Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's 1500 metres

The men's 1500 metres at the 2004 Summer Olympics as part of the athletics program were held at the Athens Olympic Stadium from August 20 to 24.[1] Thirty-eight athletes from 26 nations competed.[2] The event was won by Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco, the nation's first title in the event after coming second twice (1992 and 2000); El Guerrouj was the fifth man to win a second medal in the event. Bernard Lagat's silver put Kenya on the podium in the event for the third straight year; the United States (six times from 1896 to 1920) and Great Britain (four times from 1908 to 1924 and three times from 1980 to 1988) were the only other nations to have accomplished that. It also made Lagat the sixth man to win two medals in the event, just behind El Guerrouj in both 2000 and 2004. Rui Silva's bronze was Portugal's first medal in the event.

Men's 1500 metres
at the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad
Olympic Athletics
VenueAthens Olympic Stadium
Dates20–24 August
Competitors38 from 26 nations
Winning time3:34.19
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Hicham El Guerrouj
 Morocco
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Bernard Lagat
 Kenya
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Rui Silva
 Portugal
← 2000
2008 →

Summary

edit

World record holder Hicham El Guerrouj came into the race with a target on his back. Though El Guerrouj had won four straight World Championships, he had failed to win the previous Olympics, falling with a lap to go in his breakthrough year of 1996 and being beaten to the line in 2000 by the same Noah Ngeny who had chased El Guerrouj to the mile world record a year earlier. Ngeny was not back but bronze medalist Bernard Lagat was, seeking to finally beat El Guerrouj. Lagat had the potential assistance of two Kenyan teammates, but El Guerrouj also had his teammate Adil Kaouch make the final and Kaouch had previously sacrificed himself by acting as a pacesetter leading El Guerrouj to the 1999 and 2001 world titles. Because of the assistance, El Guerrouj's ability in a strategic race was suspect.

Off the line, the three Kenyan runners took the lead and formed a wall keeping the field behind as they slowed the pace; El Guerrouj could not run away from the start and the race would be strategic. With 500 metres to go, El Guerrouj worked his way to the front, with a line of kickers including Lagat, Reyes Estevez, Ivan Heshko and the unknown Mulugeta Wendimu lined up behind him. Down the backstretch, Lagat stayed a step behind El Guerrouj as other speedsters jockeyed for position and then fell back. From deep in the pack (dead last with less than 500 metres to go), Rui Silva was on the outside passing the others. Around the final turn, Lagat edged his way closer to El Guerrouj, pulling even just at the head of the stretch, with Silva gaining to just a step behind. By halfway down the home stretch, Lagat edged into the lead, but El Guerrouj did not go away, fighting back to take the win as Lagat gave up the fight a couple of steps before the line.[3][4] After clearly running the fastest last lap, Silva was unable to make any further headway, celebrating his bronze medal as he finished.

Four days later, El Guerrouj outsprinted 10000 metres gold medalist Kenenisa Bekele to take the 5000 metres gold medal and never competed internationally again, officially retiring in 2006.

Background

edit

This was the 25th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Half of the finalists from 2000, including four of the top five but not the defending champion, returned: silver medalist Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco, bronze medalist Bernard Lagat of Kenya, fourth-place finisher Mehdi Baala of France, fifth-place finisher Kevin Sullivan of Canada, eighth-place finisher Juan Carlos Higuero of Spain, and twelfth-place finisher Youssef Baba of Morocco. El Guerrouj (who had stretched his world championship streak to four and still held the world record) and Lagat were the strongest contenders; Lagat and Baala had finished second to El Guerrouj at the last two world championships.[2]

Bahrain, Brunei, the Czech Republic, and Guam each made their first appearance in the event. The United States made its 24th appearance, most of all nations (having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games).

Qualification

edit

The qualification period for athletics was 1 January 2003 to 9 August 2004. For the men's 1500 metres, each National Olympic Committee was permitted to enter up to three athletes that had run the race in 3:36.20 or faster during the qualification period. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. If an NOC had no athletes that qualified under that standard, one athlete that had run the race in 3:38.00 or faster could be entered.

Competition format

edit

The competition was again three rounds (used previously in 1952 and since 1964). The "fastest loser" system introduced in 1964 was used for both the first round and semifinals. The 12-man semifinals and finals introduced in 1984 and used since 1992 were retained.

As in 2000, there were three heats in the first round, each with 13 or 14 runners (before withdrawals). There was a slight move towards "fastest losers" advancing, with only the top five runners in each heat, along with the next nine fastest overall, advancing to the semifinals. The 24 semifinalists were divided into two semifinals, each with 12 runners. The top five men in each semifinal, plus the next two fastest overall, advanced to the 12-man final.[2][5]

Records

edit

Prior to the competition, the existing World record, Olympic record, and world leading time were as follows.

