The men's 800 metres event at the 2002 Commonwealth Games took place between 27 and 29 July at the City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England. Mbulaeni Mulaudzi won the gold medal with a time of 1:46.32 giving South Africa its first victory in the event. Kenyan Joseph Mutua placed second, taking the silver medal in 1:46.57. He finished ahead of Kris McCarthy of Australia who won the bronze.
This was the ninth running of the 800 metres event at the Commonwealth Games after converting to metric at the 1970 Edinburgh Games. An 880 yards event was contested between 1930 and 1966. 27 competitors from 21 nations entered the event. The champion from Kuala Lumpur, Japheth Kimutai was unable to defend his title finishing fifth in the final. Whilst the silver medallist in both 1994 and 1998, South African Hezekiél Sepeng, failed to arrive in Manchester for the Games after sustaining a hamstring injury.
Records Prior to this competition, the existing records were as follows:
+ Records before the 2002 Commonwealth Games Record Time (s) Athlete (nation) Meet Location Date Ref World record 1:41.11 Weltklasse in Köln Cologne, Germany 24 August 1997 Commonwealth record 1:41.73 Florence, Italy 10 June 1981 Games record 1:43.22 Commonwealth Games Edinburgh, Scotland 31 July 1986
Results Heats The heats were held on 27 July, starting at 11:10 in the morning.
Qualification Rules: First 3 in each heat (Q) and the best 4 of remaining athletes (q) advance to the semi finals.
Heat 1 + Results of heat 1 Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 1:47.68 2 1:47.87 , 3 1:48.04 4 1:48.40 , 5 1:48.51 6 1:52.73
Heat 2 + Results of heat 2 Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 1:48.53 2 1:48.85 3 1:49.67 4 1:51.26 5 1:59.48
Heat 3 + Results of heat 3 Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 1:49.62 2 1:49.92 3 1:50.16 4 1:50.34 5 1:50.85 6 1:51.39 7 1:57.66
Heat 4 + Results of heat 4 Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 1:49.08 2 1:49.21 3 1:49.47 4 1:49.67 5 1:50.01 6 1:50.86 7 2:04.59
Semi finals The semi finals were held on 28 July, starting at 18:45 in the evening.
Qualification: First 3 of each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest (q) qualified for the final.
Semi final 1 + Results of semi final 1 Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 1:46.43 2 1:46.65 3 1:46.93 , 4 1:47.14 , 5 1:47.65 6 1:48.12 7 1:49.08 8 1:50.00
Semi final 2 + Results of semi final 2 Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 1:46.72 2 1:46.81 3 1:47.06 4 1:47.19 5 1:47.22 6 1:47.98 7 1:48.51 8 1:49.61
Final The final was held at 20:24 on 29 July.
+ Results of the final Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1:46.32 1:46.57 1:46.79 4 1:47.04 5 1:47.46 6 1:47.77 7 1:48.96 8 2:17.40
References