The men's 800 metres event was part of the track and field athletics programme at the 1924 Summer Olympics. The competition was held from Sunday, July 6, 1924, to Tuesday, July 8, 1924. As with all other races the track was 500 metres in circumference. Fifty middle distance runners from 24 nations competed.
The event was won by Douglas Lowe of Great Britain. It was the second of four consecutive British victories in the event, and the third overall 800 metres title for Great Britain. Lowe would successfully defend his title four years later, the first man to repeat in the 800 metres. Paul Martin's silver was Switzerland's first medal in the 800 metres.
Background
This was the seventh appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Two finalists from 1920 returned: fourth-place finisher Edgar Mountain of Great Britain and seventh-place finisher Adriaan Paulen of the Netherlands. The favorites for 1924 were Schuyler Enck of the United States (who had the best time in 1924 with 1:53.2), H. B. Stallard of Great Britain (AAA champion), and Paul Martin of Switzerland.
Austria, Brazil, Haiti, Ireland, Mexico, and Poland appeared in the event for the first time. Great Britain and the United States each made their sixth 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. 109–12.
Records
These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1924 Summer Olympics.
No world or Olympic records were set during the competition.
Schedule
The rounds were each on separate days again, following a one-time experiment with the semifinals and final being held one after the other in 1920.
Date Time Round Sunday, 6 July 1924 15:15 Round 1 Monday, 7 July 1924 15:30 Semifinals Tuesday, 8 July 1924 15:15 Final
Results
Round 1
All heats were held on Sunday, July 6, 1924.
The best three finishers of every heat qualified for the semi-finals.
Heat 1
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 René Wiriath 1:59.0 2 Bill Richardson 1:59.6 3 Gösta Jansson 1:59.9 4 Charles Davis Unknown 5 Ludwig Deckardt Unknown 6 Vilém Šindler Unknown 7 Édouard Armand Unknown
Heat 2
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Clarence Oldfield 1:58.0 2 Harry Houghton 1:58.4 3 Schuyler Enck 1:58.6 4 Maurice Grosclaude Unknown 5 Mario-Giuseppe Bonini Unknown 6 Eduard Riedl 2:02.5 7 Juan Escutia Unknown
Heat 3
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Paul Martin 2:00.2 2 Sven Emil Lundgren 2:01.4 3 Jack Harris 2:01.6 4 Malcolm Boyd Unknown
Heat 4
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Adriaan Paulen 1:59.2 2 John Watters 1:59.8 3 Tom McKay 2:00.1 4 Puccio Pucci Unknown 5 Roy Norman Unknown 6 Narciso Costa Unknown — Józef Jaworski
Heat 5
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Rudolf Johansson 1:57.6 2 François Morren Unknown 3 Edgar Mountain Unknown 4 Ferruccio Bruni Unknown 5 Hec Phillips Unknown 6 Stefan Ołdak 2:09.0 — Wim Bolten
Heat 6
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Kai Jensen 1:58.4 2 Norman McEachern Unknown 3 Ray Dodge Unknown 4 Stefan Kostrzewski 2:01.6 5 Menso Johannes Menso Unknown 6 Christophe Mirgain 2:05.2 7 Jack Newman Unknown
Heat 7
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 H. B. Stallard 1:57.6 2 Louis Philipps 1:58.6 3 Albert Larsen 1:58.8 4 Tokushige Noto Unknown 5 Erik Byléhn Unknown 6 Ömer Besim Koşalay Unknown
Heat 8
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Douglas Lowe 1:58.0 2 Georges Baraton 1:59.2 3 Charles Hoff 2:02.1 4 Karel Přibyl 2:03.8 5 Guillermo Amparan Unknown
Semifinals
All semi-finals were held on Monday, July 7, 1924.
The best three finishers of every heat qualified for the final.
Semifinal 1
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 H. B. Stallard 1:54.2 2 Bill Richardson 1:55.0 3 Paul Martin 1:55.6 4 Rudolf Johansson 1:55.7 5 Kai Jensen Unknown 6 Clarence Oldfield Unknown 7 Georges Baraton 1:57.6 8 Tom McKay 1:58.5
Semifinal 2
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Douglas Lowe 1:56.8 2 Harry Houghton 1:57.3 3 John Watters 1:57.4 4 Sven Emil Lundgren 1:57.6 5 Norman McEachern 1:58.3 6 François Morren 1:58.5 7 René Wiriath 1:59.6 8 Albert Larsen 2:00.2
Semifinal 3
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Ray Dodge 1:57.0 2 Schuyler Enck 1:57.6 3 Charles Hoff 1:58.4 4 Adriaan Paulen 1:58.8 5 Gösta Jansson 1:59.4 6 Jack Harris Unknown 7 Edgar Mountain Unknown 8 Louis Philipps Unknown
Final
The final was held on Tuesday, July 8, 1924.
Rank Athlete Nation Time Douglas Lowe 1:52.4 Paul Martin 1:52.6 Schuyler Enck 1:53.0 4 H. B. Stallard 1:53.0 5 Bill Richardson 1:53.8 6 Ray Dodge 1:54.2 7 John Watters 1:54.8 8 Charles Hoff 1:56.7 9 Harry Houghton 1:58.0
References
External links Olympic Report