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

The women's 800 metres event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place from 30 July to 3 August 2021 at the Japan National Stadium. Approximately 50 athletes competed; the exact number was dependent on how many nations use universality places to enter athletes in addition to the 48 qualifying through time or ranking (3 universality places were used in 2016).

Women's 800 metres at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
Olympic Athletics
Venue	Japan National Stadium
Dates	30 July 2021 (heats) 31 July 2021 (semifinals) 3 August 2021 (final)
Competitors	~50 from ~25 nations
Winning time	1:55.21
Medalists
Athing Mu  United States Keely Hodgkinson  Great Britain Raevyn Rogers  United States

Summary

The fastest qualifier in the semis was 19 year old sensation Athing Mu, with Alexandra Bell getting one of the time qualifying spots behind her. Keely Hodgkinson, also a 19 year old sensation, won the third semi, leading Raevyn Rogers to get the slowest time qualifier 1:59.28. The final included three from Great Britain and the two from USA.

While few outside of the USA had ever faced her, Mu's reputation as a front runner from the NCAA season preceded her. Coming off the break, Mu was the leader. First semi winner Natoya Goule and Habitam Alemu fell in behind letting Mu dictate the pace. Rather than blow their doors off, Mu ran controlled with the pack still tight as she completed the first lat in 57.82. Only Rogers was a couple steps off the back of the pack. Over the next hundred metres, Mu accelerated and the pack turned into a single file line. As they passed 200 metres to go, Jemma Reekie worked her way past Alemu and Goule on the inside to lead the chase of Mu. Hodgkinson joined the back of the group of four breaking away a couple of metres behind Mu. Through the turn, Mu expanded her lead as Hodgkinson followed Reekie inside of Alemu and Goule, then stepped to the outside for running room. Rogers was next to last coming off the turn as Mu pulled away from Reekie. Hodgkinson was the only one left to give chase. Mu had five metres on Hodgkinson at the finish. Behind them, Rogers moved out to lane 4 and sprinted past the field to grab bronze.

Mu's winning time of 1:55.21 was number 11 of all time and the fourth fastest of this century (and the sixth fastest since the world record was set in 1983). It was also a new American record, improves her own Continental Junior Record. Hodgkinson set the British National Record.

Background

This was the 17th time the event was held. The women's 800 metres was first held in 1928, but the idea that the distance was too great for women prompted the IOC to drop it from the Olympic programme. It was reintroduced in 1960.

Qualification

Main article: Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification

A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 3 qualified athletes in the women'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 1:59.50. 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.

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 were eligible for qualifying. The most recent Area Championships may be counted in the ranking, even if not during the qualifying period.

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

Competition format

The event continued to use the three-round format introduced in 2012.

Records

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

World record	Jarmila Kratochvílová (TCH)	1:53.28	Munich, West Germany	26 July 1983
Olympic record	Nadiya Olizarenko (URS)	1:53.43	Moscow, Soviet Union	27 July 1980

Area
	Time (s)	Athlete	Nation
Africa (records)	1:54.01	Pamela Jelimo	Kenya
Asia (records)	1:55.54	Liu Dong	China
Europe (records)	1:53.28 WR	Jarmila Kratochvílová	Czechoslovakia
North, Central America and Caribbean (records)	1:54.44	Ana Fidelia Quirot	Cuba
Oceania (records)	1:58.09	Catriona Bisset	Australia
South America (records)	1:56.58	Letitia Vriesde	Suriname

The following national records were established during the competition:

Country	Athlete	Round	Time	Notes
Finland	Sara Kuivisto (FIN)	Heats	2:00.15
		Semifinals	1:59.41
United States	Athing Mu (USA)	Final	1:55.21
Great Britain	Keely Hodgkinson (GBR)	Final	1:55.88

Schedule

All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)

The women's 800 metres took place over three separate days.

Date	Time	Round
Friday, 30 July 2021	9:00	Round 1
Saturday, 31 July 2021	19:00	Semifinals
Tuesday, 3 August 2021	19:25	Final

Results

Heats

Progression rules: First 3 in each heat (Q) and the next 6 fastest (q) advance to the Semifinals.

