Athletics at the 1928 Summer Olympics – Men's 800 metres

The men's 800 metre event at the 1928 Olympic Games took place between July 29 & July 31. Forty-nine athletes from 24 nations competed. NOCs were limited to 4 competitors each.Official Report, p. 374.

The event was won by Douglas Lowe of Great Britain, successfully defending his 1924 championship (the first man to do so in the 800 metres). It was the third of what ultimately would be four straight British victories in the event, and the fourth overall title for Great Britain in the 800 metres. Erik Byléhn's silver was Sweden's first 800 metres medal. Hermann Engelhard matched Germany's best-ever result in the event (Germany had previously won bronze in 1908).

Background

This was the eighth appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Three finalists from 1924 returned: gold medalist Douglas Lowe of Great Britain, silver medalist Paul Martin of Switzerland, and ninth-place finisher Harry Houghton of Great Britain. The competitive field was led by Lowe (defending champion and 1928 AAA winner), Otto Peltzer of Germany (880 yard world record holder), Séra Martin of France (800 metres world record holder), and Lloyd Hahn of the United States (1928 AAU champion, who had broken the world record at the U.S. Olympic trials a few days before Séra Martin ran even faster; Hahn's record was never ratified).

Argentina and India appeared in the event for the first time. Great Britain and the United States each made their seventh appearance, tied for the most among all nations.

Competition format

The competition used the three-round format introduced in 1912, with the nine-man final introduced in 1920. There were eight first-round heats of between 4 and 7 athletes each; the top three runners in each heat advanced to the semifinals. There were three semifinals with 8 athletes each; the top three runners in each semifinal advanced to the nine-man final.Official Report, pp. 413–17.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1928 Summer Olympics.

Douglas Lowe broke the Olympic record by 0.1 seconds in the final, setting the new record at 1:51.8.

Schedule

Date Time Round Sunday, 29 July 1928 16:15 Round 1 Monday, 30 July 1928 15:25 Semifinals Tuesday, 31 July 1928 16:20 Final

Results

Round 1

The first three finishers in each of the eight heats advanced to the semifinal round.

Heat 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Alex Wilson 1:59.2 2 Erik Byléhn 1:59.8 3 John Sittig 2:00.6 4 Guus Zeegers Unknown 5 Gérald Bertheloot Unknown 6 Vasilios Stavrinos Unknown 7 Louis Schmit Unknown — António Dias

Heat 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Otto Peltzer 1:57.4 2 Brant Little 1:57.8 3 Wilfred Tatham 1:58.2 4 Adriaan Paulen Unknown 5 William Whyte Unknown 6 Albert Larsen Unknown — József Marton

Heat 3

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Jean Keller 1:59.0 2 Paul Martin 1:59.4 3 Ray Watson 1:59.6 4 Max Tarnogrocki 1:59.9 5 Alfonso García Unknown 6 Andries Hoogerwerf Unknown 7 Antonios Mangos Unknown — Harri Larva

Heat 4

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Georges Baraton 2:03.4 2 Earl Fuller 2:03.8 3 Olaf Strand 2:03.8 4 Ettore Tavernari Unknown 5 Philippe Coenjaerts Unknown 6 Harry Houghton Unknown — Danie Jacobs

Heat 5

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Lloyd Hahn 1:56.8 2 Hermann Englehard 1:57.0 3 Vilém Šindler 1:57.0 4 René Féger Unknown 5 Jack Walter Unknown 6 Charles Stuart Unknown — Grigorios Georgakopoulos Matti Korpela

Heat 6

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Serafín Dengra 2:01.2 2 Douglas Lowe 2:02.2 3 Guido Cominotto 2:02.4 4 Ömer Besim Koşalay Unknown — G. Arnoldy Frej Liewendahl László Magdics

Heat 7

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Séra Martin 1:58.8 2 László Barsi 1:59.0 3 Fredy Müller 1:59.4 4 Adolf Kittel 1:59.6 5 Feliks Malanowski 1:59.8 6 Gerry Coughlan Unknown 7 J. Murphy Unknown — Eino Purje

Heat 8

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Phil Edwards 1:59.4 2 Ralph Starr 1:59.8 3 Norman McEachern 1:59.8 4 Leopoldo Ledesma Unknown 5 José Lucílo Iturbe Unknown 6 Joaquín Miquel 2:03.2 — L. Passy Ivan Rittig

Semifinals

The three fastest runners from each of the three heats advanced to the final.

Semifinal 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Earl Fuller 1:55.6 2 Douglas Lowe 1:55.8 3 Jean Keller 1:56.0 4 László Barsi 1:56.2 5 Otto Peltzer 1:56.3 6 Alex Wilson 1:57.1 7 Vilém Šindler Unknown — Norman McEachern

Semifinal 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Erik Byléhn 1:55.6 2 Ray Watson 1:56.8 3 Hermann Engelhard 1:56.8 4 Brant Little 1:57.6 5 Ralph Starr Unknown 6 Guido Cominotto Unknown 7 Serafín Dengra Unknown — Georges Baraton

Semifinal 3

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Lloyd Hahn 1:52.6 2 Phil Edwards 1:52.8 3 Séra Martin 1:53.0 4 Paul Martin 1:53.3 5 John Sittig 1:53.4 6 Fredy Müller 1:53.8 7 Wilfrid Tatham Unknown 8 Olaf Strand 1:59.9

Final

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes Douglas Lowe 1:51.8 Erik Byléhn 1:52.8 Hermann Engelhard 1:53.2 4 Phil Edwards 1:54.0 5 Lloyd Hahn 1:54.2 6 Séra Martin 1:54.6 7 Earl Fuller 1:55.0 8 Jean Keller 1:57.0 9 Ray Watson 2:03.0

References