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

The men's 800 metres event at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal was held on July 23, 1976, July 24, 1976, and on July 25, 1976. Forty-two athletes from 31 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by 0.36 seconds by Alberto Juantorena of Cuba, the nation's first medal in the event; Juantorena would later complete an unusual double in winning the 400 metres as well. Ivo van Damme's silver was Belgium's first medal in the event since 1960, matching the 1960 silver for best result for the nation.

## Summary

From the gun Alberto Juantorena took an apparent lead against the field through the staggered start. Passing the break at 300 metres, the long striding Cuban was a couple of steps ahead of the noticeably smaller American Rick Wohlhuter. Sriram Singh came from more than 10 metres back at the break to sprint past Juantorena and the rest of the field, to take the lead just after the bell. Singh's lead was short lived as the field bunched then started to make their way around him. Wohlhuter stuck less than a mere step behind Juantorena all the way through the final turn as Ivo van Damme, Willi Wülbeck and future champion Steve Ovett jockeyed for position. Coming off the turn, Juantorena found more speed to pull away from Wohlhuter. As he struggled down the home stretch, Wohlhuter was passed by van Damme 20 metres before the finish.
Juantorena's 1:43.5 (rounded down from the electronic time of 1:43.50) broke Marcello Fiasconaro's hand timed world record of 1:43.7. Despite the erratic pace, Singh's time in 7th place stood as the Asian record until it was broken by Lee Jin-il in 1994.

## Background

This was the 18th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. None of the 1972 finalists returned; the Kenyan boycott kept Munich bronze medalist and would-be favorite Mike Boit out. Marcello Fiasconaro of Italy, who had set the world record in 1973, was injured and unable to compete. The favorites among the athletes who did appear were Alberto Juantorena of Cuba, Rick Wohlhuter of the United States, and Ivo van Damme of Belgium.
Barbados, Saudi Arabia, and Suriname appeared in the event for the first time. Great Britain and the United States each made their 17th appearance, tied for the most among all nations.

## Competition format

The competition used the three-round format that had been in use for most Games since 1912. The "fastest loser" system introduced in 1964 was used for the first round. There were six first-round heats, each with 7 or 8 athletes (before withdrawals); the top two runners in each heat as well as the next four fastest overall advanced to the semifinals. There were two semifinals with 8 athletes each; the top four runners in each semifinal advanced to the eight-man final.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Marcello Fiasconaro (ITA) | 1:43.7 | Milan, Italy | 27 June 1973 |
| Olympic record | Ralph Doubell (AUS) | 1:44.3 | Mexico City, Mexico | 15 October 1968 |
In the final, all three medalists ran under the Olympic record time. Alberto Juantorena won the event with the world record time of 1:43.50.

## Schedule

All times are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4)
| Date | Time | Round |
| Friday, 23 July 1976 | 15:00 | Round 1 |
| Saturday, 24 July 1976 | 16:35 | Semifinals |
| Sunday, 25 July 1976 | 17:15 | Final |

## Results
### Round 1

The first round was held on July 23, 1976.

