| Final | time | L | 400m | 800m | | 1. Vebjorn Rodal |  NOR | 1:42.58 | 1 | 49.98s | 52.60s | | 2. Hezekiel Sepeng |  RSA | 1:42.74 | 6 | 50.11s | 52.63s | | 3. Fred Onyancha |  KEN | 1:42.79 | 7 | 49.78s | 53.01s | | 4. Norberto Tellez |  CUB | 1:42.85 | 4 | 50.08s | 52.77s | | 5. Nico Motchebon |  GER | 1:43.91 | 8 | 50.27s | 53.64s | | 6. David Kiptoo | KEN | 1:44.19 | 5 | 49.87s | 54.32s | | 7. Johnny Gray |  USA | 1:44.21 | 2 | 49.55s | 54.66s | | 8. Benyounes Lahlou |  MAR | 1:45.52 | 3 | 49.91s | 55.61s |
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| | | Venue: Centennial Olympic Stadium. | | 56 competitors from 40 nations. |
|
Wilson Kipketer, the Kenyan-born World Champion, would have been
a hot favourite, but did not compete as the Kenyan Olympic Committee
refused to allow him to represent his adopted country of Denmark. The
first (of three) semi finals was won by Sepeng (1:45.16), with Philip
Kibitok, winner of the Kenyan trials, left waiting to see if his third
place 1:45.58 would be quick enough. Gray sensibly set a fast pace
(50.7) in the second race and was edged by 1/100th by Lahlou’s
1:43.99, with Onyancha 8m clear of fourth place with 1:44.02. Téllez,
a statuesque former 400m runner, reminiscent of Juantorena, led the
third heat at 400m (51.3) and won the fastest ever preliminary in
1:43.79, with Kiptoo (1:43.90) just beating Rodal, whose 1:43.96 was
the fastest of the time qualifiers.
As expected, Gray, in his fourth straight final, took the lead from the
gun, passing 200m in 24.3 and reaching the bell in 49.55, with the field
closely bunched. Gray still led at 600m (1:15.9), with all but Lahlou
and Sepeng close. With 120m to go Rodal kicked hard, as Gray began
to fade. He quickly had a 3m lead with Onyancha and Téllez the first
to react. Sepeng had now closed but was still seventh with 100m to go.
Finishing quickest, the young South African eventually passed
Onyancha with 5m to go, but was never in with a chance of catching
the flying Norwegian.
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| Splits | 200m | 400m | 600m | | Rodal | 24.1s | 49.98s | 1:16.3 | | Sepeng | 24.1s | 50.11s | 1:16.5 | | Onyancha | 24.0s | 49.78s | 1:16.3 | | Téllez | 24.2s | 50.08s | 1:16.5 | | Motchebon | 24.3s | 50.27s | 1:16.6 | | Kiptoo | 24.0s | 49.87s | 1:16.2 | | Gray | 23.9s | 49.55s | 1:15.9 | | Lahlou | 24.2s | 49.91s | 1:16.6 |
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|
| | | First 2 from each of 3 Semis and Best 2 times advanced to Final. |
| Semi 1 | time | L | | 1. Hezekiel Sepeng | RSA | 1:45.16 | 5 | | 2. Nico Motchebon | GER | 1:45.40 | 6 | | 3. Philip Kibitok | KEN | 1:45.58 | 3 | | 4. Andre Bucher |  SUI | 1:46.41 | 2 | | 5. Giuseppe d'urso |  ITA | 1:46.97 | 4 | | 6. Paul Byrne |  AUS | 1:47.58 | 7 | | 7. Bruno Konczylo |  FRA | 1:48.02 | 1 |
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| Semi 2 | time | L | | 1. Benyounes Lahlou | MAR | 1:43.99 | 5 | | 2. Johnny Gray | USA | 1:44.00 | 3 | | 3. Fred Onyancha | KEN | 1:44.02 | 4 | | 4. Arthemon Hatungimana |  BDI | 1:44.92 | 6 | | 5. Savieri Ngidhi |  ZIM | 1:46.78 | 7 | | 6. Curtis Robb |  GBR | 1:47.48 | 2 | | 7. Johan Botha | RSA | 1:48.06 | 1 | | 8. Jose Luiz Barbosa |  BRA | 1:50.33 | 8 |
