Men's 800 metres at the Games of the I Olympiad
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Venue | Panathinaiko Stadium | |||||||||
Dates | April 6 (heats) April 9 (final) |
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Competitors | 9 from 6 nations | |||||||||
Medalists | ||||||||||
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Edwin Flack Australia |
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Nándor Dáni Hungary |
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Dimitrios Golemis Greece |
The men's 800 metres race was the second-longest of the four flat-track events on the Athletics at the 1896 Summer Olympics programme. The preliminary heats were the third event held on 6 April. The nine competitors were split into two groups. The top two athletes in each heat advanced to the final, which was held on 9 April.
The two heats of the preliminary round were held on 6 April. The top two runners in each heat advanced.
Flack beat Dáni by four feet with the others far behind; his time of 2:10.0 was the inaugural Olympic record.
Lermusiaux beat Golemis by 1¼ yards.
The final consisted of only three runners, as Lermusiaux elected not to compete to save himself for the marathon. Flack won by five meters, and Dáni finished 95 yards ahead of Golemis.