Steve Ovett Moscow the second greatest Olympic 800m performance (behind Rudisha 2012)?

ISBN wrote:I agree Ovett was capable of under 1:43 that day

~ 1'42-mid/high

but Coe was at least 1 sec quicker than that

utter nonsense

coe was in no better than 1'42-mid/high shape himself

in a fast race the winner of the 2 wouda been who got the drafting off the other prior to kicking, simple as that

you have no clue about coe's training for the games

he made catastrophic decision to train equally for 2 events & remain strong for 6 races during his training in italy

this meant he sacrificed speed for endurance & therefore slower over 800 than he wouda hoped for

it was 1 reason he lost 800 but helped him win the 1500

it was catastrophic decision as 800 was always his main event & the event he most wanted gold for

his training decision blunted his flat-out 800 speed & a huge reason he lost the 800

amateurish preparation for games

he shouda trained as hard as possible for 800 only & rely on what he had left for the 1500s

ovett trained primarily for the 1500 but ran the 800 as a warm-up/freebie & got gold, but his natural ability was so incredibly high that even training primarily for 1500, he had got himself into 1'42-mid/high shape in moscow

ovett was also hugely unwell after winning the 800 when he suffered an unexplained hyperthemia illness where he basically collapsed from over-heating

none of the docs in moscow coud fathom the cause

ovett was nowhere near in his best shape to contest the upcoming 1500s & further got screwed by straub running fastest ever prelim of 3'36.8, whacking ovett even more for semi & final

utter drivel

running in lanes to 300 favored true 800 runners because they got no drafting to 300 & guys had to run a more flat-out race & if you hadn't realised, the race distance was 800 NOT 400

compared to later when break occurs at the end of 1st bend or 116m, that means they were denied drafting of upto 184m which at 0.7s per 400m meant that they lost out on upto theoretically ~ 0.32s of drafting

it is ridiculous to believe caballo wouda preferred to run it that way compared to a jog to bell or even to 700 when he coud bring 44.26 !!! speed to bear

tell universe how the hell anyone in the '70s or '80s was going to outkick a guy with 44.26 in a jog to 700m ???

is this a joke ???

is this a joke ???

caballo ran a virtually solo 1'43.5

with drafting to bell & ideal splits & fully rested in a 1-off zurich, he wouda been looking at 1'42-mid/high

ovett's similar 1'42-mid/high is also for assumed 1-off zurich with perfect splits/drafting/etc

Good thread. In my opinion the best 800 finals were

1) Rudisha ‘12

2) Wottle ‘72 / Borzakovskiy ‘04

3) Alberto ‘76

William Tanui '92

clueless & outta your depth

nonsense

you clearly didn't see any of these races in '70s & just read about them years later or watched some, not all on youtube

Paige was in 1'42-mid/high shape in trials

Maina at his peak was good for 1'43-flat/low

that brings them well within 1s of coe's then best on that mickey-mouse now hugely illegal oslo track of 105/95m when all standard tracks today & for past decades are expected to be ~ 116/84

idiot

learn to read

i have never said such

i said he had devastating kick, which gave him a huge chance in any slow race, but flat-out he was not going to be quicker than 1'43-flat/low

what part of crushing disappointment of boycott did you not comprehend ???

unlike europeans, Americans had to peak for trials to get chance of going to a games

effectively they had 2 games within weeks

i seriously doubt Paige put in anywhere near the level of training in late-'80 which he had earlier put in for trials when it had fully dawned there was no moscow for him

even so, he still beat coe in italy, the day after both had competed in zurich, Paige winning the 800 & coe the 1500

is this a joke ???

his aim for '80 was to be initially top-3 in trials then go to games not chase the clock

he coud do that after games like cruz did in '84 with 2'14.0/brace of 1'42s & incredible 1'41.77 !!! within a few days !!!

unfortunately for Paige, with no games the motivation to maintain the high intensity training was gone, but he still beat coe in their match-up

eh ???

what is this nonsense supposed to mean ???

thoroughly devalued games

if fastest guy of '80 in Paige wasn't in field or reigning World Cup & zurich winnerin Maina, it hugely devalued the 800 in moscow

Sorry, here it is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ6nYbN3UOA

Also, Rudisha in 2016 was pretty dominant. Would've broken 1:41 if Kipketer hadn't made him check his stride

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuS07utkelc&t=215s

So according to Ventolin Ereng jogging along the sprinting in the home straight was better than someone dropping 50xx in the 2nd lap!

