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800 metres Run is a common track running event. It is the shortest common middle distance. The 800 meters is run over two laps of the track (400 meter track) and has always been an Olympic event. During indoor track season the event is usually run on a 200 meter track, therefore requiring four laps. It was included in the first women's track programme in 1928, but suspended until 1960 because of shock at the exhaustion it caused the competitors. By contrast, without today's training regimes, male competitors of the day were expected to run themselves to exhaustion in competition.
The event requires both sprinting speed and physical endurance to last two laps, and thus combines the most challenging aspects of both sprinting and middle distance into a single race.
