World Athletics Championships 1983/1500 m men

World Athletics Championships 1983
discipline	1500 meter run
gender	Men
Attendees	50 athletes from 39 countries
venue	Helsinki
Competition location	Helsinki Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	12. (Prelims) 13. (Semi-finals) 14. (Finals)
Medalist Steve Cram ( GBR )   Steve Scott ( USA )   Saïd Aouita ( MAR )

The Olympic Stadium in Helsinki

The men's 1,500-meter run at the 1983 World Athletics Championships took place on August 12, 13 and 14, 1983 in Helsinki , Finland .

50 athletes from 39 countries took part in the competition. The gold medal went to the British European Champion from 1982 Steve Cram with 3: 41.59 minutes, silver went to the American Steve Scott with 3: 41.87 minutes and the bronze medal went to the Moroccan Saïd Aouita with 3: 42.02 minutes.

Records

Before the competition, the following records were in place:

World record	Steve Ovett	3: 31.36 min	Koblenz , Germany	August 27, 1980
World championship record	There were still no World Cup records, the event was held for the first time.

The World Cup record was gradually increased to 3: 35.77 min ( Steve Cram , United Kingdom in the semi-finals on August 13, 1983).

Prelims

August 12, 1983

From the four preliminary heats, the first four of each run - highlighted in light blue - and the nine fastest times - highlighted in light green - qualify for the semifinals.

Run 1

space	athlete	country	Time (min)
1	Pierre Délèze	Switzerland	3: 42.28 CR
2	Sydney Maree	United States	3: 43.13
3	Uwe Becker	BR Germany	3: 43.18
4th	Ray Flynn	Ireland	3: 43.28
5	João Campos	Portugal	3: 43.44
6th	Kipkoech Cheruiyot	Kenya	3: 43.59
7th	Nikolai Kirov	Soviet Union	3: 43.77
8th	Jan Persson	Sweden	3: 43.83
9	Dave Reid	Canada	3: 45.08
10	Mohamed Neji Henkiri	Tunisia	3: 45.90
11	Jama Aden	Somalia	3: 46.87
12	Tisbite Rakotoarisoa	Madagascar	3: 52.91
13	Luis Munguia	Nicaragua	4: 02.06

Run 2

space	athlete	country	Time (min)
1	Steve Cram	United Kingdom	3: 40.17 CR
2	Said Aouita	Morocco	3: 40.39
3	Frank O'Mara	Ireland	3: 40.53
4th	John Walker	New Zealand	3: 40.67
5	Piotr Kurek	Poland	3: 40.96
6th	Niels Kim Hjorth	Denmark	3: 41.29
7th	Peter Wirz	Switzerland	3: 41.69
8th	Philippe Dien	France	3: 43.15
9	Spyros Spyrou	Greece	3: 43.04
10	Paul Rugut	Kenya	3: 46.00
11	Jimmy Igohe	Tanzania	3: 48.58
12	Charlie Oliver	Solomon Islands	4: 18.24
	Mehdi Aidet	Algeria	DNS

Run 3

space	athlete	country	Time (min)
1	Andreas Busse	German Democratic Republic	3: 38.65 CR
2	Steve Ovett	United Kingdom	3: 39.00
3	Dragan Zdravković	Yugoslavia	3: 39.18
4th	Jan Kubista	Czechoslovakia	3: 39.20
5	Tom Byers	United States	3: 39.41
6th	Eddy Stevens	Belgium	3: 39.77
7th	Stefano Mei	Italy	3: 39.93
8th	José Luís Gonzalez	Spain	3: 41.29
9	Pascal Thiébaut	France	3: 41.51
10	Amar Brahmia	Algeria	3: 42.75
11	Omer Khalifa	Sudan	3: 48.23
12	John Chappory	Gibraltar	3: 56.92
13	Jean-Marie Rudasinqwa	Rwanda	3: 57.49

