Athletics at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Men's 800 metres

From the gun Alberto Juantorena took an apparent lead against the field through the staggered start. Passing the break at 300 metres, the long striding Cuban was a couple of steps ahead of the noticeably smaller American Rick Wohlhuter. Sriram Singh came from more than 10 metres back at the break to sprint past Juantorena and the rest of the field, to take the lead just after the bell. Singh's lead was short lived as the field bunched then started to make their way around him. Wohlhuter stuck less than a mere step behind Juantorena all the way through the final turn as Ivo van Damme, Willi Wülbeck and future champion Steve Ovett jockeyed for position. Coming off the turn, Juantorena found more speed to pull away from Wohlhuter. As he struggled down the home stretch, Wohlhuter was passed by van Damme 20 metres before the finish.

Juantorena's 1:43.5 (rounded down from the electronic time of 1:43.50) broke Marcello Fiasconaro's hand timed world record of 1:43.7. Despite the erratic pace, Singh's time in 7th place stood as the Asian record until it was broken by Lee Jin-il in 1994.

This was the 18th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. None of the 1972 finalists returned; the Kenyan boycott kept Munich bronze medalist and would-be favorite Mike Boit out. Marcello Fiasconaro of Italy, who had set the world record in 1973, was injured and unable to compete. The favorites among the athletes who did appear were Alberto Juantorena of Cuba, Rick Wohlhuter of the United States, and Ivo van Damme of Belgium.[2]

Barbados, Saudi Arabia, and Suriname appeared in the event for the first time. Great Britain and the United States each made their 17th appearance, tied for the most among all nations.

The competition used the three-round format that had been in use for most Games since 1912. The "fastest loser" system introduced in 1964 was used for the first round. There were six first-round heats, each with 7 or 8 athletes (before withdrawals); the top two runners in each heat as well as the next four fastest overall advanced to the semifinals. There were two semifinals with 8 athletes each; the top four runners in each semifinal advanced to the eight-man final.[2][3]

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

World record	Marcello Fiasconaro (ITA)	1:43.7	Milan, Italy	27 June 1973
Olympic record	Ralph Doubell (AUS)	1:44.3	Mexico City, Mexico	15 October 1968

In the final, all three medalists ran under the Olympic record time. Alberto Juantorena won the event with the world record time of 1:43.50.

All times are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4)

• 1972 Men's Olympic 800 metres (Munich)
• 1978 Men's European Championships 800 metres (Prague)
• 1980 Men's Olympic 800 metres (Moscow)