Athletics at the 1992 Summer Olympics – Women's 800 metres

These are the official results of the women's 800 metres event at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. There were a total of 36 participating athletes, with five qualifying heats.[1]

Women's 800 metres
at the Games of the XXV Olympiad
VenueEstadi Olímpic de Montjuïc
Dates31 July 1992 (heats)
1 August 1992 (semi-finals)
3 August 1992 (final)
Competitors36 from 25 nations
Winning time1:55.54
Medalists
Ellen van Langen
 Netherlands
Liliya Nurutdinova
 Unified Team
Ana Fidelia Quirot
 Cuba
Official Video Highlights
@ 9:00
Athletics at the
1992 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
400 mmenwomen
800 mmenwomen
1500 mmenwomen
3000 mwomen
5000 mmen
10,000 mmenwomen
100 m hurdleswomen
110 m hurdlesmen
400 m hurdlesmenwomen
3000 m
steeplechase		men
4×100 m relaymenwomen
4×400 m relaymenwomen
Road events
Marathonmenwomen
10 km walkwomen
20 km walkmen
50 km walkmen
Field events
Long jumpmenwomen
Triple jumpmen
High jumpmenwomen
Pole vaultmen
Shot putmenwomen
Discus throwmenwomen
Javelin throwmenwomen
Hammer throwmen
Combined events
Heptathlonwomen
Decathlonmen
Wheelchair races

Race description

Favorites for the title were 1991 Tokyo World Championships gold medallist Liliya Nurutdinova for the Unified Team, Ana Quirot (Cuba), and Africa's hopeful, 19-year old Maria Mutola (Mozambique). Other potential rivals like the former East German athletes Sigrun Wodars (as Sigrun Grau, after a divorce) and Christine Wachtel, the one-two finish at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, had been eliminated in the preliminaries. The fastest semi-final was won by Nurutdinova. Dutch runner Ellen van Langen had set the fastest time of the season prior to the Games.[2]

In the final, fearing Van Langen's final sprint, her main competitor, a confident Nurutdinova, set a rapid pace, running the first lap in a very fast time of 55.73, with Van Langen only in 6th position.[2][3][4] Pressured by Mutola, Quirot and Ella Kovacs (Romania), Nurutdinova led the final from the start. Entering the final stretch she had a slight lead, but Van Langen, only fifth at 600 meters, moved through on the inside. With Nurutdinova moving away from the curb to block her challengers, Van Langen in the last 50m passed – still on the inside – to win a surprise victory in a time of 1:55.54, beating Nurutdinova (silver) and Quirot (bronze).[2][3][4]

Van Langen later explained the secret of her success. “I think what I could do well is I could die very well in a race and still continue,” she said. “That is very hard, because it hurts running the 800 meters. You have to overcome some boundaries in yourself to continue when it hurts like hell. I was good at it. If the Olympic race would have been run by each athlete individual and the fastest time was the winner I would not have won,” she added. “I was also good in tactics, looking around me and taking the right decisions.”[5]

Medalists
GoldEllen van Langen
 Netherlands
SilverLiliya Nurutdinova
 Unified Team
BronzeAna Fidelia Quirot
 Cuba

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1992 Summer Olympics.

World Record 1:53.28 Jarmila Kratochvílová Munich (FRG) July 26, 1983
Olympic Record 1:53.43 Nadiya Olizarenko Moscow (URS) July 27, 1980

Final
RANK FINAL TIME
 Ellen van Langen (NED) 1:55.54
 Liliya Nurutdinova (EUN) 1:55.99
 Ana Fidelia Quirot (CUB) 1:56.80
4.  Inna Yevseyeva (EUN) 1:57.20
5.  Maria de Lurdes Mutola (MOZ) 1:57.49
6.  Ella Kovacs (ROM) 1:57.95
7.  Joetta Clark (USA) 1:58.06
8.  Lyubov Gurina (EUN) 1:58.13

