The Women's 800 metres competition at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico. The event were held at the University Olympic Stadium on October 17–19.

Madeline Manning became the first Black woman to win an Olympic 800m title. She also became the first American to do so.

Competition format The competition had four heats in the first round, two semi-finals and a final. The top four in the first round heats progressed. The top four finishers in the semi-final race reached the finals.

Records Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

World record2:00.5London, United KingdomJuly 20, 1968Olympic record2:01.1Tokyo, JapanOctober 20, 1964

Results

Round 1

Heat 1 Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 2:05.7 2:05.78 Q 2 2:06.5 2:06.52 Q 3 2:06.7 2:06.72 Q 4 2:07.1 2:07.13 Q 5 2:07.3 2:07.34 6 2:10.9 2:10.92 –

Heat 2 Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 2:04.0 2:04.06 Q 2 2:04.1 2:04.11 Q 3 2:04.1 2:04.17 Q 4 2:04.4 2:04.48 Q 5 2:08.5 2:08.18 6 2:09.2 2:09.23

Heat 3 Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 2:09.5 2:09.55 Q 2 2:09.5 2:09.54 Q 3 2:09.5 2:09.57 Q 4 2:09.6 2:09.63 Q 5 2:09.6 2:09.67 6 2:10.5 2:10.59

Heat 4 Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 2:08.7 2:08.74 Q 2 2:08.9 2:08.74 Q 3 2:08.9 2:08.96 Q 4 2:08.9 2:08.96 Q 5 2:09.0 2:09.01 6 2:10.2 2:10.21

Semifinals

Heat 1 Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 2:05.8 2:05.82 Q 2 2:05.9 2:05.94 Q 3 2:06.6 2:06.62 Q 4 2:07.0 2:07.03 Q 5 2:08.4 2:08.41 6 2:08.5 2:08.54 7 2:14.8 2:14.88 –

Heat 2 Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 2:05.1 2:05.13 Q 2 2:05.2 2:05.23 Q 3 2:05.2 2:05.29 Q 4 2:05.5 2:05.58 Q 5 2:06.0 2:06.09 6 2:07.2 2:07.27 7 2:07.8 2:07.82 8 2:13.5 2:13.59

Final Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 2:00.9 2:00.92 OR 2:02.5 2:02.58 2:02.6 2:02.63 4 2:03.8 2:03.81 5 2:03.9 2:03.98 6 2:04.2 2:04.25 7 2:06.8 2:06.99 8 2:08.2 2:08.28

References

External links Official Olympic Report, la84foundation.org. Retrieved August 16, 2012.