Athletics at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Men's 800 metres
RANK HEAT 1 TIME
1 Joaquim Cruz ( BRA ) 1:43.82
2 Edwin Koech ( KEN ) 1:44.12
3 Earl Jones ( USA ) 1:44.51
4 Steve Ovett ( GBR ) 1:44.81
5 Omar Khalifa ( SUD ) 1:44.87
6 Moussa Fall ( SEN ) 1:45.03
7 William Wuycke ( VEN ) 1:47.32
- Peter Elliott ( GBR ) DNF
Results -- Semifinals
These are the official results of the Men's 800 metres event at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. The event took place between 3 and 6 August. With four notable front runners in the race the battle to the break was important. Edwin Koech on the far outside and Joaquim Cruz went out hard around the first turn, with Earl Jones and Johnny Gray to the inside. Cruz, Jones and Gray converged at the same spot, Gray getting the short end of the stick and suddenly losing ground to the back of the field, then Koech converged from the outside, closing the door on Cruz and Jones, with Cruz edging ahead of Jones as contact was made causing Cruz to jump 200 metres into the race. The lead group was marked by British rivals, defending champion Steve Ovett and world record holder Sebastian Coe. They held that order through the next 200 metres, only upset by Gray long striding along the outside up to Coe's shoulder. Gray's added speed seemed to force the leaders to run faster to stay ahead of him, while Ovett withered out the back of the field. With 200 to go Gray seemed to tighten up, frustrated that his hard effort only netted him fifth place. Through the turn, Cruz inched closer to Koech, still marked by Coe and Jones. When Cruz pounced coming off the turn, Koech wilted, outside of him Coe and Jones were in a shoulder to shoulder sprint battle. Cruz had won the war, sprinting away to a clear 5 metre victory.