This day in history, Steve Ovett wins men's 800m final Moscow '80

Dammed Jimmy Carter

1980 Summer Olympics 800m final reminds me what U.S. 440 yard dash races used to look like. Men have raced sub-1:47 800m for (80 to 85) years. Today, there are so many 1:43.xx 800m men, it's no longer fair to the athletes, one turn stagger. Eight-hundred meter needs to be raced in lanes, all four turns.

At least a two turn stagger...

I think that was the biggest or equal biggest winning margin in Olympic history at the time.

Still the second or third fastest last lap and he was boxed in at the bell.

Only Ovett, Cruz, and Rudisha have beaten a sub 1:42 runner in winning gold.

Genuine question, if there was no boycott that year who else would he likely have been up against? Obviously Coe would still have been in contention.

Wrong

What a laughable - and for sure wrong - statement.

Ereng, Schumann, Borzakovskiy, Mulaudzi -

Schumann was one of the greatest 800m Olympic champs because he has beaten a sub 1:42 runner to do so.

Coe was not a sub 1:42 runner in '80.

Any non-Brit acting like Ovett during this final would have been disqualified.

Masterful commentary by Coleman. 'Ovett his blue eyes like chips of ice'. Whatever one thinks of Ovett, or Coe, that period, with their rivalry, was incredible for track and field's popularity.

But was Kipketer in sub 1:42 shape like Coe and Amos? 😃

Technically Amos was not a 1:41 runner until he crossed the line behind Rudisha.

The two East Germans who were deliberately impeding Coe and Ovett should have been disqualified. If you watch the race, the Brazilian Guimaraes also gives Wagenknecht a wack.

In the end, the GDR tactics handed Ovett the win over Coe, just as a doped out of his mind Straub handed Coe the win over Ovett in the 1500m.

Amos was "technically" not sub 1:42, but Coe was? What a stupid poster you are.

Nobody has deliberately impeded your gods,