Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's 800 metres

This will be the 29th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics.

A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 3 qualified athletes in the men's 800 metres event if all athletes meet the entry standard or qualify by ranking during the qualifying period. (The limit of 3 has been in place since the 1930 Olympic Congress.) The qualifying standard is 1:45.20. This standard was "set for the sole purpose of qualifying athletes with exceptional performances unable to qualify through the IAAF World Rankings pathway." The world rankings, based on the average of the best five results for the athlete over the qualifying period and weighted by the importance of the meet, will then be used to qualify athletes until the cap of 48 is reached.[2][3]

The qualifying period was originally from 1 May 2019 to 29 June 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the period was suspended from 6 April 2020 to 30 November 2020, with the end date extended to 29 June 2021. The world rankings period start date was also changed from 1 May 2019 to 30 June, 2020; athletes who had met the qualifying standard during that time were still qualified, but those using world rankings would not be able to count performances during that time. The qualifying time standards could be obtained in various meets during the given period that have the approval of the IAAF. Both indoor and outdoor meets are eligible. The most recent Area Championships may be counted in the ranking, even if not during the qualifying period.[2][4]

NOCs can also use their universality place—each NOC can enter one male athlete regardless of time if they had no male athletes meeting the entry standard for an athletics event—in the 800 metres.[2]

The event will continue to use the three-round format that has been typical (though with exceptions) in the 800 metres since 1912.[5]

Prior to this competition, the existing world, Olympic, and area records are as follows.

World record	David Rudisha (KEN)	1:40.91	London, United Kingdom	9 August 2012	[6]Video on YouTube
Olympic record	David Rudisha (KEN)	1:40.91	London, United Kingdom	9 August 2012	[7]Video on YouTube

Area
	Time (s)	Athlete	Nation
Africa (records)	1:40.91 WR	David Rudisha	Kenya
Asia (records)	1:42.79	Yusuf Saad Kamel	Bahrain
Europe (records)	1:41.11	Wilson Kipketer	Denmark
North, Central America and Caribbean (records)	1:42.34	Donavan Brazier	United States
Oceania (records)	1:44.21	Joseph Deng	Australia
South America (records)	1:41.77	Joaquim Cruz	Brazil

All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)