Athletics at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Men's 1500 metres
Men's 1500 metres at the Games of the XXI Olympiad | ||||||||||
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Venue | Olympic Stadium | |||||||||
Dates | 29–31 July | |||||||||
Competitors | 42 from 28 nations | |||||||||
Winning time | 3:39.1 | |||||||||
Medalists | ||||||||||
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Athletics at the 1976 Summer Olympics | ||
---|---|---|
Track events | ||
100 m | men | women |
200 m | men | women |
400 m | men | women |
800 m | men | women |
1500 m | men | women |
5000 m | men | |
10,000 m | men | |
100 m hurdles | women | |
110 m hurdles | men | |
400 m hurdles | men | |
3000 m steeplechase | men | |
4 × 100 m relay | men | women |
4 × 400 m relay | men | women |
Road events | ||
Marathon | men | |
20 km walk | men | |
Field events | ||
Long jump | men | women |
Triple jump | men | |
High jump | men | women |
Pole vault | men | |
Shot put | men | women |
Discus throw | men | women |
Javelin throw | men | women |
Hammer throw | men | |
Combined events | ||
Pentathlon | women | |
Decathlon | men | |
The men's 1,500m metres was an event at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The final was held on Saturday 31 July 1976 and was contested by 9 athletes. The semifinals were held on 30 July 1976 and were contested by 18 athletes. The heats were held on 29 July 1976 and 45 athletes entered; 42 athletes from 28 nations competed.[1] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by John Walker of New Zealand, the nation's first 1500 metres title since 1964 and third overall. Ivo Van Damme's silver was Belgium's first medal in the event.
Summary
With the absence of notable front runner, world record holder
Five months after this race, van Damme was killed in an automobile accident. Three other competitors from this race had notable extended careers; Walker set the record for running 100 sub-
Background
This was the 18th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. There were two 1972 finalists returning, sixth-place finisher Herman Mignon of Belgium and seventh-place finisher Paul-Heinz Wellmann of West Germany. The highly anticipated matchup was between Filbert Bayi of Tanzania and John Walker of New Zealand; at the 1974 Commonwealth Games, the two had both beaten the world record with Bayi taking top honors by 0.36 seconds. But New Zealand's rugby tour of South Africa meant that the rematch would not occur: Tanzania was among the nations that would boycott the Games if New Zealand were not banned; thus, either Walker or Bayi would be unable to compete. When the IOC did not ban New Zealand, Tanzania followed through on the boycott, keeping Bayi out of the Games. Neither man was in perfect health in any case, with Walker battling chronic compartment syndrome and Bayi fighting malaria.[2]
Cuba, Haiti, and Nicaragua each made their first appearance in the event. The United States made its 18th appearance, the only nation to have competed in the men's 1500 metres at each Games to that point.
Competition format
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. For the third straight Games, the size of the final changed: 1968 had upped the final from 9 to 12 runners, 1972 had reduced it to 10, and now the final was back to 9 men.
There were five heats in the first round, each with 9 runners (before withdrawals). The top three runners in each heat, along with the next three fastest overall, advanced to the semifinals. The 18 semifinalists were divided into two semifinals, each with 9 runners. The top four men in each semifinal, plus the fastest fifth-placer, advanced to the 9-man final.[2][3]
Records
These were the standing world and Olympic records prior to the 1976 Summer Olympics.
World record | Filbert Bayi (TAN) | 3:32.16 | Christchurch, New Zealand | 2 February 1974 |
Olympic record | Kip Keino (KEN) |
3:34.9 | Mexico City, Mexico | 20 October 1968 |
No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.
