# 1966 European Athletics Championships – Men's 800 metres

The men's 800 metres at the 1966 European Athletics Championships was held in Budapest, Hungary, at Népstadion on 2, 3, and 4 September 1966.

## Medalists

| Gold | Manfred Matuschewski East Germany |
| Silver | Franz-Josef Kemper West Germany |
| Bronze | Bodo Tümmler West Germany |

## Results
### Final

4 September
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | Manfred Matuschewski | East Germany | 1:45.9 | CR NR |
| | Franz-Josef Kemper | West Germany | 1:46.0 | |
| | Bodo Tümmler | West Germany | 1:46.3 | |
| 4 | Chris Carter | Great Britain | 1:46.3 | NR |
| 5 | Tomáš Jungwirth | Czechoslovakia | 1:46.7 | NR |
| 6 | John Boulter | Great Britain | 1:47.0 | |
| 7 | Alberto Esteban | Spain | 1:47.4 | NR |
| 8 | Noel Carroll | Ireland | 1:47.9 | |

### Semi-finals

3 September

#### Semi-final 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Franz-Josef Kemper | West Germany | 1:47.9 | Q |
| 2 | Tomáš Jungwirth | Czechoslovakia | 1:48.0 | Q |
| 3 | Chris Carter | Great Britain | 1:48.1 | Q |
| 4 | Noel Carroll | Ireland | 1:48.3 | Q |
| 5 | Vadim Mikhailov | Soviet Union | 1:48.7 | |
| 6 | Mathias Seidler | East Germany | 1:48.8 | |
| 7 | Guy Taillard | France | 1:49.2 | |
| 8 | Maurice Lurot | France | 1:49.9 | |

#### Semi-final 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Manfred Matuschewski | East Germany | 1:49.3 | Q |
| 2 | John Boulter | Great Britain | 1:49.4 | Q |
| 3 | Bodo Tümmler | West Germany | 1:49.5 | Q |
| 4 | Alberto Esteban | Spain | 1:49.5 | Q |
| 5 | Rein Tölp | Soviet Union | 1:49.8 | |
| 6 | Pavel Penkava | Czechoslovakia | 1:49.8 | |
| 7 | Jürgen May | East Germany | 1:50.0 | |
| 8 | Jean-Michel Pellez | France | 1:51.8 | |

### Heats

2 September

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Mathias Seidler | East Germany | 1:48.3 | Q |
| 2 | Franz-Josef Kemper | West Germany | 1:48.4 | Q |
| 3 | Jean-Michel Pellez | France | 1:48.6 | Q |
| 4 | Derek McCleane | Ireland | 1:48.6 | |
| 5 | Arne Kvalheim | Norway | 1:49.4 | |
| 6 | Petr Blaha | Czechoslovakia | 1:49.9 | |
| 7 | Marnix Cocquyt | Belgium | 1:53.7 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Jürgen May | East Germany | 1:48.1 | Q |
| 2 | Guy Taillard | France | 1:48.1 | Q |
| 3 | Pavel Penkava | Czechoslovakia | 1:48.2 | Q |
| 4 | John Boulter | Great Britain | 1:48.4 | Q |
| 5 | Jacques Pennewaert | Belgium | 1:48.4 | |
| 6 | Franco Arese | Italy | 1:49.6 | |
| 7 | Imre Nagy | Hungary | 1:50.4 | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Chris Carter | Great Britain | 1:48.7 | Q |
| 2 | Tomáš Jungwirth | Czechoslovakia | 1:48.9 | Q |
| 3 | Rein Tölp | Soviet Union | 1:49.1 | Q |
| 4 | Hansueli Mumenthaler | Switzerland | 1:49.3 | |
| 5 | Lorant Stoll | Hungary | 1:50.3 | |
| 6 | Heikki Pippola | Finland | 1:51.7 | |
| 7 | Gani Alia | Albania | 1:52.4 | NR |
| | Paul Roekaerts | Belgium | DQ | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Noel Carroll | Ireland | 1:48.1 | Q |
| 2 | Alberto Esteban | Spain | 1:48.2 | Q |
| 3 | Vadim Mikhailov | Soviet Union | 1:48.4 | Q |
| 4 | Walter Adams | West Germany | 1:48.8 | |
| 5 | Kenth Andersson | Sweden | 1:49.0 | |
| 6 | Erik Zelazny | Poland | 1:50.2 | |
| 7 | Dinos Michaelides | Greece | 1:51.9 | |
| 8 | Jože Međimurec | Yugoslavia | 1:53.5 | |

#### Heat 5

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Bodo Tümmler | West Germany | 1:48.6 | Q |
| 2 | Maurice Lurot | France | 1:48.8 | Q |
| 3 | Manfred Matuschewski | East Germany | 1:48.9 | Q |
| 4 | Rudolf Klaban | Austria | 1:49.0 | |
| 5 | Remir Mitrofanov | Soviet Union | 1:49.2 | |
| 6 | Preben Glue | Denmark | 1:50.2 | |
| 7 | Ian Hamilton | Ireland | 1:53.7 | |

## Participation

According to an unofficial count, 37 athletes from 21 countries participated in the event.
* Albania (1)
* Austria (1)
* Belgium (3)
* Czechoslovakia (3)
* Denmark (1)
* East Germany (3)
* Finland (1)
* France (3)
* Greece (1)
* Hungary (2)
* Ireland (3)
* Italy (1)
* Norway (1)
* Poland (1)
* Soviet Union (3)
* Spain (1)
* Sweden (1)
* Switzerland (1)
* Great Britain (2)
* West Germany (3)
* Yugoslavia (1)