Run 4

space	athlete	country	Time (min)
1	Steve Scott	United States	3: 37.87 CR
2	José Manuel Abascal	Spain	3: 38.06
3	Claudio Patrignani	Italy	3: 38.35
4th	Graham Williamson	United Kingdom	3: 38.99
5	Abderrahmane Morceli	Algeria	3: 39.77
6th	Robert Nemeth	Austria	3: 39.93
7th	Mike Boit	Kenya	3: 40.06
8th	Antti Loikkanen	Finland	3: 44.47
9	Sermet Timurlenk	Turkey	3: 46.74
10	Mohammed Darwish	Iraq	3: 50.04
11	Ibrahim Malallah	Qatar	3: 52.05
12	Masini Situ-Kubanza	Zaire	4: 06.44
13	Sekou Camara	Guinea	4: 08.46

Semifinals

August 13, 1983

From the two semi-finals, the first five of each run - highlighted in light blue - and the two fastest times - highlighted in light green - qualify for the semifinals.

Run 1

space	athlete	country	Time (min)
1	Steve Scott	United States	3: 36.43 CR
2	Said Aouita	Morocco	3: 36.43
3	Jan Kubista	Czechoslovakia	3: 37.12
4th	Uwe Becker	BR Germany	3: 37.27
5	Andreas Busse	German Democratic Republic	3: 37.54
6th	José Luís Gonzalez	Spain	3: 38.77
7th	Niels Kim Hjorth	Denmark	3: 39.75
8th	Abderrahmane Morceli	Algeria	3: 39.88
9	Stefano Mei	Italy	3: 41.78
10	Graham Williamson	United Kingdom	3: 45.84
11	Frank O'Mara	Ireland	3: 47.10
	Robert Nemeth	Austria	DNF

Run 2

space	athlete	country	Time (min)
1	Steve Cram	United Kingdom	3: 35.77 CR
2	Steve Ovett	United Kingdom	3: 36.26
3	José Manuel Abascal	Spain	3: 36.35
4th	Pierre Délèze	Switzerland	3: 36.37
5	John Walker	New Zealand	3: 36.52
6th	Dragan Zdravković	Yugoslavia	3: 37.31
7th	Mike Boit	Kenya	3: 37.75
8th	Claudio Patrignani	Italy	3: 38.36
9	Sydney Maree	United States	3: 38.65
10	Piotr Kurek	Poland	3: 39.54
11	Ray Flynn	Ireland	3: 40.26
12	Eddy Stevens	Belgium	3: 42.63
13	Tom Byers	United States	3: 43.97

final

After the EM title in 1982 now the World Championship title for Steve Cram

August 14, 1983

space	athlete	country	Time (min)
	Steve Cram	United Kingdom	3: 41.59
	Steve Scott	United States	3: 41.87
	Said Aouita	Morocco	3: 42.02
4th	Steve Ovett	United Kingdom	3: 42.34
5	José Manuel Abascal	Spain	3: 42.47
6th	Pierre Délèze	Switzerland	3: 43.69
7th	Andreas Busse	German Democratic Republic	3: 43.72
8th	Dragan Zdravković	Yugoslavia	3: 43.75
9	John Walker	New Zealand	3: 44.24
10	Jan Kubista	Czechoslovakia	3: 44.30
11	Uwe Becker	BR Germany	3: 45.09
12	Mike Boit	Kenya	3: 46.46

• 

  Vice World Champion Steve Scott

• 

  Bronze medalist Saïd Aouita

• 

  Steve Ovett, 1978 European Champion and 1980 Olympic Knight, had to be satisfied with fourth place

• 

  Andreas Busse came in seventh place

• 

  John Walker, 1976 Olympic champion, finished ninth

Video

• 1983 World Athletics Championship Men's 1500m final on youtube.com, accessed March 26, 2020

Web links and sources

• Homepage for the 1983 World Cup on the IAAF website , accessed on March 27, 2020
• Men 1500m Athletics II World Championship Rome (ITA) 1987 at todor66.com, accessed March 27, 2020
• Results in the IAAF Statistics Handbook for the 2019 World Cup in Doha, Men 1500 m, Rome 1987 (PDF 10.3 MB, p. 118), English, accessed on March 27, 2020

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF world records. 1500 m men on rekorde-im-sport.de, accessed on March 27, 2020