Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Women's 800 metres

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.^[1]

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
← 1964 1972 →

Madeline Manning became the first Black woman to win an Olympic 800m title. She also became the first American to do so.

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	Nation	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	Nation	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	Hana Shezifi	Israel	2:09.2

Heat 3

Rank	Athlete	Nation	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	Nation	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	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	Nation	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	Netherlands	2:14.8
—	Vera Nikolić	Yugoslavia	DNF

Heat 2

Rank	Athlete	Nation	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	Nation	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

1. "Athletics at the 1968 Mexico City Summer Games: Women's 800 metres". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 18 October 2017.

External links

• Official Olympic Report^{[permanent dead link]}, la84foundation.org. Retrieved August 16, 2012.