| Event: | Men's 800 metres |
| Games: | 1928 Summer |
| Venue: | Olympic Stadium |
| Dates: | July 29 (heats) July 30 (semifinals) July 31 (final) |
| Competitors: | 49 |
| Nations: | 24 |
| Win Value: | 1:51.8 |
| Gold: | Douglas Lowe |
| Goldnoc: | GBR |
| Silver: | Erik Byléhn |
| Silvernoc: | SWE |
| Bronze: | Hermann Engelhard |
| Bronzenoc: | GER |
| Prev: | 1924 |
| Next: | 1932 |
The men's 800 metre event at the 1928 Olympic Games took place between July 29 & July 31.[1] Forty-nine athletes from 24 nations competed. NOCs were limited to 4 competitors each.[2]
The event was won by Douglas Lowe of Great Britain, successfully defending his 1924 championship (the first man to do so in the 800 metres). It was the third of what ultimately would be four straight British victories in the event, and the fourth overall title for Great Britain in the 800 metres. Erik Byléhn's silver was Sweden's first 800 metres medal. Hermann Engelhard matched Germany's best-ever result in the event (Germany had previously won bronze in 1908).
This was the eighth appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Three finalists from 1924 returned: gold medalist Douglas Lowe of Great Britain, silver medalist Paul Martin of Switzerland, and ninth-place finisher Harry Houghton of Great Britain. The competitive field was led by Lowe (defending champion and 1928 AAA winner), Otto Peltzer of Germany (880 yard world record holder), Séra Martin of France (800 metres world record holder), and Lloyd Hahn of the United States (1928 AAU champion, who had broken the world record at the U.S. Olympic trials a few days before Séra Martin ran even faster; Hahn's record was never ratified).[3]
Argentina and India appeared in the event for the first time. Great Britain and the United States each made their seventh appearance, tied for the most among all nations.
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.[3] [4]
These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1928 Summer Olympics.
Douglas Lowe broke the Olympic record by 0.1 seconds in the final, setting the new record at 1:51.8.
| Date | Time | Round | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday, 29 July 1928 | 16:15 | Round 1 | |
| Monday, 30 July 1928 | 15:25 | Semifinals | |
| Tuesday, 31 July 1928 | 16:20 | Final |
The first three finishers in each of the eight heats advanced to the semifinal round.
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alex Wilson | 1:59.2 | ||||
| 2 | Erik Byléhn | 1:59.8 | ||||
| 3 | John Sittig | 2:00.6 | ||||
| 4 | Guus Zeegers | data-sort-value=3:00.0 | Unknown | |||
| 5 | Gérald Bertheloot | data-sort-value=4:00.0 | Unknown | |||
| 6 | Vasilios Stavrinos | data-sort-value=5:00.0 | Unknown | |||
| 7 | Louis Schmit | data-sort-value=6:00.0 | Unknown | |||
| data-sort-value=8 | — | António Dias |
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Otto Peltzer | 1:57.4 | ||||
| 2 | Brant Little | 1:57.8 | ||||
| 3 | Wilfred Tatham | 1:58.2 | ||||
| 4 | Adriaan Paulen | data-sort-value=3:00.0 | Unknown | |||
| 5 | William Whyte | data-sort-value=4:00.0 | Unknown | |||
| 6 | Albert Larsen | data-sort-value=5:00.0 | Unknown | |||
| data-sort-value=7 | — | József Marton |
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jean Keller | 1:59.0 | ||||
| 2 | Paul Martin | 1:59.4 | ||||
| 3 | Ray Watson | 1:59.6 | ||||
| 4 | Max Tarnogrocki | 1:59.9 | ||||
