The men's 800 metres was the middle of the seven men's track races in the Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics

Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics

At the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, the athletics competition included 36 events, 24 for men and 12 for women. The women's 400 metres and women's pentathlon events were newly introduced at these Games. There were a total number of 1016 participating athletes from 82 countries.-Men's...

 program in Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

. It was held on 14 October, 15 October, and 16 October 1964. 47 athletes from 32 nations entered, with 1 not starting the first round. The first round was held on 14 October, with the semifinals on 15 October and the final on 16 October.

First round, heat 1

Place	Athlete	Nation	Time
1	Wilson Kiprugut Wilson Kiprugut Wilson Kiprugut Chuma is a Kenyan former athlete who competed mainly in the 800 metres.He competed at the 1962 Commonwealth Games and was part of the Kenyan 4 x 440 yards relay team which finished fifth. Other members of the relay team were Kimaru Songok, Peter Francis and Seraphino Antao...		1:47.8
2	Thomas Francis Farrell		1:48.6
3	Valery Bulyshev		1:48.6
4	Joseph Lambrechts		1:48.9
5	Francis Chatelet		1:48.9
6	Ebrahim Yazdanpanah		1:54.7
7	Hugo Walser		1:57.5
8	Nipon Pensuvabharp		1:58.8

First round, heat 2

Place	Athlete	Nation	Time
1	Dieter Bogatzki		1:50.3
2	Stig Lindback		1:50.8
3	Chris Carter		1:51.0
4	Pekka Juutilainen		1:51.0
5	Neville Myton		1:52.4
6	Michel Medinger		1:52.6
7	Amarsanaa Dulam		1:56.3
8	Anar Khan		1:56.4

First round, heat 3

Place	Athlete	Nation	Time
1	Manfred Kinder Manfred Kinder Manfred Kinder is a West German former athlete who mainly competed in the 400 metres.He was born in Königsberg....		1:49.5
2	Ahmed Issa		1:49.7
3	Derek George McLeane		1:49.9
4	Rein Telp		1:50.0
5	Peter Francis		1:50.1
6	Morgan Austin Groth		1:51.4
7	José Neira José Neira José Gregorio Neira Carvajal is a retired track and field athlete from Colombia. He competed in the middle-distances, and represented his native country at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.-References:*...		1:55.6
8	R. Subramaniam R. Subramaniam R Subramaniam was the Managing Director of Subhiksha, one of the largest retail chains in India. He studied engineering in IIT Madras and then obtained a Post Graduate Degree in Management from IIM Ahmedabad in 1989. He then joined Citi Corp in 1989 and left the company soon. He then worked for...		1:58.5

First round, heat 4

Place	Athlete	Nation	Time
1	Peter Snell Peter Snell Sir Peter George Snell, KNZM, MBE is a former New Zealand athlete, now resident in Texas, United States. He had one of the shortest careers of world famous international sportsmen, yet achieved so much that he was voted New Zealand’s "Sports Champion of the Century"...		1:49.0
2	Jerome Francis Siebert		1:49.2
3	Jacques Pennewaert		1:49.2
4	Abram Krivosheev		1:49.5
5	Graham Alan Dean		1:49.6
6	Chung Kyo Mo		1:51.8
7	Don Bertoia Don Bertoia Donald Richard Bertoia is a retired middle distance runner from Canada, who represented his native country in the men's 800 metres at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan...		1:52.2
8	Sebsibe Mamo		1:52.8

First round, heat 5

Place	Athlete	Nation	Time
1	John Peter Boulter		1:48.9
2	George E. Kerr		1:48.9
3	Anthony Blue Anthony Blue Anthony Blue is a former Canadian Football League defensive back.Graduating from UNLV, Blue played 14 games with the Las Vegas Posse in 1994, making 23 tackles and returning 1 punt....		1:49.7
4	Manfred Matuschewski Manfred Matuschewski Manfred Matuschewski is a retired track and field athlete from Germany.He competed in the 800m event where he finished sixth at the 1960 Olympics. He was a two time European champion 1962 and 1966.-References:...		1:50.0
5	Noel Carroll Noel Carroll (runner) Noel Carroll was an Irish middle distance runner who set European and World Records in the 1960s. He became the Dublin Corporation's first official spokesman, and later the Chief Executive of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce, and led the group which founded the Dublin Marathon.-Career:Noel Carroll...		1:51.1
6	Rolf Jelinek		1:54.6
—	Amos Gilad		Did not start

First round, heat 6

Place	Athlete	Nation	Time
1	William Crothers		1:49.3
2	Maurice Lurot		1:49.8
3	Morimoto Mamoru		1:49.9
4	Rudolf Klaban		1:49.9
5	Francesco Bianchi		1:50.2
6	Paul Boekaens		1:50.9
7	Patrick Field		1:54.0
8	Mohamed Hassan Chabbanga		1:54.9

Semifinals

The top two runners in each of the three semifinals qualified for the final, as did the two runners with the fastest times from among the 3rd-8th spots across all of the semifinals.

Semifinal 1

Place	Athlete	Nation	Time
1	Peter Snell		1:46.9
2	Jerome Francis Siebert		1:47.0
3	Jacques Pennewaert		1:47.0
4	Manfred Matuschewski		1:47.3
5	Valery Bulyshev		1:47.5
6	Morimoto Mamoru		1:47.7
7	Maurice Lurot		1:49.7
8	Stig Lindback		1:49.8

Semifinal 2

Kerr and Kiprugut both crossed the finish line in 1:46.1, breaking the old Olympic record of 1:46.3.

Place	Athlete	Nation	Time
1	George E. Kerr		1:46.1 OR
2	Wilson Kiprugut		1:46.1 OR
3	Dieter Bogatzki		1:46.9
4	John Peter Boulter		1:47.1
5	Rudolf Klaban		1:47.4
6	Abram Krivosheev		1:47.5
7	Derek George McCleane		1:48.4
8	Pekka Juutilainen		1:50.3

Semifinal 3

Place	Athlete	Nation	Time
1	William Crothers		1:47.3
2	Thomas Francis Farrell		1:47.8
3	Manfred Kinder		1:47.9
4	Chris Carter		1:49.1
5	Rein Telp		1:49.1
6	Ahmed Issa		1:49.4
7	Anthony Blue		1:49.6
8	Joseph Lambrechts		1:52.8

Final

No fewer than four runners broke the Olympic record that had been set in the semifinals, including the two runners that had set it. Despite the record performances by the other three runners, defending Olympic champion and world record holder Peter Snell

Peter Snell

Sir Peter George Snell, KNZM, MBE is a former New Zealand athlete, now resident in Texas, United States. He had one of the shortest careers of world famous international sportsmen, yet achieved so much that he was voted New Zealand’s "Sports Champion of the Century"...

still won by half a second to take the gold medal and set the new Olympic record at 1:45.1.

Place	Athlete	Nation	Time
1	Peter Snell		1:45.1 OR
2	William Crothers		1:45.6
3	Wilson Kiprugut		1:45.9
4	George E. Kerr		1:45.9
5	Thomas Francis Farrell		1:46.6
6	Jerome Francis Siebert		1:47.0
7	Dieter Bogatzki		1:47.2
8	Jacques Pennewaert		1:50.5