Athletics at the 1992 Summer Olympics – Women's 1500 metres

These are the official results of the Women's 1500 metres event at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. There were a total of 43 participating athletes. The three qualifying heats were held on August 5, followed by the two semi-finals on August 6. The final was held on August 8, 1992.[1]

Women's 1500 metres
at the Games of the XXV Olympiad
VenueEstadi Olímpic de Montjuïc
Dates5 August 1992 (heats)
6 August 1992 (final)
Competitors43 from 35 nations
Winning time3:55.30
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Hassiba Boulmerka
 Algeria
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Lyudmila Rogachova
 Unified Team
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Qu Yunxia
 China
← 1988
1996 →
Official Video Highlights
@ 15:30

This field was stacked with the world championship podium of Algerian Hassiba Boulmerka with Tetyana Dorovskikh and Lyudmila Rogachova, who had represented the Soviet Union, but after the demise of that political entity just over eight months earlier were representing the "Unified Team." Other key competitors look to be '84 silver medalist / 800 metre gold medalist Doina Melinte, and the wild card of 800 meter specialist Maria Mutola moving up in distance. Another wild card were two young Chinese athletes, 21 year old Liu Li and 19 year old Qu Yunxia who had qualified for the final. While the Soviet Union had virtually owned the event for the previous two decades, the Chinese had no history in this event. In the World Championships the previous year, the only, token, Chinese representative finished dead last in her qualifying heat.

This was not going to be a slow tactical final. Rogachova went to the front, quickly marked by Melinte and a third former Soviet, double 1983 medalist Yekaterina Podkopayeva. Left behind at the line, Liu rushed forward on the outside, chased by Boulmerka. In dead last place, Qu had to work her way around PattiSue Plumer and Mutola who had dropped back expecting to pick up the pieces with her finishing kick. Dorovskikh rushed to join the party at the front, followed by Qu who had a noticeably less refined running style, rocking from side to side, looking strained. Boulmerka aggressively stuck behind Rogachova at the front, the only one to break up the Unified former Soviet bloc at the front of the pack. 700 metres into the race, Qu rocked her way past Melinte and Liu onto third place Podkopayeva's back. As the two leaders started to break, Qu followed onto Boulmerka's back. With a lap to go, the field had strung out. Only the remaining green Unified team members were able to struggle to hold on to the three leaders with a gap back to Plummer and Mutola leading the second group. As she was falling back through the field, Melinte walked off the track at the end of the third lap. Mutola launched into what would be a long final kick, but after leaving Plummer, she wasn't making any headway. Down the backstretch, Boulmerka made her one move, accelerating past Rogachova. Rogachova couldn't answer, just holding her same speed. Dorovskikh stuck to Qu's back and made her move for bronze off the final turn. Qu looked at her and sprinted away gaining rapidly on Rogachova toward the finish. Boulmerka celebrated, flexing her muscles while the rest of the field looked exhausted. A little over a year later, Qu would set the world record that would last for 22 years.

Medalists

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Gold Hassiba Boulmerka
  Algeria
Silver Lyudmila Rogachova
  Unified Team
Bronze Qu Yunxia
  China

Records

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These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1992 Summer Olympics.

World Record 3:52.47   Tatyana Kazankina Zürich (SUI) August 13, 1980
Olympic Record 3:53.96   Paula Ivan Seoul (KOR) September 26, 1988

Final

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
  Hassiba Boulmerka   Algeria 3:55.30
  Lyudmila Rogachova   Unified Team 3:56.91
  Qu Yunxia   China 3:57.08
4 Tetyana Dorovskikh   Unified Team 3:57.92
5 Liu Li   China 4:00.20
6 Maite Zúñiga   Spain 4:00.59
7 Małgorzata Rydz   Poland 4:01.91
8 Yekaterina Podkopayeva   Unified Team 4:02.03
9 Maria de Lurdes Mutola   Mozambique 4:02.60
10 PattiSue Plumer   United States 4:03.42
11 Elena Fidatov   Romania 4:06.44
Doina Melinte   Romania DNF

