1968 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 1500 m (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	1500 meter run
gender	Men
Attendees	54 athletes from 38 countries
Competition location	Estadio Olímpico Universitario
Competition phase	October 18, 1968 (preliminary) October 19 (semi-finals) October 20, 1968 (final)
Medalist Kipchoge Keino ( KEN )   Jim Ryun ( USA )   Bodo Bottlenose Dolphin ( FRG )

The men's 1500 meter run at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City was held on October 18, 19 and 20, 1968 at the Estadio Olímpico Universitario . 54 athletes took part.

The Kenyan Kipchoge Keino became Olympic champion . Silver went to the American Jim Ryun , bronze went to Bodo Tümmler from the Federal Republic of Germany.

For the Federal Republic of Germany - officially 'Germany' - Arnd Krüger and Harald Norpoth started alongside the medal winner Tümmler . While Krüger failed in the semifinals, Norpoth qualified for the final and finished fourth there.
Hansrüedi Knill represented Switzerland. He survived the preliminary run, but was eliminated in the semifinals as ninth of his run.
For the Principality of Liechtenstein was Xaver Frick Jr. at the start, but different, as well as the Austrian Rudolf Klaban made during preprocessing.
Runners from the GDR - officially 'East Germany' - did not take part.

Existing records

World record	3: 33.1 min	Jim Ryun ( USA )	Los Angeles , USA	July 8, 1967
Olympic record	3: 35.6 min	Herb Elliott ( Australia )	Final of Rome , Italy	September 6, 1960

Conducting the competition

The athletes competed in a total of five heats on October 18. The first five made it to the semi-finals on October 19th. From the preliminary rounds, the six best runners qualified for the final on October 20th.

Time schedule

October 18, 11.00 a.m .: Preliminaries
October 19, 5.20 p.m .: Semi-finals
October 20, 3.30 p.m .: Final

Note: All times are Mexico City local time ( UTC −6)

The qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue.

Preliminary round

Date: October 18, 1968, from 11 a.m.

Forward 1

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically
1	Kipchoge Keino	Kenya	3: 46.9 min	3: 46.96 min
2	Bodo Bottlenose Dolphin	BR Germany	3: 51.5 min	3: 51.59 min
3	John Boulter	Great Britain	3: 51.6 min	3: 51.63 min
4th	Jorge Grosser	Chile	3: 51.7 min	3: 51.79 min
5	Francesco Arese	Italy	3: 51.8 min	3: 51.86 min
6th	Dave Bailey	Canada	3: 52.1 min	3: 52.11 min
7th	Róbert Honti	Hungary	3: 54.9 min	3: 54.95 min
8th	Rudolf Klaban	Austria	3: 59.1 min	3: 59.11 min
9	Julio Quevedo	Guatemala	4: 03.1 min	4: 03.13 min
10	Edouard Sagna	Senegal	4: 04.1 min	4:04.12 min
11	Emilio Barahona	Honduras	4: 56.0 min	4: 56.08 min

Forward 2

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically
1	Tom Von Ruden	United States	3: 59.1 min	3: 59.15 min
2	André Dehertoghe	Belgium	3: 59.3 min	3: 59.33 min
3	Henryk Szordykowski	Poland	3: 59.3 min	3: 59.34 min
4th	Claude Nicolas	France	3: 59.3 min	3: 59.35 min
5	Arnd Kruger	BR Germany	3: 59.3 min	1: 52.32 min
6th	Renzo Finelli	Italy	3: 59.5 min	3: 59.51 min
7th	Ove mountain	Sweden	4: 00.4 min	4: 00.42 min
8th	Tom Hansen	Denmark	4: 01.4 min	4: 01.47 min
9	Ramasamy Subramaniam	Malaysia	4: 06.4 min	4: 06.49 min
10	Miguel Nuñez	Dominican Republic	4: 23.6 min	4: 23.67 min

Forward 3

Harald Norpoth (right, in 1963 behind Michel Jazy) , FR Germany, reached the final and came fourth

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically
1	Ben Jipcho	Kenya	3: 46.4 min	3: 46.51 min
2	Oleg Rayko	Soviet Union	3: 46.8 min	3: 46.84 min
3	Harald Norpoth	BR Germany	3: 46.9 min	3: 47.00 min
4th	Josef Odložil	Czechoslovakia	3: 47.4 min	3: 47.49 min
5	Jacky Boxberger	France	3: 47.5 min	3: 47.55 min
6th	José Neri	Mexico	3: 47.5 min	3: 47.88 min
7th	Jorge González	Spain	3: 50.4 min	3: 50.49 min
8th	Ioannis Virvilis	Greece	3: 55.5 min	3: 55.57 min
9	Xaver Frick Jr.	Liechtenstein	4: 15.3 min	4: 15.38 min
10	Alfredo Cubías	El Salvador	4: 32.5 min	4: 32.58 min

Forward 4

Marty Liquori, USA, made it to the final, but was only last

Bronze medal winner: Bodo Tümmler, BR Germany (third from right)

