Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics – Men's 800 metres

Men's 800 metres
at the Games of the V Olympiad

The finish with Ted Meredith setting a new world record.

Venue

Stockholm Olympic Stadium

Dates

July 6 (heats)
July 7 (semifinals)
July 8 (final)

Competitors

48 from 16 nations

Medalists

	Ted Meredith	United States
	Mel Sheppard	United States
	Ira Davenport	United States

Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m		men
200 m		men
400 m		men
800 m		men
1500 m		men
5000 m		men
10,000 m		men
110 m hurdles		men
4×100 m relay		men
4×400 m relay		men
3000 m team race		men
10 km walk		men
Road events
Marathon		men
Field events
Long jump		men
Triple jump		men
High jump		men
Pole vault		men
Standing long jump		men
Standing high jump		men
Shot put		men
Discus throw		men
Hammer throw		men
Javelin throw		men
2-hand shot put		men
2-hand discus		men
2-hand javelin		men
Combined events
Pentathlon		men
Decathlon		men
Cross-country events
Individual		men
Team		men

The men's 800 metres was a track and field athletics event held as part of the athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics programme. It was the fifth appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The competition was held from Saturday, July 6, 1912 to Monday, July 8, 1912.

Forty-eight runners from 16 nations competed. Including all three medalists from 1908, Olympic champion Mel Sheppard, the silver medalists Emilio Lunghi, and the bronze medalist Hanns Braun.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1912 Summer Olympics.

World Record	1:52.8(*)	Mel Sheppard	London (GBR)	July 21, 1908
World Record	1:52.1(**)	Emilio Lunghi	Montreal (CAN)	September 15, 1909
Olympic Record	1:52.8(***)	Mel Sheppard	London (GBR)	July 21, 1908

(*) unofficial

(**) 880 yards (= 804.68 m)

(***) This track was 536.45 metres=¹⁄₃ mile in circumference.

The world record of 1:52.8, which had seemed fairly safe through the first two rounds of competition, was broken by all three medalists and tied by the fourth-place runner in the final. Mel Sheppard, the previous record-holder, and Ira Davenport beat the old record by .8 seconds at 1:52.0, taking silver and bronze behind Ted Meredith and his new record of 1:51.9. This record became the first official world record for the 800 metres.

Results

Heats

All heats were held on Saturday, July 6, 1912.

Heat 1

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	David Caldwell (USA)	1:58.6	QS
2	Emilio Lunghi (ITA)		QS
3	Walter McClure (USA)
4	Eric Lindholm (SWE)	2:01.5
5	Joseph Caullé (FRA)

Heat 2

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Percy Mann (GBR)	1:56.0	QS
2	Herbert Putnam (USA)		QS
3	Jacob Pedersen (NOR)
DNF	Leopoldo Palma (CHI)	-

Heat 3

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	John Paul Jones (USA)	2:01.8	QS
2	Armando Cortesão (POR)		QS
3	Oscar Larsen (NOR)
4	Guido Calvi (ITA)

Heat 4

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Clarence Edmundson (USA)	1:56.5	QS
2	John Tait (CAN)		QS
3	Charles Poulenard (FRA)
4	Wilhelm Jahn (athlete) (GER)	2:02.0
—	Robert Burton (GBR)	DNF

Heat 5

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Ira Davenport (USA)	1:59.0	QS
2	Frederick Hulford (GBR)		QS
3	Ödön Bodor (HUN)
4	Julius Person (GER)
5	Dmitri Nazarov (RUS)
—	Zdeněk Městecký (BOH)	DNF
—	Philip Baker (GBR)	DNF

Heat 6

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Harlan Holden (USA)	1:58.1	QS
2	Evert Björn (SWE)		QS
3	Richard Yorke (GBR)
4	Karl Haglund (SWE)	2:01.2
5-7	Ferenc Forgács (HUN)
	Aleksandr Elizarov (RUS)
	Federico Mueller (CHI)
—	Vahram Papazian (TUR)	DNF

Heat 7

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	James Soutter (GBR)	2:00.4	QS
2	Mel Sheppard (USA)		QS
3	Erich Lehmann (GER)
—	János Antal (HUN)	DNF
—	Johannes Leopold Villemson (RUS)	DNS

Heat 8

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Mel Brock (CAN)	1:57.0	QS
2	Ted Meredith (USA)		QS
3	John Victor (RSA)
—	Alan Patterson (GBR)	DNF

Heat 9

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Ernest Henley (GBR)	1:57.6	QS
2	Hanns Braun (GER)		QS
3	Erik Frisell (SWE)	1:59.2
4	Thomas Halpin (USA)	1:59.2
—	Lauri Pihkala (FIN)	DNF
—	Károly Radóczy (HUN)	DNF

Semifinals

Both semi-finals were held on Sunday, July 7, 1912.

The start of the final.

The final under way.

Semifinal 1

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Ted Meredith (USA)	1:54.4	QF
2	Hanns Braun (GER)	1:54.6	QF
3	Mel Sheppard (USA)	1:54.8	QF
4	Herbert Putnam (USA)	1:55.0	QF
5	John Tait (CAN)
6	Percy Mann (GBR)
—	Frederick Hulford (GBR)	DNF
	James Soutter (GBR)	DNF
	John Paul Jones (USA)	DNS

Semifinal 2

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Mel Brock (CAN)	1:55.7	QF
2	Clarence Edmundson (USA)	1:55.8	QF
3	David Caldwell (USA)	1:55.9	QF
4	Ira Davenport (USA)	1:55.9	QF
5	Emilio Lunghi (ITA)
6-9	Evert Björn (SWE)
	Ernest Henley (GBR)
	Harlan Holden (USA)
	Armando Cortesão (POR)

Final

The final took place on Monday, July 8, 1912.

Place	Athlete	Time
1	Ted Meredith (USA)	1:51.9 WR
2	Mel Sheppard (USA)	1:52.0
3	Ira Davenport (USA)	1:52.0
4	David Caldwell (USA)	1:52.8
5	Mel Brock (CAN)	1:53.0
6	Hanns Braun (GER)	1:53.0
7	Clarence Edmundson (USA)
8	Herbert Putnam (USA)

References

sports-reference.com
Bergvall, Erik (ed.) (1913). Adams-Ray, Edward (trans.)., ed. The Official Report of the Olympic Games of Stockholm 1912. Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand.
Wudarski, Pawel (1999). "Wyniki Igrzysk Olimpijskich" (in Polish). Retrieved 27 August 2006.

800 metres at the Olympic Games

Summary

Men	1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012

Women	1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012

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