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

The men's 1500 metres was an event at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. There were a total number of 51 participating athletes from 40 nations, with four qualifying heats.[1] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was held from 3 August to 8 August 1992. The event was won by Fermín Cacho of Spain, the nation's first title in the men's 1500 metres. Morocco won its first medal in the event with Rachid El Basir's silver. Qatar won its first Olympic medal in any event with Mohamed Suleiman's bronze.

Men's 1500 metres
at the Games of the XXV Olympiad
Olympic Athletics
VenueEstadi Olímpic de Montjuïc
DatesAugust 3–8
Competitors51 from 40 nations
Winning time3:40.12
Medalists
Fermín Cacho
 Spain
Rachid El Basir
 Morocco
Mohamed Suleiman
 Qatar

Summary

Most of the eyes were on reigning world champion Noureddine Morceli, who hovered in the middle of the pack, while Joseph Chesire led most of the race, marked by Jens-Peter Herold through a slow race of 62.25 and 64.58 for the first two laps, setting up a fast finish. A step behind the leaders, as the pace quickened going into the final lap, home team favorite Fermín Cacho who had been strategically watching the field, pushed the final backstretch to move up on Chesire. Passing on the inside with just over 200 to go, Cacho accelerated and was surprised Chesire was not able to mount a challenge. Charging out into a big lead around the turn, Cacho kept looking back for the next challenger, but there was none, Cacho and the Spanish fans celebrated. Even with his celebrating and looking back, Cacho's last lap was about 50.5. Mohamed Suleiman edged past a fading Chesire and a final sprint around the outside from eighth place netted Rachid El Basir the silver. Suleiman earned the first Olympic medal for Qatar.

Background

This was the 22nd appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Four finalists from 1988 returned: bronze medalist Jens-Peter Herold of East Germany (now Germany), eighth-place finisher Marcus O'Sullivan of Ireland, ninth-place finisher Mário Silva of Portugal, and eleventh-place finisher Joseph Chesire of Kenya. The favorite was Noureddine Morceli of Algeria, who had recently won the first of what would be three consecutive world championships.[2]

Belize, the Central African Republic, Croatia, Guinea, Laos, Lebanon, Swaziland, Vanuatu, unified Yemen (North Yemen had competed previously), and Zaire each made their first appearance in the event; the Unified Team of some former Soviet republics competed in this event in the team's only Summer Games appearance. The United States made its 21st appearance, most of all nations (having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games).

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. The 12-man semifinals and finals introduced in 1984 were used (abandoning the short-lived 13-runner semifinal heats from 1988, though one semifinal ended up having 13 anyway).

There were four heats in the first round, each with 12 or 13 runners. The top five runners in each heat, along with the next four fastest overall, advanced to the semifinals. The 24 semifinalists were divided into two semifinals, each with 12 runners. Momodou Bello N'Jie of The Gambia was placed directly in a semifinal, making a 13th runner in that semifinal. The top five men in each semifinal, plus the next two fastest overall, advanced to the 12-man final.[2][3]

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records prior to the 1992 Summer Olympics.

World record Saïd Aouita (MAR)3:29.46West Berlin, West Germany23 August 1985
Olympic record Sebastian Coe (GBR)3:32.53Los Angeles, United States11 August 1984

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

NationAthleteRoundTime
 LaosKhambieng KhamiarHeat 14:04.82
 AngolaJoão N'TyambaHeat 23:39.54

Schedule

All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)

Date Time Round
Monday, 3 August 199211:15Round 1
Thursday, 6 August 199219:45Semifinals
Saturday, 8 August 199220:15Final

Results

Heat 1

Rank AthleteNation TimeNotes
1 Fermín Cacho Spain 3:37.04Q
2 Phillimon Hanneck Zimbabwe 3:37.65Q
3 Jim Spivey United States 3:38.01Q
4 Rachid El Basir Morocco 3:38.01Q
5 Jonah Birir Kenya 3:38.29Q
6 Azat Rakipov Unified Team 3:38.64q
7 Edgar Martins Brazil 3:38.68q
8 Kim Bong-yu South Korea 3:40.73
9 Steve Crabb Great Britain 3:41.00
10 Mohamed Al-Nahdi United Arab Emirates 3:48.08
11 Zacharia Maidjida Central African Republic 3:55.72
12 Khambieng Khamiar Laos 4:04.82NR
13 Ancel Nalau Vanuatu 4:13.88

