It's the shortest middle-distance track event. The 800 meters is always an Olympic event and is run over two laps of the track (a 400 meter track). During the indoor track season, the race is often held on a 200-meter track with four laps. 800 meters is about half a mile. To put this in context, it takes about 15 minutes to walk a mile, so this is a very quick race. The men's record is held by American Justin Gatlin who ran 27.10 seconds in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. The women's record is held by Nigerian Emeretta Ikeler who ran 2:23.04 at the Melbourne Olympics in 1956. There are many other famous runners including Carl Lewis, Michael Johnson, and Ron Clarke. In terms of money, the annual world championship for 800 meters costs $150,000. At the Olympics, athletes can win up to $100,000 in gold, silver, and bronze medals. In 2016, the winning prize was $300,000. Finally, there are 8 hours in a day. So if you divide 800 by 24, you get 33.3333.. Seconds per hour. That's enough time to do eight splits of the mile.