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	Vera Nikolić	Yugoslavia	2:05.7	Q
2	Laine Erik	Soviet Union	2:06.5	Q
3	Paola Pigni	Italy	2:06.7	Q
4	Karin Krebs	East Germany	2:07.1	Q
5	Francie Kraker	United States	2:07.3
6	Elizabeth Chesire	Kenya	2:10.9

Heat 2

Rank	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Mia Gommers	Netherlands	2:04.0	Q
2	Ileana Silai	Romania	2:04.1	Q
3	Sheila Carey	Great Britain	2:04.1	Q
4	Anna Zimina	Soviet Union	2:04.4	Q
5	Barbara Wieck	East Germany	2:08.5
6	Channa Shezifi	Israel	2:09.2

Heat 3

Rank	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Maryvonne Dupureur	France	2:09.5	Q
2	Doris Brown	United States	2:09.5	Q
3	Pat Lowe-Cropper	Great Britain	2:09.5	Q
4	Sylvia Potts	New Zealand	2:09.6	Q
5	Eeva Haimi	Finland	2:09.6
6	Tilly van der Made	Netherlands	2:10.5

Heat 4

Rank	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Madeline Manning	United States	2:08.7	Q
2	Abby Hoffman	Canada	2:08.9	Q
3	Jaroslava Jehličková	Czechoslovakia	2:08.9	Q
4	Ilja Keizer-Laman	Netherlands	2:08.9	Q
5	Annelise Damm Olesen	Denmark	2:09.0
6	Joan Page-Allison	Great Britain	2:10.2

Semifinals

Heat 1

Rank	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Madeline Manning	United States	2:05.8	Q
2	Ileana Silai	Romania	2:05.9	Q
3	Pat Lowe-Cropper	Great Britain	2:06.6	Q
4	Abby Hoffman	Canada	2:07.0	Q
5	Karin Krebs	East Germany	2:08.4
6	Anna Zimina	Soviet Union	2:04.4
7	Ilja Keizer-Laman	Netherlands	2:08.5
N/A	Vera Nikolić	Yugoslavia	DNF

Heat 2

Rank	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Mia Gommers	Netherlands	2:05.1	Q
2	Doris Brown	United States	2:05.2	Q
3	Sheila Carey	Great Britain	2:05.2	Q
4	Maryvonne Dupureur	France	2:05.5	Q
5	Laine Erik	Soviet Union	2:06.0
6	Sylvia Potts	New Zealand	2:07.2
7	Paola Pigni	Italy	2:07.8
8	Jaroslava Jehličková	Czechoslovakia	2:13.5

Final

Rank	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes
	Madeline Manning	United States	2:00.9	OR
	Ileana Silai	Romania	2:02.5
	Mia Gommers	Netherlands	2:02.6
4	Sheila Carey	Great Britain	2:03.8
5	Doris Brown	United States	2:03.9
6	Pat Lowe-Cropper	Great Britain	2:04.2
7	Abby Hoffman	Canada	2:06.8
8	Maryvonne Dupureur	France	2:08.2

References

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