Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's 800 metres
| Men's 800 metres at the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad
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| Venue | Athens Olympic Stadium | ||||||||||||
| Dates | 25–28 August | ||||||||||||
| Competitors | 79 from 62 nations | ||||||||||||
| Winning time | 1:44.45 | ||||||||||||
| Medalists | |||||||||||||
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Yuriy Borzakovskiy |
 Russia
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Mbulaeni Mulaudzi |
 South Africa
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Wilson Kipketer |
 Denmark
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The men's 800 metres at the 2004 Summer Olympics as part of the athletics program were held at the Athens Olympic Stadium from August 25 to 28.
The first round had split a full roster of runners into nine heats with the first two gaining a direct qualification and then the next six fastest across all heats advancing to the semifinals. The top two runners in each of the three semifinal heats moved on directly to the final, and they were immediately joined by the next two fastest from any of the semifinals.
The final was tactical, like the previous several Olympics with most athletes running faster to qualify than they ran in the final. Yuriy Borzakovskiy and Mouhssin Chehibi lagged significantly off the pace. World champion Djabir Saïd-Guerni and 2004 world leader Wilfred Bungei battled for the lead, chased closely by Bungei's second cousin, world record holder Wilson Kipketer, Borzakovskiy and Chehibi joined the back of the pack. It seemed like Borzakovskiy was reluctant to catch the leaders, then realized the pace was not too fast, with 50 metres before the end of the first lap, he noticeably accelerated from dead last to join the fight. Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, who had lucked into the slowest qualifying time in the semi final round, ran comfortably in a box inside of Kipketer through 500 meters. A lead group broke away on the backstretch. Guerni fell back as the cousins battled for the lead through the final turn, with Mulaudzi a step back and Borzakovskiy the final athlete in the breakaway. Coming off the turn, Kipketer pounced and took off for the finish in lane two. But the always fast closing Borzakovskiy came along the outside from 5 meters back to catch Kipketer 30 meters out. Not giving up the fight, Mulaudzi pulled even with Kipketer. Borzakovskiy held his hands up with a meter victory, while Mulaudzi out leaned Kipketer for silver.
Prior to the competition[update], the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.
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