| 5 | Alfonso García | data-sort-value=3:00.0 | Unknown | |||
| 6 | Andries Hoogerwerf | data-sort-value=4:00.0 | Unknown | |||
| 7 | Antonios Mangos | data-sort-value=5:00.0 | Unknown | |||
| data-sort-value=8 | — | Harri Larva |
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Georges Baraton | 2:03.4 | |||
| 2 | Earl Fuller | 2:03.8 | |||
| 3 | Olaf Strand | 2:03.8 | |||
| 4 | Ettore Tavernari | data-sort-value=3:00.0 | Unknown | ||
| 5 | Philippe Coenjaerts | data-sort-value=3:00.0 | Unknown | ||
| 6 | Harry Houghton | data-sort-value=3:00.0 | Unknown | ||
| data-sort-value=7 | — | Danie Jacobs |
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lloyd Hahn | 1:56.8 | |||
| 2 | Hermann Englehard | 1:57.0 | |||
| 3 | Vilém Šindler | 1:57.0 | |||
| 4 | René Féger | data-sort-value=3:00.0 | Unknown | ||
| 5 | Jack Walter | data-sort-value=4:00.0 | Unknown | ||
| 6 | Charles Stuart | data-sort-value=5:00.0 | Unknown | ||
| — | Grigorios Georgakopoulos | ||||
| Matti Korpela |
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Serafín Dengra | 2:01.2 | |||
| 2 | Douglas Lowe | 2:02.2 | |||
| 3 | Guido Cominotto | 2:02.4 | |||
| 4 | Ömer Besim Koşalay | data-sort-value=3:00.0 | Unknown | ||
| — | G. Arnoldy | ||||
| Frej Liewendahl | |||||
| László Magdics |
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Séra Martin | 1:58.8 | ||||
| 2 | László Barsi | 1:59.0 | ||||
| 3 | Fredy Müller | 1:59.4 | ||||
| 4 | Adolf Kittel | 1:59.6 | ||||
| 5 | Feliks Malanowski | 1:59.8 | ||||
| 6 | Gerry Coughlan | data-sort-value=3:00.0 | Unknown | |||
| 7 | J. Murphy | data-sort-value=4:00.0 | Unknown | |||
| data-sort-value=8 | — | Eino Purje |
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Phil Edwards | 1:59.4 | |||
| 2 | Ralph Starr | 1:59.8 | |||
| 3 | Norman McEachern | 1:59.8 | |||
| 4 | Leopoldo Ledesma | data-sort-value=2:00.0 | Unknown | ||
| 5 | José Lucílo Iturbe | data-sort-value=2:01.0 | Unknown | ||
| 6 | Joaquín Miquel | 2:03.2 | |||
| — | L. Passy | ||||
| Ivan Rittig |
The three fastest runners from each of the three heats advanced to the final.
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Earl Fuller | 1:55.6 | ||||
| 2 | Douglas Lowe | 1:55.8 | ||||
| 3 | Jean Keller | 1:56.0 | ||||
| 4 | László Barsi | 1:56.2 | ||||
| 5 | Otto Peltzer | 1:56.3 | ||||
| 6 | Alex Wilson | 1:57.1 | ||||
| 7 | Vilém Šindler | data-sort-value=2:00.0 | Unknown | |||
| data-sort-value=8 | — | Norman McEachern |
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Erik Blyéhn | 1:55.6 | ||||
| 2 | Ray Watson | 1:56.8 | ||||
| 3 | Hermann Engelhard | 1:56.8 | ||||
| 4 | Brant Little | 1:57.6 | ||||
| 5 | Ralph Starr | data-sort-value=2:00.0 | Unknown | |||
| 6 | Guido Cominotto | data-sort-value=3:00.0 | Unknown | |||
| 7 | Serafín Dengra | data-sort-value=4:00.0 | Unknown | |||
| data-sort-value=8 | — | Georges Baraton |
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lloyd Hahn | 1:52.6 | |||
| 2 | Phil Edwards | 1:52.8 | |||
| 3 | Séra Martin | 1:53.0 | |||
| 4 | Paul Martin | 1:53.3 | |||
| 5 | John Sittig | 1:53.4 | |||
| 6 | Fredy Müller | 1:53.8 | |||
| 7 | Wilfrid Tatham | data-sort-value=1:55.0 | Unknown | ||
| 8 | Olaf Strand | 1:59.9 |
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1:51.8 | |||||
| 1:52.8 | |||||
| 1:53.2 | |||||
| 4 | 1:54.0 | ||||
| 5 | 1:54.2 | ||||
| 6 | 1:54.6 | ||||
| 7 | 1:55.0 | ||||
| 8 | 1:57.0 | ||||
| 9 | 2:03.0 |