Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics - Men's 800 metres

Athletics at the Games of the XXXI Olympiad
Venue	Pontal (race walk) Estádio Olímpico João Havelange (track & field) Sambódromo (marathon)
Dates	12–21 August
No. of events	47
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Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics were held during the last 10 days of the games, from 12–21 August 2016, at the Olympic Stadium. The sport of athletics in the 2016 Summer Olympics was split into three distinct sets of events: track and field events, road running events, and racewalking events.

Track and field events were held at João Havelange Olympic Stadium, while the race walks and marathon start and finish in Recreio dos Bandeirantes and Sambódromo, respectively. Apart from the race walks and marathon, ten track and field events held finals in the morning session for the first time since 1988. This was implemented upon the request of the Rio 2016 Organizing Committee and the Olympic Broadcasting Service to be supported by the International Olympic Committee, ensuring that they received maximum visibility for the sport across all time zones.

In the tables below, M stands for morning and A for afternoon.

The Olympic qualification criteria were simplified by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) from a two-tiered "A" and "B" standard approach to a single qualification standard. Each National Olympic Committee was entitled to send up to three athletes per event that had reached that standard in the period from 2015 to 11 July 2016. Nations without a qualified athlete could enter one male and one female athlete who had not achieved the standard. Marathon runners had additional ways to qualify in that top 20 World Championship or top 10 IAAF Gold Label race finishers were treated as having achieved the standard.