Athletics at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Men's 800 metres
| Men's 800 metres at the Games of the XVII Olympiad
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| Venue | Olympic Stadium | |||||||||
| Dates | August 31 (heats and quarterfinals) September 2 (semifinals and final) |
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| Medalists | ||||||||||
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Peter Snell New Zealand
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Roger Moens Belgium
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George Kerr British West Indies
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The men's 800 metres middle distance event at the 1960 Olympic Games took place between August 31 and September 2.
Only six men were seeded into the final. From the gun Christian Wägli led the pack of five runners off the turn, with only Manfred Matuschewski already beaten. Falling in a the back of the pack was Peter Snell from lane 6, the far outside. Wägli held the lead down the final backstretch and through the final turn, with Roger Moens moving in behind him ready to pounce out of a still tight pack. Snell was still at the back, boxed in with George Kerr to his outside. Coming off the turn, Moens pounced, passing Wägli in lane 2 with clear sailing to victory. But Moens' move broke up the pack, it was a free for all sprint to the finish. With Wägli struggling on the rail, Snell had a path down lane 1. On the outside Kerr passed Paul Schmidt and was sprinting in lane 3. A surprised Moens looked to his inside so see who the competitor was who was passing him. It was Snell with more power. Moens tried to accelerate again but Snell's strength was too much. Looking at Snell again he leaned for the line but too little too late to catch Snell.
The fastest three runners in each of the nine heats advanced to the quarterfinal round.
Heat one
Heat two
Heat three
Heat four
Heat five
Heat six
Heat seven
Heat eight
Heat nine
The fastest three runners in each of the four heats advanced to the semifinal round.
Heat one
Heat two
Heat three
Heat four
The fastest three runners in each of the two heats advanced to the final round.
Heat one
Heat two
Key: OR = Olympic record
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