| | Event type

800 metres, Women

Date	23 – 26 July 1976
Status	Olympic
Location	Stade olympique, Parc olympique, Montréal, Québec
Participants	35 from 20 countries

By the time of the 1976 Olympics, Soviet 800 runners led the world. In June Valentina Gerasimova broke the world record with 1:56.0, but in Montréal she would not get out of the semi-finals. The final was opened by Anita Weiß (GDR) taking the lead, but she was passed just before the bell by several runners. The pace was very fast with 400 passed in 55.05. At 600 metres, Tatyana Kazankina was in sixth place but moved outside and started passing runners. Leading into the homestretch, she switched gears and won easily in a world record 1:54.94. The first four runners also surpassed Gerasimova’s world record in the fastest women’s 800 race ever run to that date. Four days later Kazankina returned to add the 1,500 and win the 800/1,500 double.

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	R1	SF	Final
1	340	Tatyana Kazankina	URS	2:00.15 (1 h5)	1:57.49 (2 h1)	1:54.94 (1)	Gold	WR
2	45	Nikolina Shtereva	BUL	2:01.02 (2 h2)	1:57.35 (2 h2)	1:55.42 (2)	Silver
3	168	Elfi Zinn	GDR	2:01.54 (1 h4)	1:57.56 (3 h2)	1:55.60 (3)	Bronze
4	166	Anita Weiß	GDR	2:00.48 (1 h2)	1:56.53 (1 h1)	1:55.74 (4)
5	352	Svetlana Styrkina	URS	2:00.12 (1 h1)	1:57.28 (1 h2)	1:56.44 (5)
6	56	Svetla Zlateva	BUL	1:59.24 (1 h3)	1:57.93 (3 h1)	1:57.21 (6)
7	143	Doris Gluth	GDR	2:00.70 (3 h1)	1:59.32 (4 h1)	1:58.99 (7)
8	297	Mariana Suman	ROU	2:00.00 (4 h3)	2:00.01 (4 h2)	2:02.21 (8)
5 h1 r2/3	7	Judy Pollock	AUS	2:00.66 (2 h1)	1:59.93 (5 h1)	–
5 h2 r2/3	8	Charlene Rendina	AUS	2:01.76 (2 h4)	2:00.29 (5 h2)	–
6 h1 r2/3	294	Ileana Silai	ROU	2:02.82 (3 h4)	2:02.22 (6 h1)	–
6 h2 r2/3	336	Valentina Gerasimova	URS	1:59.68 (2 h3)	2:01.00 (6 h2)	–
7 h1 r2/3	373	Wendy Koenig-Knudson	USA	1:59.91 (3 h3)	2:02.31 (7 h1)	–
7 h2 r2/3	53	Lilyana Todorova	BUL	2:00.54 (2 h5)	2:01.97 (7 h2)	–
8 h1 r2/3	220	Gabriella Dorio	ITA	2:01.63 (3 h2)	2:02.46 (8 h1)	–
8 h2 r2/3	370	Madeline Manning-Jackson	USA	2:00.62 (3 h5)	2:07.25 (8 h2)	–
4 h1 r1/3	30	Rita Thijs	BEL	2:04.39 (4 h1)	–	–
4 h2 r1/3	311	Jozefína Čerchlanová	TCH	2:02.36 (4 h2)	–	–
4 h4 r1/3	114	Angela Creamer	GBR	2:03.48 (4 h4)	–	–
4 h5 r1/3	70	Yvonne Saunders	CAN	2:03.54 (4 h5)	–	–
5 h1 r1/3	63	Abby Hoffman	CAN	2:05.32 (5 h1)	–	–
5 h2 r1/3	387	Kathy Weston	USA	2:03.31 (5 h2)	–	–
5 h3 r1/3	109	Liz Barnes	GBR	2:01.70 (5 h3)	–	–
5 h4 r1/3	202	Magdolna Lázár	HUN	2:04.05 (5 h4)	–	–
5 h5 r1/3	31	Anne-Marie Van Nuffel	BEL	2:04.09 (5 h5)	–	–
6 h1 r1/3	90	María Carmen Valero	ESP	2:06.14 (6 h1)	–	–
6 h2 r1/3	73	Joan Wenzel	CAN	2:03.62 (6 h2)	–	–
6 h3 r1/3	79	Céléstine N'Drin	CIV	2:04.54 (6 h3)	–	–
6 h4 r1/3	281	Ileana Hocking	PUR	2:08.46 (6 h4)	–	–
6 h5 r1/3	121	Chris McMeekin	GBR	2:04.54 (6 h5)	–	–
7 h1 r1/3	212	Lilja Guðmundsdóttir	ISL	2:07.26 (7 h1)	–	–
7 h3 r1/3	249	Maria Ritter	LIE	2:14.39 (7 h3)	–	–
7 h4 r1/3	302	Ndew Niang	SEN	2:09.32 (7 h4)	–	–
7 h5 r1/3	255	Anne Garrett	NZL	2:05.78 (7 h5)	–	–
AC h2 r1/3	303	Chee Swee Lee	SGP	– (DNF h2)	–	–
DNS	95	Nina Holmén	FIN	– (DNS h4)	–	–

