Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Women's 800 metres

Women's 800 metres at the Games of the XIX Olympiad
Venue	Estadio Olímpico Universitario
Date	October 17–19
Competitors	24 from 16 nations
Winning time	2:00.9 OR
Medalists
Madeline Manning   United States   Ileana Silai   Romania   Mia Gommers   Netherlands

Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m		men		women
200 m		men		women
400 m		men		women
800 m		men		women
1500 m		men
5000 m		men
10,000 m		men
80 m hurdles				women
110 m hurdles		men
400 m hurdles		men
3000 m steeplechase		men
4×100 m relay		men		women
4×400 m relay		men
Road events
Marathon		men
20 km walk		men
50 km walk		men
Field events
Long jump		men		women
Triple jump		men
High jump		men		women
Pole vault		men
Shot put		men		women
Discus throw		men		women
Javelin throw		men		women
Hammer throw		men
Combined events
Pentathlon				women
Decathlon		men

The Women's 800 metres competition at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico. The event were held at the University Olympic Stadium on October 17–19.

Competition format

The competition had four heats in the first round, two semi-finals and a final. The top four in the first round heats progressed. The top four finishers in the semi-final race reached the finals.

Records

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

World record	Vera Nikolić (YUG)	2:00.5	London, United Kingdom	July 20, 1968
Olympic record	Ann Packer (GBR)	2:01.1	Tokyo, Japan	October 20, 1964

Results

Round 1

Heat 1

Rank	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Nikolić, VeraVera Nikolić	Yugoslavia	2:05.7	Q
2	Erik, LaineLaine Erik	Soviet Union	2:06.5	Q
3	Pigni, PaolaPaola Pigni	Italy	2:06.7	Q
4	Krebs, KarinKarin Krebs	East Germany	2:07.1	Q
5	Kraker, FrancieFrancie Kraker	United States	2:07.3
6	Chesire, ElizabethElizabeth Chesire	Kenya	2:10.9

Heat 2

Rank	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Gommers, MiaMia Gommers	Netherlands	2:04.0	Q
2	Silai, IleanaIleana Silai	Romania	2:04.1	Q
3	Carey, SheilaSheila Carey	Great Britain	2:04.1	Q
4	Zimina, AnnaAnna Zimina	Soviet Union	2:04.4	Q
5	Wieck, BarbaraBarbara Wieck	East Germany	2:08.5
6	Shezifi, ChannaChanna Shezifi	Israel	2:09.2

Heat 3

Rank	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Dupureur, MaryvonneMaryvonne Dupureur	France	2:09.5	Q
2	Brown, DorisDoris Brown	United States	2:09.5	Q
3	Lowe-Cropper, PatPat Lowe-Cropper	Great Britain	2:09.5	Q
4	Potts, SylviaSylvia Potts	New Zealand	2:09.6	Q
5	Haimi, EevaEeva Haimi	Finland	2:09.6
6	van der Made, TillyTilly van der Made	Netherlands	2:10.5

Heat 4

Rank	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Manning, MadelineMadeline Manning	United States	2:08.7	Q
2	Hoffman, AbbyAbby Hoffman	Canada	2:08.9	Q
3	Jehličková, JaroslavaJaroslava Jehličková	Czechoslovakia	2:08.9	Q
4	Keizer-Laman, IljaIlja Keizer-Laman	Netherlands	2:08.9	Q
5	Damm Olesen, AnneliseAnnelise Damm Olesen	Denmark	2:09.0
6	Page-Allison, JoanJoan Page-Allison	Great Britain	2:10.2

Semifinals

Heat 1

Rank	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Manning, MadelineMadeline Manning	United States	2:05.8	Q
2	Silai, IleanaIleana Silai	Romania	2:05.9	Q
3	Lowe-Cropper, PatPat Lowe-Cropper	Great Britain	2:06.6	Q
4	Hoffman, AbbyAbby Hoffman	Canada	2:07.0	Q
5	Krebs, KarinKarin Krebs	East Germany	2:08.4
6	Zimina, AnnaAnna Zimina	Soviet Union	2:04.4
7	Keizer-Laman, IljaIlja Keizer-Laman	Netherlands	2:08.5
N/A	Nikolić, VeraVera Nikolić	Yugoslavia	DNF

Heat 2

Rank	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Gommers, MiaMia Gommers	Netherlands	2:05.1	Q
2	Brown, DorisDoris Brown	United States	2:05.2	Q
3	Carey, SheilaSheila Carey	Great Britain	2:05.2	Q
4	Dupureur, MaryvonneMaryvonne Dupureur	France	2:05.5	Q
5	Erik, LaineLaine Erik	Soviet Union	2:06.0
6	Potts, SylviaSylvia Potts	New Zealand	2:07.2
7	Pigni, PaolaPaola Pigni	Italy	2:07.8
8	Jehličková, JaroslavaJaroslava Jehličková	Czechoslovakia	2:13.5

Final

Rank	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes
	Manning, MadelineMadeline Manning	United States	2:00.9	OR
	Silai, IleanaIleana Silai	Romania	2:02.5
	Gommers, MiaMia Gommers	Netherlands	2:02.6
4	Carey, SheilaSheila Carey	Great Britain	2:03.8
5	Brown, DorisDoris Brown	United States	2:03.9
6	Lowe-Cropper, PatPat Lowe-Cropper	Great Britain	2:04.2
7	Hoffman, AbbyAbby Hoffman	Canada	2:06.8
8	Dupureur, MaryvonneMaryvonne Dupureur	France	2:08.2

References

• Official Olympic Report, la84foundation.org. Retrieved August 16, 2012.