Semi finals

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Hassiba Boulmerka   Algeria 4:03.81
2 Lyudmila Rogachova   Unified Team 4:03.85
3 Maria de Lurdes Mutola   Mozambique 4:04.20
4 Liu Li   China 4:04.35
5 Elena Fidatov   Romania 4:04.55
6 Angela Chalmers   Canada 4:04.87
7 Violeta Beclea   Romania 4:05.46
8 Letitia Vriesde   Suriname 4:09.64
9 Kirsty Wade   Great Britain 4:11.36
10 Maria Akraka   Sweden 4:14.30
11 Anna Brzezińska   Poland 4:15.53
12 Regina Jacobs   United States 4:21.55
13 Marie Pierre Duros   France 4:26.61


Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Tetyana Dorovskikh   Unified Team 4:03.79
2 Małgorzata Rydz   Poland 4:03.83
3 Qu Yunxia   China 4:03.86
4 Yekaterina Podkopayeva   Unified Team 4:03.93
5 Maite Zúñiga   Spain 4:04.00
6 PattiSue Plumer   United States 4:04.23
7 Doina Melinte   Romania 4:04.42
8 Paula Schnurr   Canada 4:04.80
9 Carla Sacramento   Portugal 4:05.54
10. Fabia Trabaldo   Italy 4:06.05
11 Sonia O'Sullivan   Ireland 4:06.24
12 Theresia Kiesl   Austria 4:07.46
13 Debbie Bowker   Canada 4:12.50

Heats

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Hassiba Boulmerka   Algeria 4:09.91
2 Tetyana Dorovskikh   Unified Team 4:09.94
3 Paula Schnurr   Canada 4:09.99
4 Elena Fidatov   Romania 4:10.00
5 Carla Sacramento   Portugal 4:10.01
6 Liu Li   China 4:10.08
7 Marie-Pierre Duros   France 4:10.14
8 Maxine Newman   Great Britain 4:15.16
9 Simone Meier   Switzerland 4:15.64
10 Susan Sirma   Kenya 4:17.73
11 Suzy Favor   United States 4:22.36
12 Laurence Niyonsaba   Rwanda 4:24.87
13 Bigna Samuel   Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 4:33.41
14 Mantokoane Pitso   Lesotho 4:39.96
15 Rosemary Turare   Papua New Guinea 5:10.52


Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Maite Zúñiga   Spain 4:07.82
2 Doina Melinte   Romania 4:08.58
3 Małgorzata Rydz   Poland 4:09.47
4 Lyudmila Rogachova   Unified Team 4:09.54
5 Letitia Vriesde   Suriname 4:10.63
6 Debbie Bowker   Canada 4:11.27
7 Regina Jacobs   United States 4:13.87
8 Sriyani Dhammika Manike   Sri Lanka 4:26.22
9 Carol Galea   Malta 4:33.41
10 Rosalie Gangué   Chad 5:06.31
Ann Williams   Great Britain DQ
Fabia Trabaldo   Italy DNF
Maria Akraka   Sweden DNF
Ellen Kießling   Germany DNF


Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Qu Yunxia   China 4:07.40
2 Yekaterina Podkopayeva   Unified Team 4:07.55
3 Maria de Lurdes Mutola   Mozambique 4:07.59
4 Violeta Beclea   Romania 4:07.60
5 Sonia O'Sullivan   Ireland 4:07.70
6 Angela Chalmers   Canada 4:07.75
7 Theresia Kiesl   Austria 4:07.81
8 Kirsty Wade   Great Britain 4:08.30
9 Anna Brzezińska   Poland 4:08.35
10. PattiSue Plumer   United States 4:09.47
11 Getenesh Urge   Ethiopia 4:18.09
12 Khin Khin Htwe   Myanmar 4:18.81
13 Brigitte Nganaye   Central African Republic 4:33.57 (NR)
14 Ana Isabel Elias   Angola 4:33.66

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Athletics at the 1992 Barcelona Games: Women's 1500 metres". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
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