World record   Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR) 3:26.00 Rome, Italy 14 July 1998
Olympic record   Noah Ngeny (KEN) 3:32.07 Sydney, Australia 29 September 2000
World Leading   Bernard Lagat (KEN) 3:27.40 Zurich, Switzerland 6 August 2004

No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition. The following national records were established during the competition:

Nation Athlete Round Time
  Equatorial Guinea Roberto Mandje Heat 1 4:03.37

Schedule

edit

All times are Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3)

Date Time Round
Friday, 20 August 2004 19:40 Round 1
Sunday, 22 August 2004 21:50 Semifinals
Tuesday, 24 August 2004 23:40 Final

Results

edit

Round 1

edit

Qualification rule: The first five finishers in each heat (Q) plus the next nine fastest overall runners (q) advanced to the semifinals.[6]

Heat 1

edit
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Hicham El Guerrouj   Morocco 3:37.86 Q
2 Rui Silva   Portugal 3:37.98 Q
3 Álvaro Fernández   Spain 3:38.34 Q
4 Kamal Boulahfane   Algeria 3:38.59 Q
5 Isaac Kiprono Songok   Kenya 3:38.89 Q
6 Kevin Sullivan   Canada 3:39.30 q
7 Michal Šneberger   Czech Republic 3:39.68 q
8 James Nolan   Ireland 3:41.14 q
9 Wolfram Müller   Germany 3:46.75
10 Mounir Yemmouni   France 3:51.08
11 Grant Robison   United States 3:53.66
12 Roberto Mandje   Equatorial Guinea 4:03.37 NR
Peter Roko Ashak   Sudan DNS

Heat 2

edit
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Reyes Estévez   Spain 3:39.71 Q
2 Bernard Lagat   Kenya 3:39.80 Q
3 Nick Willis   New Zealand 3:39.80 Q
4 Adil Kaouch   Morocco 3:39.88 Q
5 Mulugeta Wendimu   Ethiopia 3:39.96 Q
6 Gert-Jan Liefers   Netherlands 3:40.10 q
7 Hudson de Souza   Brazil 3:40.78 q
8 Johan Cronje   South Africa 3:40.99 q
9 Alan Webb   United States 3:41.25
10 Aleksandr Krivchinkov   Russia 3:41.37
11 Abdulrahman Suleiman   Qatar 3:42.00
12 Mohamed Khaldi   Algeria 3:42.47
13 Mehdi Baala   France 3:46.06

Heat 3

edit
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Michael East   Great Britain 3:37.37 Q
2 Timothy Kiptanui   Kenya 3:37.71 Q
3 Ivan Heshko   Ukraine 3:37.78 Q
4 Rashid Ramzi   Bahrain 3:37.93 Q
5 Tarek Boukensa   Algeria 3:37.94 Q
6 Juan Carlos Higuero   Spain 3:38.36 q
7 Youssef Baba   Morocco 3:38.71 q
8 Manuel Damião   Portugal 3:39.94 q
9 Charlie Gruber   United States 3:41.73
10 Branko Zorko   Croatia 3:48.28
11 Dou Zhaobo   China 3:50.28
12 Neil Weare   Guam 4:05.86
13 Jimmy Anak Ahar   Brunei 4:14.11
Samwel Mwera   Tanzania DNS

Semifinals

edit

Qualification rule: The top five finishers in each heat (Q) plus the next two fastest overall runners (q) advanced to the final.[7]

Semifinal 1

edit
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Adil Kaouch   Morocco 3:35.69 Q
2 Bernard Lagat   Kenya 3:35.84 Q
3 Gert-Jan Liefers   Netherlands 3:36.00 Q
4 Reyes Estévez   Spain 3:36.05 Q
5 Ivan Heshko   Ukraine 3:36.20 Q
6 Michael East   Great Britain 3:36.46 q
7 Isaac Kiprono Songok   Kenya 3:37.10 q
8 Manuel Damião   Portugal 3:37.16
9 Hudson de Souza   Brazil 3:38.83
10 James Nolan   Ireland 3:42.61
11 Rashid Ramzi   Bahrain 3:44.60
Tarek Boukensa   Algeria DNF

Semifinal 2

edit
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Hicham El Guerrouj   Morocco 3:40.87 Q
2 Rui Silva   Portugal 3:40.99 Q
3 Timothy Kiptanui   Kenya 3:41.04 Q
4 Mulugeta Wendimu   Ethiopia 3:41.14 Q
5 Kamal Boulahfane   Algeria 3:41.27 Q
6 Nick Willis   New Zealand 3:41.46
7 Álvaro Fernández   Spain 3:42.01
8 Juan Carlos Higuero   Spain 3:42.13
9 Kevin Sullivan   Canada 3:42.86
10 Youssef Baba   Morocco 3:42.96
11 Johan Cronje   South Africa 3:44.41
12 Michal Šneberger   Czech Republic 3:47.03

Final

edit

[8]

Rank Athlete Nation Time
  Hicham El Guerrouj   Morocco 3:34.19
  Bernard Lagat   Kenya 3:34.30
  Rui Silva   Portugal 3:34.68
4 Timothy Kiptanui   Kenya 3:35.61
5 Ivan Heshko   Ukraine 3:35.82
6 Michael East   Great Britain 3:36.33
7 Reyes Estévez   Spain 3:36.63
8 Gert-Jan Liefers   Netherlands 3:37.17
9 Adil Kaouch   Morocco 3:38.26
10 Mulugeta Wendimu   Ethiopia 3:38.33
11 Kamal Boulahfane   Algeria 3:39.02
12 Isaac Kiprono Songok   Kenya 3:41.72

References

edit
  1. ^ "Athletics at the 2004 Athens Games: Men's 1500 metres". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
  2. ^ a b c "1500 metres, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  3. ^ Steve Cram (24 August 2004). "El Guerrouj's golden salvation". BBC Sport. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  4. ^ McMullen, Paul (24 August 2004). "3rd time proves golden charm for El Guerrouj". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  5. ^ Official Report, Results Book for Athletics.
  6. ^ "IAAF Athens 2004: Men's 1500m Heats". Athens 2004. IAAF. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  7. ^ "IAAF Athens 2004: Men's 1500m Semifinals". Athens 2004. IAAF. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
  8. ^ "IAAF Athens 2004: Men's 1500m Final". Athens 2004. IAAF. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
edit