Athletics at the 2008 Beijing Summer Games:

The rounds and semis of the 800 were contested with only two runners advancing automatically, which made the qualifying rounds quite competitive. Not making it to the finals were the defending champion Yury Borzakovsky (RUS), the 2004 silver medalist Mbulaeni Mulaudzi (RSA), and 2008 world list leader Abubaker Kaki Khamis (SUD). The favorites in the final were Kenyans Alfred Kirwa Yego, the 2007 World Champion, and Wilfred Bungei. The two ran a team race to control the race from the front. The pace was not fast on the first lap, with Bungei leading thru 400 in 53.35, Yego on his shoulder. Bungei gradually increased the pace on the final lap, and Sudan's Ismail Ahmed Ismail moved up on the backstretch to take second, Yego holding third. Bungei and Ismail would hold those positions thru the tape to win gold and silver, Ismail's silver the first ever Olympic medal for Sudan. On the final straight, Saad Kamel (BRN) pulled into third but Yego managed to fight back and get the bronze medal.