Heat 2

Rank AthleteNation TimeNotes
1 Noureddine Morceli Algeria 3:37.98Q
2 Steve Holman United States 3:38.38Q
3 Mário Silva Portugal 3:38.57Q
4 Zeki Öztürk Turkey 3:38.68Q
5 Matthew Yates Great Britain 3:38.73Q
6 Hauke Fuhlbrügge Germany 3:38.92q
7 João N'Tyamba Angola 3:39.54NR
8 Metiku Megersa Ethiopia 3:41.54
9 Khan Nadir Pakistan 3:44.96
10 Markus Hacksteiner Switzerland 3:45.27
11 Awad Salah Nasser Yemen 3:51.89
12 Tamimou Idrissou Benin 3:56.45
13 Alphonse Munyeshyaka Rwanda 3:58.75

Heat 3

Rank AthleteNation TimeNotes
1 Joseph Chesire Kenya 3:44.06Q
2 Graham Hood Canada 3:44.44Q
3 Branko Zorko Croatia 3:44.47Q
4 Gennaro di Napoli Italy 3:44.55Q
5 Rüdiger Stenzel Germany 3:44.70Q
6 Terrance Herrington United States 3:44.80
7 José Luis González Spain 3:46.75
8 Bobby Gaseitsiwe Botswana 3:48.33
9 Mohamed Sy Savane Guinea 3:51.96
10 Reuben Appleton Antigua and Barbuda 4:02.99
11 Bassam Kawas Lebanon 4:17.40
Ian Gray Belize DNF
Saïd Aouita Morocco DNS

Heat 4

Rank AthleteNation TimeNotes
1 David Kibet Kenya 3:36.32Q
2 Mohamed Suleiman Qatar 3:36.72Q
3 Jens-Peter Herold Germany 3:36.76Q
4 Marcus O'Sullivan Ireland 3:37.07Q
5 Kevin McKay Great Britain 3:37.39Q
6 Manuel Pancorbo Spain 3:37.62q
7 Houssein Djama Egueh Djibouti 3:44.13
8 Sipho Dlamini Swaziland 3:46.33
9 Hailu Zewde Ethiopia 3:47.79
10 Kaleka Mutoke Zaire 3:53.71
11 Bernardo Elonga Equatorial Guinea 4:25.78
Robin van Helden Netherlands DNF

Semifinal 1

Rank AthleteNation TimeNotes
1 Noureddine Morceli Algeria 3:39.22Q
2 Rachid El Basir Morocco 3:39.26Q
3 Joseph Chesire Kenya 3:39.43Q
4 Manuel Pancorbo Spain 3:39.52Q
5 Jens-Peter Herold Germany 3:39.55Q
6 Gennaro di Napoli Italy 3:39.56
7 Branko Zorko Croatia 3:39.71
8 Rüdiger Stenzel Germany 3:40.23
9 Steve Holman United States 3:40.49
10 Kevin McKay Great Britain 3:40.80
11 Zeki Öztürk Turkey 3:41.98
12 Edgar Martins Brazil 3:42.53
13 Momodou Bello N'Jie The Gambia 4:13.52

Semifinal 2

Rank AthleteNation TimeNotes
1 Mohamed Suleiman Qatar 3:34.77Q
2 Fermín Cacho Spain 3:34.93Q
3 Jonah Birir Kenya 3:35.41Q
4 Jim Spivey United States 3:35.55Q
5 David Kibet Kenya 3:35.82Q
6 Graham Hood Canada 3:36.12q
7 Azat Rakipov Unified Team 3:36.16q
8 Marcus O'Sullivan Ireland 3:37.16
9 Mário Silva Portugal 3:38.09
10 Phillimon Hanneck Zimbabwe 3:38.09
11 Hauke Fuhlbrügge Germany 3:38.45
12 Matthew Yates Great Britain 3:40.53

Final

The final was held on August 8, 1992.

Rank AthleteNation Time
Fermín Cacho Spain 3:40.12
Rachid El Basir Morocco 3:40.62
Mohamed Suleiman Qatar 3:40.69
4 Joseph Chesire Kenya 3:41.12
5 Jonah Birir Kenya 3:41.27
6 Jens-Peter Herold Germany 3:41.53
7 Noureddine Morceli Algeria 3:41.70
8 Jim Spivey United States 3:41.74
9 Graham Hood Canada 3:42.55
10 David Kibet Kenya 3:42.62
11 Manuel Pancorbo Spain 3:43.51
12 Azat Rakipov Unified Team 3:44.66

See also

References

  1. "Athletics at the 1992 Barcelona Games: Men's 1500 metres". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
  2. "1500 metres, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  3. Official Report, vol. 5, p. 43.
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