800 metres, Women

The pre-meet favorite was Kenyan Pamela Jelimo, the defending gold medalist, but Russian Mariya Savinova was also a challenger for gold, having won the 2011 World Championships. The Beijing silver medalist, and 2009 World Champion, Caster Semenya of South Africa was also back. Her 2009 World title had been controversial, as questions arose as to her gender and if she had actually failed a pre-meet gender test, but she was eventually cleared of those charges and allowed to compete. She lost time off competition in 2010 as a result, but came back in 2011 to place second to Savinova at the Worlds.

The early lead in the final was taken by American Alysia Johnson-Montaño, as expected. The frequent frontrunner led through 200 metres in 26.9 and 400 in 56.31. Jelimo powered ahead on the final backstretch, and had three strides on the field. She seemed to have the repeat gold in hand, but Savinova had timed her kick perfectly. At 130 metres from the finish, she let it go and easily passed a slowing Jelimo to win the gold by over a second. As Jelimo faded, Semenya came on to repeat as silver medalist, with Savinova’s teammate Yekaterina Poistogova taking the bronze. Jelimo was fourth and Montaño fifth. Last in the final was Kenyan Janeth Jepkosgei, the silver medalist from Beijing.

That was how the event and the results seemed to have ended. In 2015, however, the IOC began re-testing samples from the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympics, using newer, more advanced testing techniques, in an effort to find those who had used performance enhancing drugs (PEDs), but in whom it could not be detected at the time of those Olympics. This was one of the many events affected.

In February 2016 Mariya Savinova, the original gold medalist, was disqualified after a biological passport offense. South African Caster Semenya was advanced to the gold medal and Russian Yekaterina Poistogova received the silver medal. In July 2020 the IOC also advanced Jelimo to a bronze medal.