Heat 1

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	3	Renelle Lamote	France	2:01.92	Q
2	5	Winnie Nanyondo	Uganda	2:02.02	Q
3	2	Lore Hoffmann	Switzerland	2:02.05	Q
4	4	Angelica Sarna	Poland	2:02.18
5	8	Madeleine Kelly	Canada	2:02.39
6	6	Morgan Mitchell	Australia	2:05.44
	7	Līga Velvere	Latvia	DNF

Heat 2

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	1	Natoya Goule	Jamaica	1:59.83	Q
2	3	Noélie Yarigo	Benin	2:00.11	SB, Q
3	2	Hedda Hynne	Norway	2:00.76	Q
4	4	Halimah Nakaayi	Uganda	2:00.92	q
5	6	Katharina Trost	Germany	2:00.99	q
6	8	Eunice Sum	Kenya	2:03.00
7	5	Nadia Power	Ireland	2:03.74
8	7	Rose Lokonyen	Refugee Olympic Team	2:11.87

Heat 3

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	2	Athing Mu	United States	2:01.10	Q
2	5	Habitam Alemu	Ethiopia	2:01.20	Q
3	7	Joanna Jóźwik	Poland	2:01.87	Q
4	6	Melissa Bishop-Nriagu	Canada	2:02.11
5	3	Christina Hering	Germany	2:02.23
6	4	Bianka Kéri	Hungary	2:02.82
7	8	Louise Shanahan	Ireland	2:03.57

Heat 4

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	5	Raevyn Rogers	United States	2:01.42	Q
2	7	Keely Hodgkinson	Great Britain	2:01.59	Q
3	1	Mary Moraa	Kenya	2:01.66	Q
4	6	Netsanet Desta	Ethiopia	2:01.98
5	4	Lindsey Butterworth	Canada	2:02.45
6	3	Anna Wielgosz	Poland	2:03.20
7	8	Síofra Cléirigh Büttner	Ireland	2:04.62
8	2	Nimali Waliwarsha	Sri Lanka	2:10.23

Heat 5

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	8	Rose Mary Almanza	Cuba	2:00.71	Q
2	3	Déborah Rodríguez	Uruguay	2:00.90	Q
3	1	Rababe Arafi	Morocco	2:00.96	(.957), Q
4	4	Alexandra Bell	Great Britain	2:00.96	(.960), q
5	6	Catriona Bisset	Australia	2:01.65
6	5	Delia Sclabas	Switzerland	2:03.03
7	7	Shafiqua Maloney	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	2:07.89
8	2	D'Jamila Tavares	São Tomé and Príncipe	2:16.72	PB

Heat 6

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	4	Jemma Reekie	Great Britain	1:59.97	Q
2	1	Ajeé Wilson	United States	2:00.02	Q
3	7	Wang Chunyu	China	2:00.05	Q
4	6	Sara Kuivisto	Finland	2:00.15	q, NR
5	8	Elena Bellò	Italy	2:01.07	q
6	2	Natalia Romero	Spain	2:01.16	q, PB
7	5	Gabriela Gajanová	Slovakia	2:01.41	SB
8	3	Emily Cherotich Tuei	Kenya	2:08.08

Semifinals

Progression rules: First 2 in each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest (q) advance to the Final.

Heat 1

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	5	Natoya Goule	Jamaica	1:59.57	Q
2	3	Jemma Reekie	Great Britain	1:59.77	Q
3	8	Mary Moraa	Kenya	2:00.47
4	4	Ajeé Wilson	United States	2:00.79
5	2	Joanna Jóźwik	Poland	2:02.32
6	1	Elena Bellò	Italy	2:02.35
7	7	Hedda Hynne	Norway	2:02.38
8	6	Halimah Nakaayi	Uganda	2:04.44

Heat 2

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	4	Athing Mu	United States	1:58.07	Q
2	3	Habitam Alemu	Ethiopia	1:58.40	Q
3	5	Alexandra Bell	Great Britain	1:58.83	q
4	7	Lore Hoffmann	Switzerland	1:59.38
5	6	Renelle Lamote	France	1:59.40
6	1	Sara Kuivisto	Finland	1:59.41	NR
7	8	Noélie Yarigo	Benin	2:01.41
8	2	Natalia Romero	Spain	2:01.52

Heat 3

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	5	Keely Hodgkinson	Great Britain	1:59.12	Q
2	8	Wang Chunyu	China	1:59.14	Q, PB
3	3	Raevyn Rogers	United States	1:59.28	q
4	4	Rose Mary Almanza	Cuba	1:59.65
5	1	Winnie Nanyondo	Uganda	1:59.84	SB
6	7	Rababe Arafi	Morocco	1:59.86
7	2	Déborah Rodríguez	Uruguay	2:01.76
8	6	Katharina Trost	Germany	2:02.14

Final

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
	3	Athing Mu	United States	1:55.21	NR AJR
	4	Keely Hodgkinson	Great Britain	1:55.88	NR
	8	Raevyn Rogers	United States	1:56.81	PB
4	6	Jemma Reekie	Great Britain	1:56.90	PB
5	2	Wang Chunyu	China	1:57.00	PB
6	7	Habitam Alemu	Ethiopia	1:57.56	SB
7	1	Alexandra Bell	Great Britain	1:57.66	PB
8	5	Natoya Goule	Jamaica	1:58.26