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| Semi 3 | time | L | | 1. Norberto Tellez | CUB | 1:43.79 | 4 | | 2. David Kiptoo | KEN | 1:43.90 | 3 | | 3. Vebjorn Rodal | NOR | 1:43.96 | 6 | | 4. Einars Tupuritis |  LAT | 1:46.41 | 5 | | 5. David Matthews |  IRL | 1:47.83 | 8 | | 6. Jimmy Jean-Joseph | FRA | 1:48.50 | 1 | | 7. Balazs Koranyi |  HUN | 1:50.30 | 7 | | -. Andrea Benvenuti | ITA | DNF | 2 |
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|
| | | First 2 from each of 8 Heaats and Best 8 times advanced to Semi-Finals. |
| Heat 1 | time | L | | 1. Vebjorn Rodal | NOR | 1:45.30 | 5 | | 2. Curtis Robb | GBR | 1:45.85 | 3 | | 3. Jose Luiz Barbosa | BRA | 1:46.58 | 1 | | 4. David Matthews | IRL | 1:46.76 | 7 | | 5. Joachim Dehmel | GER | 1:47.12 | 4 | | 6. Joseph Rakotoarimanana |  MAD | 1:47.33 | 6 | | 7. Tommy Asinga |  SUR | 1:48.29 | 2 |
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| Heat 2 | time | L | | 1. Philip Kibitok | KEN | 1:45.34 | 2 | | 2. Nico Motchebon | GER | 1:45.82 | 6 | | 3. Bruno Konczylo | FRA | 1:46.04 | 5 | | 4. Adem Hecini |  ALG | 1:47.23 | 7 | | 5. Abdulrahman Abdulla |  QAT | 1:48.52 | 3 | | 6. Flavio Godoy | BRA | 1:48.91 | 4 | | 7. Cherif Aidara |  MTN | 1:56.20 | 1 |
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| Heat 3 | time | L | | 1. Norberto Tellez | CUB | 1:47.24 | 2 | | 2. Craig Winrow | GBR | 1:47.41 | 7 | | 3. Pavel Soukup |  CZE | 1:47.67 | 1 | | 4. Andres Diaz |  ESP | 1:47.86 | 5 | | 5. Atle Douglas | NOR | 1:48.60 | 6 | | 6. Cedric Harris |  DMA | 1:51.46 | 3 | | 7. Fernando Arlete |  GBS | 2:00.07 | 4 |
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| Heat 4 | time | L | | 1. David Kiptoo | KEN | 1:45.11 | 3 | | 2. Giuseppe d'urso | ITA | 1:45.27 | 5 | | 3. Johan Botha | RSA | 1:45.63 | 6 | | 4. Jimmy Jean-Joseph | FRA | 1:45.64 | 4 | | 5. Ibrahim Aden |  SOM | 1:47.31 | 7 | | 6. Charles Nkazamyampi | BDI | 1:47.95 | 8 | | 7. Tavakalo Kailes |  VAN | 1:55.07 | 1 | | 8. Naseer Ismail |  MDV | 1:58.70 | 2 |
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| Heat 5 | time | L | | 1. Johnny Gray | USA | 1:45.87 | 3 | | 2. Einars Tupuritis | LAT | 1:45.88 | 6 | | 3. Savieri Ngidhi | ZIM | 1:46.46 | 4 | | 4. Balazs Koranyi | HUN | 1:46.63 | 5 | | 5. Antonio Abrantes |  POR | 1:47.73 | 2 | | 6. Clive Terrelonge |  JAM | 1:48.29 | 7 | | 7. Themba Makhanya |  SWZ | 1:59.02 | 1 |
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| Heat 6 | time | L | | 1. Arthemon Hatungimana | BDI | 1:47.10 | 2 | | 2. Andrea Benvenuti | ITA | 1:47.45 | 5 | | 3. Marius van Heerden | RSA | 1:47.46 | 4 | | 4. David Strang | GBR | 1:47.96 | 3 | | 5. Boris Kaveshnikov |  KGZ | 1:48.88 | 1 | | 6. Jose Parrilla | USA | 1:49.99 | 7 | | 7. Yaya Terap Adoum |  CHA | 1:52.68 | 6 |
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| Heat 7 | time | L | | 1. Benyounes Lahlou | MAR | 1:45.85 | 3 | | 2. Fred Onyancha | KEN | 1:46.07 | 4 | | 3. Paul Byrne | AUS | 1:47.05 | 1 | | 4. Alex Morgan | JAM | 1:47.40 | 7 | | 5. Mohamed Babiker |  SUD | 1:48.50 | 2 | | 6. Manlio Molinari |  SMR | 1:56.08 | 6 | | -. Roberto Parra | ESP | DNS | 5 |
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| Heat 8 | time | L | | 1. Hezekiel Sepeng | RSA | 1:46.45 | 6 | | 2. Andre Bucher | SUI | 1:46.85 | 4 | | 3. Andrea Giocondi | ITA | 1:47.26 | 3 | | 4. Brandon Rock | USA | 1:48.47 | 5 | | 5. Jean Destine |  HAI | 1:48.82 | 2 | | 6. Saeed Basweidan |  YEM | 1:49.35 | 1 | | 7. Greg Rhymer |  IVB | 1:50.03 | 7 |
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