Peter Bol

BIOGRAPHY

After a dominate domestic season in 2021, Peter Bol became the fastest Australian 800m athlete in history as he just missed an historic medal at the Tokyo Olympics. Twice during the Olympics he lowered the Australian 800m record with times of 1:44.13, then 1:44.11, eventually finishing fourth in the final the highest place by an Aussie in the event for 53 years.

In 2022 Peter won his third consecutive National 800m title. On a European tour ahead of the world championships, competing at the Paris Diamond League in June, he broke his own Australian 800m record, clocking 1:44.00 – the third time he had lowered the record in 12 months.

At his third World Championships, Peter ran strongly in his heat to win the race. But in the semi-final, where he was third, he had a nervous wait to see if he qualified for the final. He had, becoming the first ever Australian to qualify for a world championship 800m final. He went on to place 7th in the final in 1:45.51.

Two weeks later at the Commonwealth Games, he won his first international medal – silver, in a slow tactical race clocking 1:47.66.

In July 2023 he flagged he was in good form ahead of the Budapest World Championships. Clocking 1:44.29, he recorded his first qualifier for the world championships and the 2024 Olympics. In August he was named in his seventh global athletics team (World Champs or Olympics) since 2016. In Budapest Peter didn’t proceed past the heats.

In 2024, after placing second at Nationals in a quick time of 1:45.06, he was named on his third Olympic team.

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Peter Bol was born in Khartoum to a Sudanese mother and South Sudanese father. “My family emigrated from Sudan to Egypt when I was four and it was our home for four years,” Peter said. In Egypt his family obtained humanitarian status through the UNHCR, first arriving in Toowoomba, before the family settled in Perth.

At age 16 Peter commenced his athletics journey. After an athletics school carnival one of his teachers approached him and convinced him to join an athletics club promising to help him find a mentor, a club and a coach. He thought it was a pretty good deal specially because it meant he'd be fitter for basketball, so he agreed.

Within a couple of years, in 2013, he won the national junior 800m title in a PB 1:48.90. He recorded his first sub-1:48 in 2014 and sub-1:47 in 2015. Also, in 2015 he moved to Melbourne to be coached by Justin Rinaldi.

After placing fifth in the 2016 national championships, he chased the Olympic qualifier in Europe (standard 1:45.80). He achieved his first qualifier in Wiesbaden, Germany (1:45.78) in June and went even quicker 1:45.41 in July in Ninive, Belgium. In his debut for Australia at the Rio Olympics, he placed sixth in his heat in 1:49.36. 

In 2017 he travelled to Europe chasing a world championships qualifier, which he achieved with a PB of 1:45.21. At the 2017 IAAF World Championships, he placed seventh in his 800m heat. An injury (stress fracture) in early 2018 resulted in him missing Commonwealth Games selection.

In 2018 Peter and his training partner Joseph Deng then went hunting the then nearly 50-year-old Australian 800m record. Peter started very well clocking a large PB and becoming the fourth fastest Australia ever with a time of 1:44.56 in Stockholm. But Deng would beat him to the national 800m record in July. 
In 2019 Peter won the national title and was Australia’s sole representative at the world championships in Doha.
Negotiating COVID in 2020, Peter Bol in 2021 set about his landmark 2021 season. 

After a dominate domestic season in 2021, Peter Bol became the fastest Australian 800m athlete in history as he just missed an historic medal at the Tokyo Olympics. After training well during COVID, in the summer of 2021 Peter Bol won Track Classics in Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane, before taking the national title in April. But the qualifying standard for Tokyo had remained elusive as his summer best of 1:45.23 was just 0.03 seconds outside the standard. But in June 2021 on the Gold Coast, a more relaxed Bol, nailed the qualifier clocking 1:44.88. The next week he ran even faster 1:44.62, his second fastest time and the fastest ever by an Australian in Oz. 

Ranked 19th going into Tokyo, he was on from the start, placing second in his 800m heat in a national record time of 1:44.13. The next day, he stamped himself as a medal prospect winning his semi-final in another national record of 1:44.11. Peter became the third different athlete coached by Justin Rinaldi to equal of set the national 800m record in the last six years, following Alex Rowe in 2015 and Jo Deng in 2018.

In the 800m final, a slower more tactical race, Peter was gutsy and gave himself every chance to finish on the podium, eventually placing a magnificent fourth. A result only bettered by Olympic champions and pioneers Edwin Flack (1896) and Ralph Doubell (1968). It was the highest place by an Australian male in an individual track event since Darren Clark's fourth in the 400m in 1988 – 33 years ago and before Peter was born.
"I gave myself every chance. I think the only thing I regret is tightening up a little in that last 100," Peter said.
"I'm grateful, I'm thankful to everyone in Australia we wanted to inspire the whole nation." 

Australia were certainly following Peter Bol’s progress with 2.46 million Aussies watching him run the final broadcast on Channel 7.

Peter was asked how he handled the pressure emotionally. “In simple terms, I was calm, focused, and having fun with it at the same time.” The only key advice his coach Justin Rinaldi gave him for the final was: “Be aggressive. Don’t be afraid. You belong here. And run through the line.” That really resonated for me, because it’s not as if we were doing something unfamiliar. And we’ve been preparing for this moment for years. It may be the Olympic Games, but it’s still the same 800 metres.

In 2022 Peter won his third consecutive National 800m title. On a European tour ahead of the world championships, competing at the Paris Diamond League in June, he broke his own Australian 800m record, clocking 1:44.00 – the third time he has lowered the record in the last year. He then backed that up with another quick time 1:44.26 – his 10th sub-1:45 time of his career.

At his third World Championships, Peter ran strongly in his heat to win the race. But in the semi-final, where he was third, he had a nervous wait to see if he qualified for the final. He had, becoming the first ever Australian to qualify for a world championship 800m final. He went on to place 7th in the final in 1:45.51. Two weeks later at the Commonwealth Games, he won his first international medal – silver, in a slow tactical race clocking 1:47.66.

Advice to your young self: If only you knew you were going to become an Olympian would you have complained that much…or gave up so many times? Just that failure is part of the game and to have that confidence to fail and to face those challenges…..Biggest challenge: Putting everything into athletics without a plan B because it's not the most financially rewarding sport…..Interesting facts: Speaks Arabic, has five siblings and his first name ‘Nagmeldin’ meaning star…..Influential people: different times but I would definitely include my parents, my coach Justin Rinaldi who has attempted to do it all for me from sports to outside life…Hobbies/interests: Bike riding, socialising and anything outdoors

@ June 2024 david.tarbotton@athletics.org.au