1948 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 1500 m (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	1500 meter run
gender	Men
Attendees	36 athletes from 23 countries
Competition location	Wembley Stadium
Competition phase	August 4, 1948 (preliminary) August 6, 1948 (final)
Medalist Henry Eriksson ( SWE )   Lennart Strand ( SWE )   Willem Slijkhuis ( NED )

The men's 1,500-meter race at the 1948 Olympic Games in London was held at Wembley Stadium on August 4 and 6, 1948 . 36 athletes took part.

The Olympic champion was the Swede Henry Eriksson in front of his compatriot Lennart Strand . Willem Slijkhuis from the Netherlands won bronze .

Existing records

• World record : 3: 43.0 min - Gunder Hägg ( Sweden ), Gothenburg , July 7, 1944 / Lennart Strand (Sweden), Malmö , July 15, 1947
• Olympic record : 3: 47.8 min - Jack Lovelock ( New Zealand ), Berlin final , August 6, 1936

Conducting the competition

The runners competed in four heats on August 4th. The three best runners from each qualify for the final on August 6th.

Note: The qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue.

Prelims

August 4, 1948, 4.30 p.m.
Not all times have been recorded.

Forward 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Lennart Beach	Sweden	3: 54.2 min
2	Erik Jørgensen	Denmark	3: 54.2 min
3	Donald Gehrmann	United States	3: 54.8 min
4th	Frits de Ruijter	Netherlands	3: 55.2 min
5	Olavi Luoto	Finland	3: 58.0 min
6th	Henri Klein	France	3: 59.8 min
7th	Cahit oil	Turkey	k. A.
8th	John Joe Barry	Ireland	k. A.
9	Cliff Salmond	Canada	k. A.
DNF	Antero Mongrut	Peru

Forward 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Willem Slijkhuis	Netherlands	3: 52.4 min
2	Václav Čevona	Czechoslovakia	3: 53.0 min
3	Denis Johansson	Finland	3: 54.0 min
4th	Jack Hutchins	Canada	3: 54.4 min
5	Douglas Wilson	Great Britain	3: 54.8 min
6th	Clem Eischen	United States	4: 00.2 min
7th	Vasilios Mavroidis	Greece	k. A.
8th	Juan Adarraga	Spain	k. A.
DNF	Wilfred Tull	Trinidad and Tobago

Forward 3

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Henry Eriksson	Sweden	3: 53.8 min
2	Bill Nankeville	Great Britain	3: 55.8 min
3	Josy Barthel	Luxembourg	3: 56.4 min
4th	Jean Vernier	France	3: 57.6 min
5	Melchor Palmeiro	Argentina	4.01.6 min
6th	Óskar Jónsson	Iceland	4: 03.2 min
7th	Rıza Maksut İşman	Turkey	k. A.
DNF	Bill Parnell	Canada

Forward 4

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Gosta Bergkvist	Sweden	3: 51.8 min
2	Marcel Hansenne	France	3: 52.8 min
3	Sándor Garay	Hungary	3: 53.0 min
4th	Roland Sink	United States	3: 53.2 min
5	Kaare Vefling	Norway	3: 54.6 min
6th	Richard Morris	Great Britain	3: 55.8 min
7th	Ingvard Nielsen	Denmark	k. A.
8th	Karl-Heinz Hubler	Switzerland	k. A.
9	Lee Yun-Seok	South Korea	k. A.

final

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Henry Eriksson	Sweden	3: 49.8 min
2	Lennart Beach	Sweden	3: 50.4 min
3	Willem Slijkhuis	Netherlands	3: 50.4 min
4th	Václav Čevona	Czechoslovakia	3: 51.2 min
5	Gosta Bergkvist	Sweden	3: 52.2 min
6th	Bill Nankeville	Great Britain	3: 52.6 min
7th	Sándor Garay	Hungary	3: 54.4 min
8th	Donald Gehrmann	United States	3: 54.5 min
9	Erik Jørgensen	Denmark	3: 56.1 min
10	Josy Barthel	Luxembourg	3: 56.9 min
11	Marcel Hansenne	France	4: 02.0 min
12	Denis Johansson	Finland	k. A.

August 6, 1948, 5 p.m.

The Swedes Arne Andersson and Gunder Hägg had run top times in the 1940s, but both had violated the amateur law and were therefore not allowed to start at the Olympic Games.
In London , the Swede Lennart Strand was now the clear favorite. He was the reigning European champion in 1946 and co-owner of the world record . The race was run during a cold rain shower. The Frenchman Marcel Hansenne, third over 800 meters , started furiously and completed the first lap in 58.3 seconds. But Hansenne tackled too quickly and was overtaken by the three Swedes at the end of the second lap. Henry Eriksson now took the lead, followed by the beach. When he picked up the sprint, Eriksson countered effortlessly and crossed the finish line first. Third was the storming Willem Slijkhuis, who was still trying to pass the beach, but he pushed again and jostled the Dutchman slightly. Slijkhuis stumbled a little, but reached the goal.

In the period that followed, there were long discussions about positions 7 to 12. This is how the German sports journalist Volker Kluge came up with the order 7th Garay, 8th Jørgensen, 9th Barthel, 10th Gehrmann, 11th Hansenne, 12th Johansson in his book Summer Olympics: The Chronicle II . Clever colleague Ekkehard zur Megede led in his work The Modern Olympic Century. 1896-1996. Track and Field Athletics in the following order: 7th Jørgensen, 8th Gehrmann, 9th Johansson, 10th Barthel, 11th Hansenne, 12th Garay. The British statistics expert Richard Hymans analyzed film recordings and photographs of the race and came to the following result.

Henry Eriksson achieved the first Swedish Olympic victory over 1500 meters.
Willem Slijkhuis won the first Dutch medal in this discipline.

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, pp. 21f

Web links

• SportsReference 1500m , accessed August 19, 2017
• Official report , page 249, engl. (PDF), accessed on August 19, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009 page 549 ( Memento from June 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948-1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, p. 22
3. ^ Official report "Athletic Timetable" page 241
4. ^ Official report "Athletic Timetable" , page 241, engl. (PDF)
5. ↑ SportsReference , engl.