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

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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 →

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.

Summary

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Round 1

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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[8]

Rank Athlete Nation Time
1st place, gold medalist(s) Hicham El Guerrouj  Morocco 3:34.19
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Bernard Lagat  Kenya 3:34.30
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 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

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  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.
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