Semi finals
RANK HEAT 1 TIME
1.  Liliya Nurutdinova (EUN) 1:58.04
2.  Maria de Lurdes Mutola (MOZ) 1:58.16
3.  Inna Yevseyeva (EUN) 1:58.20
4.  Joetta Clark (USA) 1:58.22
5.  Letitia Vriesde (SUR) 1:58.28
6.  Charmaine Crooks (CAN) 1:58.55
7.  Lorraine Baker (GBR) 2:02.17
8.  Sabine Zwiener (GER) 2:02.64


RANK HEAT 2 TIME
1.  Lyubov Gurina (EUN) 2:00.64
2.  Ellen van Langen (NED) 2:00.68
3.  Ana Fidelia Quirot (CUB) 2:00.86
4.  Ella Kovacs (ROU) 2:00.89
5.  Sigrun Grau (GER) 2:00.91
6.  Carla Sacramento (POR) 2:02.85
7.  Diane Edwards (GBR) 2:04.32
8.  Julie Jenkins (USA) 2:06.53

Heats
RANK HEAT 1 TIME
1.  Sigrun Grau (GER) 2:00.31
2.  Liliya Nurutdinova (EUN) 2:00.37
3.  Diane Edwards (GBR) 2:00.39
4.  Shiny Wilson (IND) 2:01.90
5.  Stella Jongmans (NED) 2:02.26
6.  Brigitte Nganaye (CAF) 2:15.70
—  R. Baguepeng Gangue (CHA) DSQ


RANK HEAT 2 TIME
1.  Joetta Clark (USA) 1:59.62
2.  Ellen van Langen (NED) 1:59.86
3.  Carla Sacramento (POR) 2:00.57
4.  Christine Wachtel (GER) 2:01.39
5.  Paula Fryer (GBR) 2:02.72
6.  Sukanya Sang-Ngeun (THA) 2:09.94
7.  Andrea Garae (VAN) 2:28.61


RANK HEAT 3 TIME
1.  Ella Kovacs (ROU) 1:59.88
2.  Letitia Vriesde (SUR) 1:59.93
3.  Julie Jenkins (USA) 1:59.96
4.  Sabine Zwiener (GER) 2:00.87
5.  Fabia Trabaldo (ITA) 2:01.44
6.  Sriyani Dhammika Menike (SRI) 2:03.85
(NR)
7.  Prisca Singamo (MAW) 2:20.84


RANK HEAT 4 TIME
1.  Inna Yevseyeva (EUN) 1:58.58
2.  Ana Fidelia Quirot (CUB) 1:59.06
3.  Charmaine Crooks (CAN) 1:59.52
4.  Lorraine Baker (GBR) 2:00.50
5.  Leontia Sălăgeanu (ROU) 2:01.44
6.  Zewdie Hailemariam (ETH) 2:03.85
—  Carol Galea (MLT) DSQ


RANK HEAT 5 TIME
1.  Lyubov Gurina (EUN) 2:00.27
2.  Maria de Lurdes Mutola (MOZ) 2:00.83
3.  Meredith Rainey (USA) 2:01.33
4.  Viviane Dorsile (FRA) 2:01.54
5.  Amaia Andrés (ESP) 2:02.67
6.  Gladys Wamuyu (KEN) 2:03.01
7.  Edith Nakiyingi (UGA) 2:03.55
8.  Mantokoane Pitso (LES) 2:29.77

See also

References
  1. "Athletics at the 1992 Barcelona Games: Women's 800 metres". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
  2. "Ellen van Langen". athletics-heroes.net. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  3. "Women's 800m Final Barcelona Olympics 1992". Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  4. "Portret Ellen van Langen". sportkroniek.nl (in Dutch). 25 June 2008. Archived from the original on 30 May 2012. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  5. "Van Langen able to "die" best for Olympic gold". Xinhua. 10 July 2002. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
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