Mariya Savinova wins women's 800; Alysia Johnson Montano fifth

Mariya Savinova wins women’s 800; Alysia Johnson Montano fifth

By Helene Elliott

Aug. 11, 2012 12 AM PT

LONDON -- Mariya Savinova of Russia added the London Olympics 800-meter title to the world championship she won at that distance last year, passing defending champion Pamela Jelimo of Kenya and others to win the two-lap race Saturday in a season-best time of 1 minute 56.19 seconds.

Caster Semenya of South Africa made a late push to finish second in a season-best 1:57.23 and Ekaterina Poistogova of Russia was third in a personal-best 1:57.53.

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Jelimo, who had been favored, finished fourth in 1:57.59.

Alysia Johnson Montano of Canyon Country, Calif., who always wears a flower in her hair when she runs, led after a 56.31-second first lap but was passed by Jelimo early in the second lap.

Johnson Montano finished fifth in 1:57.93.

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Helene Elliott

Helene Elliott was with the Los Angeles Times’ Sports department from 1989 to 2024, first as a staff writer and then, starting in 2006, as a columnist. She became the first female journalist to be honored with a plaque in the Hall of Fame of a major professional sport as the 2005 winner of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Elmer Ferguson Award, awarded to writers “who have brought honor to journalism and to hockey.” A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, she has covered 18 Olympics.

Mariya Savinova wins women’s 800; Alysia Johnson Montano fifth

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