Schedule
All times are
Date | Time | Round |
---|---|---|
Thursday, 29 July 1976 | 16:40 | Round 1 |
Friday, 30 July 1976 | 16:20 | Semifinals |
Saturday, 31 July 1976 | 18:00 | Final |
Results
Round 1
Heat 1
Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Marc Nevens | Belgium | 3:44.18 | Q |
2 | Helder Baiona De Jesus |
Portugal | 3:44.20 | Q |
3 | János Zemen | Hungary | 3:44.27 | Q |
4 | Åke Svenson | Sweden | 3:44.42 | |
5 | Evert Hoving | Netherlands | 3:45.00 | |
6 | Matt Centrowitz | United States | 3:45.02 | |
7 | Antti Loikkanen | Finland | 3:45.32 | |
8 | Ruben Sørensen | Denmark | 3:45.39 | |
— | Mhamed Amakdouf | Morocco | DNS |
Heat 2
Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Steve Ovett | Great Britain | 3:37.89 | Q |
2 | Thomas Wessinghage | West Germany | 3:37.93 | Q |
3 | Fernando Pacheco Mamede |
Portugal | 3:37.98 | Q |
4 | Herman Mignon | Belgium | 3:38.32 | q |
5 | Mike Durkin | United States | 3:38.89 | |
6 | Gheorghe Ghipu | Romania | 3:39.20 | |
7 | Günther Hasler | Liechtenstein | 3:39.34 | |
8 | Markku Laine | Finland | 3:45.32 | |
9 | Francisco Menocal | Nicaragua | 4:12.47 |
Heat 3
Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | John Walker | New Zealand | 3:36.87 | Q |
2 | Frank Clement | Great Britain | 3:37.53 | Q |
3 | Graham Crouch | Australia | 3:37.97 | Q |
4 | Paul Craig | Canada | 3:38.00 | q |
5 | Francis Gonzalez | France | 3:38.59 | q |
6 | Bronisław Malinowski |
Poland | 3:41.67 | |
7 | Ágúst Ásgeirsson | Iceland | 3:45.47 | |
8 | Sheikr Al-Shabani | Saudi Arabia | 4:08.70 | |
— | Anders Gärderud | Sweden | DNS |
Heat 4
Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Paul-Heinz Wellmann | West Germany | 3:39.86 | Q |
2 | Ivo Van Damme | Belgium | 3:39.93 | Q |
3 | Rick Wohlhuter | United States | 3:39.94 | Q |
4 | Niall O'Shaughnessy | Ireland | 3:40.12 | |
5 | Anthony Colón | Puerto Rico | 3:43.51 | |
6 | Ulf Hogberg |
Sweden | 3:47.96 | |
7 | Peter Spir | Canada | 3:59.60 | |
8 | Emmanuel Saint-Hilaire | Haiti | 4:23.41 | |
— | Carlo Grippo | Italy | DNS |
Heat 5
Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Eamonn Coghlan | Ireland | 3:39.87 | Q |
2 | Dave Moorcroft |
Great Britain | 3:40.69 | Q |
3 | Dave Hill | Canada | 3:41.24 | Q |
4 | Karl Fleschen | West Germany | 3:42.09 | |
5 | Rolf Gysin | Switzerland | 3:42.69 | |
6 | Luis Medina | Cuba | 3:42.71 | |
7 | Lars Kaupang |
Norway | 3:44.59 | |
8 | Spilios Zaxaropoulos |
Greece | 3:45.12 | |
9 | Muhammad Siddique | Pakistan | 3:45.59 |
Semifinals
Semifinal 1
Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | John Walker |
New Zealand | 3:39.65 | Q |
2 | Graham Crouch | Australia | 3:39.86 | Q |
3 | David Moorcroft | Great Britain | 3:39.88 | Q |
4 | Janos Zemen |
Hungary | 3:39.94 | Q |
5 | Thomas Wessinghage | West Germany | 3:40.06 | |
6 | Steve Ovett | Great Britain | 3:40.34 | |
7 | Herman Mignon | Belgium | 3:40.92 | |
8 | Fernando Pacheco Mamede |
Portugal | 3:42.59 | |
— | David Hill |
Canada | DNF |
Semifinal 2
Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Eamonn Coghlan | Ireland | 3:38.60 | Q |
2 | Rick Wohlhuter | United States | 3:38.71 | Q |
3 | Ivo Van Damme | Belgium | 3:38.75 | Q |
4 | Frank Clement | Great Britain | 3:38.92 | Q |
5 | Paul-Heinz Wellmann | West Germany | 3:38.99 | q |
6 | Francis Gonzalez | France | 3:40.73 | |
7 | Paul Craig | Canada | 3:41.02 | |
8 | Marc Nevens | Belgium | 3:41.52 | |
9 | Helder Baiona De Jesus |
Portugal | 3:47.37 |
Final
Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time |
---|---|---|---|
John Walker |
New Zealand | 3:39.17 | |
Ivo Van Damme | Belgium | 3:39.27 | |
Paul-Heinz Wellmann | West Germany | 3:39.33 | |
4 | Eamonn Coghlan | Ireland | 3:39.51 |
5 | Frank Clement | Great Britain | 3:39.65 |
6 | Rick Wohlhuter | United States | 3:40.64 |
7 | David Moorcroft | Great Britain | 3:40.94 |
8 | Graham Crouch | Australia | 3:41.80 |
9 | Janos Zemen |
Hungary | 3:43.02 |
See also
- 1978 Men's European Championships 1,500 metres (Prague)
- 1982 Men's European Championships 1,500 metres (Athens)
- 1983 Men's World Championships 1,500 metres (Helsinki)
References
- ^ "Athletics at the 1976 Montreal Games: Men's 1500 metres". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
- ^ a b "1500 metres, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
- ^ Official Report, vol. 3, p. 55.