Round One (23 July 1976 — 16:50)

Top three in each heat and next fastest advanced to the semi-finals.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	2	Svetlana Styrkina	URS	2:00.12	Q
2	1	Judy Pollock	AUS	2:00.66	Q
3	6	Doris Gluth	GDR	2:00.70	Q
4	4	Rita Thijs	BEL	2:04.39
5	3	Abby Hoffman	CAN	2:05.32
6	7	María Carmen Valero	ESP	2:06.14
7	5	Lilja Guðmundsdóttir	ISL	2:07.26

Splits

400 m	57.43	–

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	3	Anita Weiß	GDR	2:00.48	Q
2	1	Nikolina Shtereva	BUL	2:01.02	Q
3	7	Gabriella Dorio	ITA	2:01.63	Q
4	6	Jozefína Čerchlanová	TCH	2:02.36
5	5	Kathy Weston	USA	2:03.31
6	2	Joan Wenzel	CAN	2:03.62
DNF	4	Chee Swee Lee	SGP	–

Splits

400 m	57.74	–

Heat Three

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	6	Svetla Zlateva	BUL	1:59.24	Q
2	2	Valentina Gerasimova	URS	1:59.68	Q
3	7	Wendy Koenig-Knudson	USA	1:59.91	Q
4	3	Mariana Suman	ROU	2:00.00	q
5	4	Liz Barnes	GBR	2:01.70
6	1	Céléstine N'Drin	CIV	2:04.54
7	5	Maria Ritter	LIE	2:14.39

Splits

400 m	57.29	–

Heat Four

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	5	Elfi Zinn	GDR	2:01.54	Q
2	1	Charlene Rendina	AUS	2:01.76	Q
3	8	Ileana Silai	ROU	2:02.82	Q
4	2	Angela Creamer	GBR	2:03.48
5	6	Magdolna Lázár	HUN	2:04.05
6	3	Ileana Hocking	PUR	2:08.46
7	4	Ndew Niang	SEN	2:09.32
DNS	7	Nina Holmén	FIN	–

Splits

400 m	58.57	–

Heat Five

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	6	Tatyana Kazankina	URS	2:00.15	Q
2	2	Lilyana Todorova	BUL	2:00.54	Q
3	3	Madeline Manning-Jackson	USA	2:00.62	Q
4	7	Yvonne Saunders	CAN	2:03.54
5	4	Anne-Marie Van Nuffel	BEL	2:04.09
6	1	Chris McMeekin	GBR	2:04.54
7	5	Anne Garrett	NZL	2:05.78

Splits

400 m	59.58	–

Semi-Finals (24 July 1976 — 15:50)

Top four in each heat advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	7	Anita Weiß	GDR	1:56.53	QOR
2	1	Tatyana Kazankina	URS	1:57.49	Q
3	4	Svetla Zlateva	BUL	1:57.93	Q
4	2	Doris Gluth	GDR	1:59.32	Q
5	8	Judy Pollock	AUS	1:59.93
6	6	Ileana Silai	ROU	2:02.22
7	3	Wendy Koenig-Knudson	USA	2:02.31
8	5	Gabriella Dorio	ITA	2:02.46

Splits

400 m	54.44	–

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	6	Svetlana Styrkina	URS	1:57.28	Q
2	5	Nikolina Shtereva	BUL	1:57.35	Q
3	4	Elfi Zinn	GDR	1:57.56	Q
4	8	Mariana Suman	ROU	2:00.01	Q
5	1	Charlene Rendina	AUS	2:00.29
6	7	Valentina Gerasimova	URS	2:01.00
7	3	Lilyana Todorova	BUL	2:01.97
8	2	Madeline Manning-Jackson	USA	2:07.25

Splits

400 m	55.86	–

Final (26 July 1976 — 18:20)

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	2	Tatyana Kazankina	URS	1:54.94	WR
2	3	Nikolina Shtereva	BUL	1:55.42
3	7	Elfi Zinn	GDR	1:55.60
4	5	Anita Weiß	GDR	1:55.74
5	8	Svetlana Styrkina	URS	1:56.44
6	6	Svetla Zlateva	BUL	1:57.21
7	4	Doris Gluth	GDR	1:58.99
8	1	Mariana Suman	ROU	2:02.21

Splits

400 m	55.05	Svetlana Styrkina