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Rick Wohlhuter | United States | 1:45.71 | Q |
| 2 | Sriram Singh | India | 1:45.86 | Q |
| 3 | Leandro Civil | Cuba | 1:45.88 | q |
| 4 | Marian Gęsicki | Poland | 1:46.36 | q |
| 5 | Thomas Wessinghage | West Germany | 1:46.56 | q |
| 6 | Viktor Anokhin | Soviet Union | 1:46.81 | q |
| 7 | Muhammad Younis | Pakistan | 1:48.50 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Frank Clement | Great Britain | 1:47.51 | Q |
| 2 | James Robinson | United States | 1:47.56 | Q |
| 3 | John Walker | New Zealand | 1:47.63 | |
| 4 | Andrés Ballbé | Spain | 1:48.38 | |
| 5 | Fernando Mamede | Portugal | 1:49.58 | |
| 6 | Francisco Solis | Dominican Republic | 1:55.56 | |
| 7 | Wilnor Joseph | Haiti | 2:15.26 | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Steve Ovett | Great Britain | 1:48.27 | Q |
| 2 | Seymour Newman | Jamaica | 1:48.46 | Q |
| 3 | Paul-Heinz Wellmann | West Germany | 1:48.47 | |
| 4 | Jozef Plachý | Czechoslovakia | 1:48.63 | |
| 5 | Günther Hasler | Liechtenstein | 1:48.83 | |
| 6 | Evert Hoving | Netherlands | 1:48.99 | |
| 7 | Roy Bottse | Suriname | 1:49.85 | |
| 8 | Erasmo Gómez | Nicaragua | 1:57.97 | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Alberto Juantorena | Cuba | 1:47.15 | Q |
| 2 | Carlo Grippo | Italy | 1:47.21 | Q |
| 3 | János Zemen | Hungary | 1:47.40 | |
| 4 | Milovan Savić | Yugoslavia | 1:47.73 | |
| 5 | Jorge Ortíz | Puerto Rico | 1:51.38 | |
| — | Roqui Sanchez | France | DSQ | |
| — | Markku Taskinen | Finland | DNS | |

#### Heat 5

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Willi Wülbeck | West Germany | 1:48.47 | Q |
| 2 | Horace Tuitt | Trinidad and Tobago | 1:48.48 | Q |
| 3 | Vladimir Ponomaryov | Soviet Union | 1:48.59 | |
| 4 | Åke Svensson | Sweden | 1:48.86 | |
| 5 | José Marajo | France | 1:49.60 | |
| 6 | Orlando Greene | Barbados | 1:51.43 | |
| 7 | Attiya Al-Qahtani | Saudi Arabia | 1:57.67 | |

#### Heat 6

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Ivo van Damme | Belgium | 1:47.80 | Q |
| 2 | Luciano Sušanj | Yugoslavia | 1:47.82 | Q |
| 3 | Mark Enyeart | United States | 1:47.96 | |
| 4 | Rolf Gysin | Switzerland | 1:48.69 | |
| 5 | Niall O'Shaughnessy | Ireland | 1:49.29 | |
| 6 | Luis Medina | Cuba | 1:50.15 | |
| 7 | Marcel Philippe | France | 1:50.81 | |

### Semifinals

The semifinals were held on July 24, 1976.

#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Alberto Juantorena | Cuba | 1:45.88 | Q |
| 2 | Ivo van Damme | Belgium | 1:46.00 | Q |
| 3 | Steve Ovett | Great Britain | 1:46.14 | Q |
| 4 | Sriram Singh | India | 1:46.42 | Q |
| 5 | James Robinson | United States | 1:46.43 | |
| 6 | Marian Gęsicki | Poland | 1:47.06 | |
| 7 | Thomas Wessinghage | West Germany | 1:48.18 | |
| — | Horace Tuitt | Trinidad and Tobago | DNF | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Rick Wohlhuter | United States | 1:46.72 | Q |
| 2 | Carlo Grippo | Italy | 1:46.95 | Q |
| 3 | Luciano Sušanj | Yugoslavia | 1:47.03 | Q |
| 4 | Willi Wülbeck | West Germany | 1:47.18 | Q |
| 5 | Seymour Newman | Jamaica | 1:47.22 | |
| 6 | Leandro Civil | Cuba | 1:47.31 | |
| 7 | Viktor Anokhin | Soviet Union | 1:47.71 | |
| 8 | Frank Clement | Great Britain | 1:48.28 | |

### Final

The final was held on July 25, 1976.
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| | Alberto Juantorena | Cuba | 1:43.50 | WR |
| | Ivo van Damme | Belgium | 1:43.86 | |
| | Rick Wohlhuter | United States | 1:44.12 | |
| 4 | Willi Wülbeck | West Germany | 1:45.26 | |
| 5 | Steve Ovett | Great Britain | 1:45.44 | |
| 6 | Luciano Sušanj | Yugoslavia | 1:45.75 | |
| 7 | Sriram Singh | India | 1:45.77 | |
| 8 | Carlo Grippo | Italy | 1:48.39 | |