Also interesting that Ventolin lists all these guys eg could have won in 80 completely ignoring the fact that Coe & Ovett dominated middle distances in the late 70's early 80's.

The only hope their rivals had was to catch them on an off day.

Bib #1 wrote:

Dave Wottle’s run ranks higher. Maybe even more so than rudisha’s

Maybe. Depends what you mean by 'great' race. Domination?( Rushida or, Coe in Oslo perhaps) Exciting? Wottle I think. Either way Ovett's run was good but overshadowed by Coe's disaster. Coe 'should' have won.

The problem with this is that DW's race needed a huge dollop of luck. If I was coaching kid for the 800 tactics I would say 'Do NOT do this! An exemplary performance would have put him over a second ahead of the field IMO. But that would have been boring!

Ovett a fave all-time bad-a** - !!!

This '80 win was brilliant. How about his '77 world cup 1500 win. Watching it on TV, I expected Walker to win of course, and OVETT set the track on fire over the last 200.

ukathleticscoach wrote:

Also interesting that Ventolin lists all these guys eg could have won in 80 completely ignoring the fact that Coe & Ovett dominated middle distances in the late 70's early 80's.

The only hope their rivals had was to catch them on an off day.

Coe & Ovett did well in 1500m and one mile races in late 1970s and early 1980s. Ovett won 800m 1980 Olympic gold. Coe won 1981 World Cup gold. The two Brits did NOT dominate the 800m in 1970s and 1980s.

I said middle distances but sticking to the 800m one Olympic Gold two silvers and a world record that lasted from 1979-1997

Coe smashed the world record by 1 3/4 seconds. Funny how records are so important on here when it comes to Farah but not some much when it doesn't suit..

You are wrong UK Coach wrote:

ukathleticscoach wrote:

Also interesting that Ventolin lists all these guys eg could have won in 80 completely ignoring the fact that Coe & Ovett dominated middle distances in the late 70's early 80's.

The only hope their rivals had was to catch them on an off day.

Coe & Ovett did well in 1500m and one mile races in late 1970s and early 1980s. Ovett won 800m 1980 Olympic gold. Coe won 1981 World Cup gold. The two Brits did NOT dominate the 800m in 1970s and 1980s.

Yes they did. There was never a 800m race between 1978 and 1983 where a fit and healthy Coe or Ovett would not have been clear favourites, and they only lost championships in that period either to doped opponents (Beyer 78), or because they were ill or absent through injury (ex. Coe in 82 Euros).

Juantorena was not a factor after surgery at end of 77, and it wasn't until Cruz in 84 that the torch was passed.

Coevett wrote:

You are wrong UK Coach wrote:

Coe & Ovett did well in 1500m and one mile races in late 1970s and early 1980s. Ovett won 800m 1980 Olympic gold. Coe won 1981 World Cup gold. The two Brits did NOT dominate the 800m in 1970s and 1980s.

Yes they did. There was never a 800m race between 1978 and 1983 where a fit and healthy Coe or Ovett would not have been clear favourites, and they only lost championships in that period either to doped opponents (Beyer 78), or because they were ill or absent through injury (ex. Coe in 82 Euros).

Juantorena was not a factor after surgery at end of 77, and it wasn't until Cruz in 84 that the torch was passed.

If it were your neck on the guillotine Coevett, you certainly would not bet Coe was clean in the 1970s and 1980s. Beyer dirty and Coe clean? No. If you were to tell me both Beyer and Coe were dirty and I would agree.

Coevett wrote:

Bad Wigins wrote:

Did he break the WORLD RECORD like JUANTORENA if not then NICE TRY!

Ovett's last lap clearly demonstrated that he was capable of running faster than Junatoreno's 76 time.

Even Nick Symmonds did that, but do we call him the WORLD RECORD HOLDER, I think not.

Ovett may have been capable of a real WR but all he delivered was a NICE TRY.

So a bunch of other guys who never ran 1:42 coulda and woulda beaten his theoretical 1:42?

I'm not sure why you rate 2nd place in the Mexico City Olympics so highly. He did't even win. The winner was better and broke the world record.

Tactics are a huge element in 800m racing. It's part of the event. Poor tactics, equals poor performance.

Getting it right in the championship final is the essence of the sport.