 4 | Paskar Owor | Uganda | 1:47.14 | q, SB |
| 5 | Nathan Brannen | Canada | 1:47.65 | |
| 6 | Joel Kidger | England | 1:48.12 | PB |
| 7 | Matthew Shone | Wales | 1:49.08 | |
| 8 | Isireli Naikelekelevesi | Fiji | 1:50.00 | |

#### Semi final 2

Results of semi final 2 :
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Mbulaeni Mulaudzi | South Africa | 1:46.72 | Q |
| 2 | Japheth Kimutai | Kenya | 1:46.81 | Q |
| 3 | Kris McCarthy | Australia | 1:47.06 | Q |
| 4 | Glody Dube | Botswana | 1:47.19 | q |
| 5 | Neil Speaight | England | 1:47.22 | |
| 6 | Sherridan Kirk | Trinidad and Tobago | 1:47.98 | |
| 7 | Prince Mumba | Zambia | 1:48.51 | |
| 8 | Zach Whitmarsh | Canada | 1:49.61 | |

### Final

The final was held at 20:24 on 29 July.
Results of the final :
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time |
| | Mbulaeni Mulaudzi | South Africa | 1:46.32 |
| | Joseph Mutua | Kenya | 1:46.57 |
| | Kris McCarthy | Australia | 1:46.79 |
| 4 | Otukile Lekote | Botswana | 1:47.04 |
| 5 | Japheth Kimutai | Kenya | 1:47.46 |
| 6 | James McIlroy | Northern Ireland | 1:47.77 |
| 7 | Paskar Owor | Uganda | 1:48.96 |
| 8 | Glody Dube | Botswana | 2:17.40 |