| | Event type

800 metres, Women

Date	3 – 6 August 1984
Status	Olympic
Location	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, California
Participants	25 from 20 countries

The Soviet boycott crippled the level of competition in this event as all the best 800 metre runners in the world were from Eastern Europe. But Romania did compete in Los Angeles, and their runners became the favorites in the absence of the USSR, GDR, and Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia was of note because at the 1st Athletics World Championships in 1983, Jarmila Kratochvílová had won the 400/800 double, shortly after setting a world record of 1:53.28, which stood well into the 2020s. The final pace was set by Italy’s Gabriella Dorio who led until 550 metres, when Doina Beşliu-Melinte (ROM) took over. She was chased to the line by American Kim Gallagher but never was caught. Dorio faded and the bronze medal went to Melinte’s teammate, Fiţa Lovin.

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	R1	SF	Final
1	315	Doina Melinte	ROU	2:02.77 (1 h3)	2:01.42 (2 h1)	1:57.60 (1)	Gold
2	377	Kim Gallagher	USA	2:00.37 (1 h4)	2:00.48 (1 h1)	1:58.63 (2)	Silver
3	314	Fița Lovin	ROU	2:01.51 (1 h2)	1:59.29 (1 h2)	1:58.83 (3)	Bronze
4	226	Gabriella Dorio	ITA	2:01.41 (2 h4)	1:59.53 (2 h2)	1:59.05 (4)
5	146	Lorraine Baker	GBR	2:01.73 (3 h2)	2:00.66 (4 h2)	2:00.03 (5)
6	405	Ruth Wysocki	USA	2:04.05 (2 h1)	2:02.31 (3 h1)	2:00.34 (6)
7	124	Margrit Klinger	FRG	2:03.66 (1 h1)	2:00.00 (3 h2)	2:00.65 (7)
8	216	Caroline O'Shea	IRL	2:03.60 (2 h3)	2:02.70 (4 h1)	2:00.77 (8)
5 h1 r2/3	204	Elly van Hulst	NED	2:03.38 (3 h4)	2:03.25 (5 h1)	–
5 h2 r2/3	369	Robin Campbell	USA	2:01.72 (2 h2)	2:01.21 (5 h2)	–
6 h1 r2/3	306	Angelita Lind	PUR	2:01.84 (4 h2)	2:03.27 (6 h1)	–
6 h2 r2/3	331	Jill McCabe	SWE	2:04.16 (3 h1)	2:02.20 (6 h2)	–
7 h1 r2/3	62	Christine Slythe	CAN	2:04.17 (3 h3)	2:04.95 (7 h1)	–
7 h2 r2/3	66	Grace Verbeek	CAN	2:04.16 (4 h4)	2:03.23 (7 h2)	–
8 h1 r2/3	40	Ranza Clark	CAN	2:04.67 (4 h1)	2:05.42 (8 h1)	–
8 h2 r2/3	207	Shiny Abraham	IND	2:04.69 (4 h3)	2:05.42 (8 h2)	–
5 h1 r1/3	82	Céléstine N'Drin	CIV	2:06.06 (5 h1)	–	–
5 h2 r1/3	260	Selina Chirchir	KEN	2:07.17 (5 h2)	–	–
5 h3 r1/3	71	Alejandra Ramos	CHI	2:05.77 (5 h3)	–	–
5 h4 r1/3	302	Albertina Machado	POR	2:05.74 (5 h4)	–	–
6 h1 r1/3	408	Christine Bakombo	COD	2:18.79 (6 h1)	–	–
6 h2 r1/3	186	Grace Bakari	GHA	2:14.50 (6 h2)	–	–
6 h3 r1/3	355	Evelyn Adiru	UGA	2:07.39 (6 h3)	–	–
6 h4 r1/3	3	Laverne Bryan	ANT	2:11.44 (6 h4)	–	–
7 h3 r1/3	193	Patricia Meigham	GUA	2:14.17 (7 h3)	–	–

Round One (3 August 1984 — 16:00)

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

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	6	Margrit Klinger	FRG	2:03.66	Q
2	4	Ruth Wysocki	USA	2:04.05	Q
3	5	Jill McCabe	SWE	2:04.16	Q
4	3	Ranza Clark	CAN	2:04.67	q
5	2	Céléstine N'Drin	CIV	2:06.06
6	7	Christine Bakombo	COD	2:18.79

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	4	Fița Lovin	ROU	2:01.51	Q
2	6	Robin Campbell	USA	2:01.72	Q
3	2	Lorraine Baker	GBR	2:01.73	Q
4	3	Angelita Lind	PUR	2:01.84	q
5	7	Selina Chirchir	KEN	2:07.17
6	5	Grace Bakari	GHA	2:14.50

Heat Three

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	2	Doina Melinte	ROU	2:02.77	Q
2	4	Caroline O'Shea	IRL	2:03.60	Q
3	7	Christine Slythe	CAN	2:04.17	Q
4	3	Shiny Abraham	IND	2:04.69	q
5	6	Alejandra Ramos	CHI	2:05.77
6	8	Evelyn Adiru	UGA	2:07.39
7	5	Patricia Meigham	GUA	2:14.17

Heat Four

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	6	Kim Gallagher	USA	2:00.37	Q
2	2	Gabriella Dorio	ITA	2:01.41	Q
3	3	Elly van Hulst	NED	2:03.38	Q
4	4	Grace Verbeek	CAN	2:04.16	q
5	7	Albertina Machado	POR	2:05.74
6	5	Laverne Bryan	ANT	2:11.44

Semi-Finals (4 August 1984 — 16:55)

Top four in each heat advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	8	Kim Gallagher	USA	2:00.48	Q
2	3	Doina Melinte	ROU	2:01.42	Q
3	4	Ruth Wysocki	USA	2:02.31	Q
4	5	Caroline O'Shea	IRL	2:02.70	Q
5	1	Elly van Hulst	NED	2:03.25
6	6	Angelita Lind	PUR	2:03.27
7	2	Christine Slythe	CAN	2:04.95
8	7	Ranza Clark	CAN	2:05.42

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	1	Fița Lovin	ROU	1:59.29	Q
2	4	Gabriella Dorio	ITA	1:59.53	Q
3	2	Margrit Klinger	FRG	2:00.00	Q
4	8	Lorraine Baker	GBR	2:00.66	Q
5	6	Robin Campbell	USA	2:01.21
6	7	Jill McCabe	SWE	2:02.20
7	3	Grace Verbeek	CAN	2:03.23
8	5	Shiny Abraham	IND	2:05.42

Final (6 August 1984 — 17:35)

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	4	Doina Melinte	ROU	1:57.60
2	5	Kim Gallagher	USA	1:58.63
3	1	Fița Lovin	ROU	1:58.83
4	3	Gabriella Dorio	ITA	1:59.05
5	7	Lorraine Baker	GBR	2:00.03
6	8	Ruth Wysocki	USA	2:00.34
7	6	Margrit Klinger	FRG	2:00.65
8	2	Caroline O'Shea	IRL	2:00.77

Splits

200 m	27.7	Gabriella Dorio
400 m	57.3	Gabriella Dorio
600 m	1:27.9	Doina Beșliu-Melinte