Athletics at the 1908 Summer Olympics - Men's 800 metres

The men's 800 metres made its fourth Olympic appearance at the 1908 Summer Olympics. The competition was held on July 20, 1908 and on July 21, 1908. The races were held on a track of 536.45 metres=frac|1|3 mile in circumference. It was run in two rounds, with the winners of the eight heats of the first round competing in the final.

38 runners from eleven nations competed.

Medallists

Semifinal 2

The second heat was less eventful than the preceding one, with Sheppard leading most of the way. Nevertheless, Lintott kept close and was only four yards behind at the finish.

Semifinal 5

The fifth heat was the closest of the first round, despite Beard leading the entire way. Buddo and Astley both made tremendous efforts to catch up in the second lap. Astley caught and passed Buddo, but was unable to do the same with Beard, who won by inches.

Semifinal 8

While not having quite the dominant lead that his countryman Just had in the sixth heat, Crawford won the eighth easily as well. Hellström was fifteen yards behind him when he finished.

Final

The final was held on July 21, 1908. Crawford started out fast, leading by fifteen yards halfway through the first lap. By the end of the lap, however, he had tired so much that he was forced to drop out of the race. Sheppard then took the lead, with Lunghi and Just immediately behind. The time at the 400 metres mark was only 53 seconds. Just was the first of the three leaders to fail to keep the pace, dropping back to fifth place. Lunghi's efforts were not enough for him to stay with Sheppard the entire way, though the Italian did finish 1.8 seconds faster than the Olympic record. Sheppard was 1.4 seconds faster than that, with his time of 1:52.8 fully 3.2 seconds faster than Jim Lightbody's record of four years earlier.

References

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