The men's 800 metres event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place from 31 July to 4 August 2021 at the Japan National Stadium.

[2] Emmanuel Korir of Kenya won the event by 0.17 seconds, with his countryman Ferguson Rotich taking silver.

World record holder and double Olympic Champion, David Rudisha was not back to defend the title.

2012 silver medalist Nijel Amos had the world leading time while beating Emmanuel Korir in Monaco.

[3][4] Nine athletes on a 9 lane track, all evenly matched, the start had what would be expected, a tight pack trying to sort out position.

Emmanuel Korir took the inside position, Bol directly to his outside but they were all running, almost jogging well within their capabilities.

Korir opened up a gap as Dobek ran down lane 2 to get past Bol on the inside.

Everybody was in full sprint, but after Dobek got past Bol, only the two Kenyans were making forward progress relative to each other.

Great Britain made its 28th appearance, most among all nations, having had no competitors in the event only in the 1904 Games in St. Louis.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the period was suspended from 6 April 2020 to 30 November 2020, with the end date extended to 29 June 2021.