1978 European Athletics Championships – Men's 800 metres

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These are the official results of the Men's 800 metres event at the 1978 European Championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia.[1][2] The final was held on 31 August 1978.[3]

The two favourites for the race were Steve Ovett[4] and Sebastian Coe[5] Ovett had won silver at 800 m at the previous European Championships in 1974 in Rome,[6] and had won the 1500m, in spectacular fashion, at the IAAF World Cup[7] the previous year (he was to remain unbeaten at that distance until the 1980 Olympics).[8] Coe was the new British record holder at 800 m and the fastest man that year leading into the race at 800 m.[9]

The race was billed in the press, the British press in particular, as a 'Coe versus Ovett' contest - a race that was the start of a rivalry that was to dominate not only British and European but World middle-distance running over the next few years.[10][11] However, by concentrating on Coe and Ovett the press were ignoring the other talents in the race, including East Germany's Olaf Beyer.[12]

In the race itself, Coe led from the front setting a blistering first lap pace, going through the bell in a suicidal 49.32 s. At 700 m, he was spent and Ovett kicked past him for home. However, the fast-finishing Beyer first caught Coe and then Ovett to strike gold, in doing so recording the fastest time that year.[13]

Medalists

Gold Olaf Beyer
 East Germany
Silver Steve Ovett
 Great Britain
Bronze Sebastian Coe
 Great Britain

Results

Final

31 August

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) Olaf Beyer  East Germany 1:43.84 CR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Steve Ovett  Great Britain 1:44.09
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Sebastian Coe  Great Britain 1:44.76
4 Anatoliy Reshetnyak  Soviet Union 1:45.79
5 Vladimir Podolyako  Soviet Union 1:46.24
6 Andreas Busse  East Germany 1:47.1
7 Dragan Životić  Yugoslavia 1:47.4
8 José Marajo  France 1:53.4

Semi-finals

30 August

Semi-final 1

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 Sebastian Coe  Great Britain 1:47.44 Q
2 Andreas Busse  East Germany 1:47.6 Q
3 José Marajo  France 1:47.7 Q
4 Vladimir Podolyako  Soviet Union 1:47.8 Q
5 Markku Taskinen  Finland 1:47.9
6 Uwe Becker  West Germany 1:48.2
7 Detlef Wagenknecht  East Germany 1:48.5
8 Arno Körmeling  Netherlands 1:49.2

Semi-final 2

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 Steve Ovett  Great Britain 1:46.51 Q
2 Olaf Beyer  East Germany 1:46.74 Q
3 Dragan Životić  Yugoslavia 1:46.94 Q
4 Anatoliy Reshetnyak  Soviet Union 1:47.2 Q
5 Hans-Peter Ferner  West Germany 1:47.4
6 Sermet Timurlenk  Turkey 1:47.9
7 Roger Milhau  France 1:48.9
8 Günther Hasler  Liechtenstein 1:49.3

Heats

29 August

Heat 1

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 Steve Ovett  Great Britain 1:47.80 Q
2 Hans-Peter Ferner  West Germany 1:48.1 Q
3 Markku Taskinen  Finland 1:48.3 Q
4 Detlef Wagenknecht  East Germany 1:48.4 q
5 Vladimir Malozemlin  Soviet Union 1:48.6
6 Carlo Grippo  Italy 1:48.6

Heat 2

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 Olaf Beyer  East Germany 1:47.72 Q
2 Arno Körmeling  Netherlands 1:48.1 Q
3 Günther Hasler  Liechtenstein 1:48.5 Q
4 Justin Gloden  Luxembourg 1:49.0
5 David O’Donnell  Great Britain 1:49.3

Heat 3

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 Andreas Busse  East Germany 1:49.08 Q
2 José Marajo  France 1:49.4 Q
3 Anatoliy Reshetnyak  Soviet Union 1:49.5 Q
4 Milovan Savić  Yugoslavia 1:50.0
5 Milan Timko  Czechoslovakia 1:50.5
6 Panagiotis Pallikaris  Greece 1:51.6

Heat 4

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 Sebastian Coe  Great Britain 1:46.82 Q
2 Roger Milhau  France 1:47.07 Q
3 Uwe Becker  West Germany 1:47.13 Q
4 Dragan Životić  Yugoslavia 1:47.18 q
5 Vladimir Podolyako  Soviet Union 1:47.19 q
6 Sermet Timurlenk  Turkey 1:47.23 q
7 Jón Didriksson  Iceland 1:50.4

Participation

According to an unofficial count, 24 athletes from 15 countries participated in the event.

See also

References

  1. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjzR8AOvEzc 1978 European 800m - men, youtube.com. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
  2. ^ European Athletics Championships Zürich 2014 - STATISTICS HANDBOOK (PDF), European Athletics Association, pp. 427–435, retrieved 13 August 2014
  3. ^ http://home.swipnet.se/athletics/resultat1978.htm Archived 2012-09-29 at the Wayback Machine European Championship 1978. Retrieved 15 May 2012.
  4. ^ Steve Ovett at Sports Reference Steve Ovett biography, Sports-Reference.co. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
  5. ^ Sebastian Coe at Sports Reference Sebastian Coe biography, Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
  6. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KU9Gqhoqno4 'ROMA 1974: 800 MASCHILI - LUCIANO SUSANJ', youtube.com.
  7. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W7GogWlv7Q 1977 World Cup 1500m - Steve Ovett, youtube.com.
  8. ^ http://www.uka.org.uk/e-inspire/hall-of-fame-athletes/steve-ovett/ Archived 2009-06-17 at archive.today Steve Ovett, United Kingdom Athletics biography.
  9. ^ http://www.uka.org.uk/e-inspire/hall-of-fame-athletes/sebastian-coe/ Archived 2012-05-15 at the Wayback Machine Sebastian Coe, United Kingdom Athletics biography.
  10. ^ http://www.sportsjournalists.co.uk/sja-news/sja-1948-2008/we-will-never-see-their-like-again/ "We will never see their like again.", Randall Northam, 9 June 2008, Sports Journalists' Association. Retrieved 15 May 2012.
  11. ^ http://www.sportinglife.com/olympics/history/story_get.dor?STORY_NAME=others/00/07/05/OLYMPICS_Coe_and_Ovett.insdat "Olympic greats - Coe and Ovett", Richard Gibson, sportinglife.com. Retrieved 15 May 2012.
  12. ^ Olaf Beyer at Sports Reference Olaf Beyer biography, Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
  13. ^ http://digilander.libero.it/Mennea/Stagionali/WRL/1978/800.htm 1978 800m performances. Retrieved 16 May 2012.

Other Links

  • Results 1978 European Championship Results