1978 European Athletics Championships – Men's 800 metres
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 edit
| Gold | Olaf Beyer East Germany |
| Silver | Steve Ovett Great Britain |
| Bronze | Sebastian Coe Great Britain |
Results edit
Final edit
31 August
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Olaf Beyer | East Germany | 1:43.84 | CR | |
| Steve Ovett | Great Britain | 1:44.09 | ||
| 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 edit
30 August
Semi-final 1 edit
| 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 edit
| 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 edit
29 August
Heat 1 edit
| 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 edit
| 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 | Peter Hoffmann | Great Britain | 1:49.3 |
Heat 3 edit
| 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 edit
| 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 edit
According to an unofficial count, 24 athletes from 15 countries participated in the event.
- Czechoslovakia (1)
- East Germany (3)
- Finland (1)
- France (2)
- Greece (1)
- Iceland (1)
- Italy (1)
- Liechtenstein (1)
- Luxembourg (1)
- Netherlands (1)
- Soviet Union (3)
- Turkey (1)
- Great Britain (3)
- West Germany (2)
- Yugoslavia (2)
See also edit
- 1974 Men's European Championships 800 metres (Rome)
- 1976 Men's Olympic 800 metres (Montreal)
- 1980 Men's Olympic 800 metres (Moscow)
- 1982 Men's European Championships 800 metres (Athens)
- 1983 Men's World Championships 800 metres (Helsinki)
- 1984 Men's Olympic 800 metres (Los Angeles)
- 1986 Men's European Championships 800 metres (Stuttgart)
References edit
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjzR8AOvEzc 1978 European 800m - men, youtube.com. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
- ^ European Athletics Championships Zürich 2014 - STATISTICS HANDBOOK (PDF), European Athletics Association, pp. 427–435, retrieved 13 August 2014
- ^ http://home.swipnet.se/athletics/resultat1978.htm 2012-09-29 at the Wayback Machine European Championship 1978. Retrieved 15 May 2012.
- ^ Steve Ovett biography, Sports-Reference.co. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
- ^ Sebastian Coe biography, Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KU9Gqhoqno4 'ROMA 1974: 800 MASCHILI - LUCIANO SUSANJ', youtube.com.
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W7GogWlv7Q 1977 World Cup 1500m - Steve Ovett, youtube.com.
- ^ 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.
- ^ http://www.uka.org.uk/e-inspire/hall-of-fame-athletes/sebastian-coe/ 2012-05-15 at the Wayback Machine Sebastian Coe, United Kingdom Athletics biography.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Olaf Beyer biography, Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
- ^ http://digilander.libero.it/Mennea/Stagionali/WRL/1978/800.htm 1978 800m performances. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
Other Links edit
- 1978 European Championship Results