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically
1	Jim Ryun	United States	3: 45.7 min	3: 45.80 min
2	Hamadi Haddou	Morocco	3: 47.0 min	3: 47.01 min
3	Edgard Salvé	Belgium	3: 47.1 min	3: 47.17 min
4th	Arne Kvalheim	Norway	3: 47.4 min	3: 47.50 min
5	Norm Trerise	Canada	3: 47.6 min	3: 47.67 min
6th	Gianni Del Buono	Italy	3: 48.4 min	3: 48.41 min
7th	Peter Watson	Australia	3: 55.4 min	3: 55.41 min
8th	Maurice Benn	Great Britain	3: 56.4 min	3: 56.43 min
9	Pekka Vasala	Finland	4: 08.5 min	4: 08.51 min
10	Willie Rios	Puerto Rico	4: 14.4 min	4: 14.47 min
11	Jeff Payne	Bermuda	4: 18.9 min	4: 18.92 min

Forward 5

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically
1	Marty Liquori	United States	3: 52.7 min	3: 52.78 min
2	Hansrüedi Knill	Switzerland	3: 52.8 min	3: 52.87 min
3	John Whetton	Great Britain	3: 53.0 min	3: 53.04 min
4th	Ahmed Issa	Chad	3: 53.1 min	3: 53.13 min
5	Mikhail Shelobovsky	Soviet Union	3: 53.2 min	3: 53.23 min
6th	Matias Habtemichael	Ethiopia	3: 53.2 min	3: 53.27 min
7th	Gärderud is different	Sweden	3: 54.2 min	3: 54.28 min
8th	Byron Dyce	Jamaica	3: 54.6 min	3: 54.65 min
9	Jerzy Maluśki	Poland	3: 54.8 min	3: 54.83 min
10	Frank Murphy	Ireland	3: 54.8 min	3: 54.85 min
11	Rudi Simon	Belgium	4: 06.9 min	4: 06.97 min
12	Arturo Cordoba	Honduras	5: 18.9 min	5.18.92 min

Semifinals

Date: October 19, 1968, from 5:20 p.m.

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically
1	Bodo Bottlenose Dolphin	BR Germany	3: 53.6 min	3: 53.66 min
2	Jacky Boxberger	France	3: 53.9 min	3: 54.00 min
3	Tom Von Ruden	United States	3: 54.1 min	3: 54.12 min
4th	Henryk Szordykowski	Poland	3: 54.2 min	3: 54.24 min
5	Harald Norpoth	BR Germany	3: 54.3 min	3: 54.34 min
6th	Ben Jipcho	Kenya	3: 54.6 min	3: 54.69 min
7th	Francesco Arese	Italy	3: 54.8 min	3: 54.85 min
8th	Arne Kvalheim	Norway	3: 55.3 min	3: 55.32 min
9	John Boulter	Great Britain	3: 56.1 min	3: 56.13 min
10	Edgard Salvé	Belgium	3: 58.1 min	3: 58.16 min
11	Mikhail Shelobovsky	Soviet Union	3: 59.0 min	3: 59.08 min
12	Hamadi Haddou	Morocco	4: 01.6 min	4: 01.70 min

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically
1	Jim Ryun	United States	3: 51.2 min	3: 51.25 min
2	Kipchoge Keino	Kenya	3: 51.4 min	3: 51.50 min
3	John Whetton	Great Britain	3: 52.0 min	3: 52.05 min
4th	Marty Liquori	United States	3: 52.1 min	3: 52.17 min
5	Josef Odložil	Czechoslovakia	3: 52.5 min	3: 52.53 min
6th	André Dehertoghe	Belgium	3: 52.5 min	3: 52.57 min
7th	Oleg Rayko	Soviet Union	3: 52.7 min	3: 52.73 min
8th	Ahmed Issa	Chad	3: 53.2 min	3: 53.26 min
9	Hansrüedi Knill	Switzerland	3: 53.6 min	3: 53.65 min
10	Norm Trerise	Canada	3: 57.2 min	3: 57.30 min
11	Claude Nicolas	France	4: 04.4 min	4: 04.47 min
12	Arnd Kruger	BR Germany	4: 05.3 min	4: 05.40 min
DNF	Jorge Grosser	Chile

final

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Kipchoge Keino	Kenya	3: 34.9 min	3: 34.91 min	OR
2	Jim Ryun	United States	3: 37.8 min	3: 37.89 min
3	Bodo Bottlenose Dolphin	BR Germany	3: 39.0 min	3: 39.08 min
4th	Harald Norpoth	BR Germany	3: 42.5 min	3: 42.57 min
5	John Whetton	Great Britain	3: 43.8 min	3: 43.90 min
6th	Jacky Boxberger	France	3: 46.6 min	3: 46.65 min
7th	Henryk Szordykowski	Poland	3: 46.6 min	3: 46.69 min
8th	Josef Odložil	Czechoslovakia	3: 48.6 min	3: 48.69 min
9	Tom Von Ruden	United States	3: 49.2 min	3: 49.27 min
10	Ben Jipcho	Kenya	3: 51.2 min	3: 51.22 min
11	André Dehertoghe	Belgium	3: 53.6 min	3: 53.63 min
12	Marty Liquori	United States	4: 18.2 min	4: 18.22 min

Date: October 20, 1968, 3:30 p.m.

In particular, the US world record holder Jim Ryun, who fell ill with Pfeiffer glandular fever at the beginning of the year , was the favorite. However, there were concerns about the mountain air of Mexico City . The Kenyan Kipchoge Keino, who lived at heights, was considered his greatest competitor. Another candidate for a medal was European champion Bodo Tümmler, FR Germany, while his compatriot Harald Norpoth, third in the European championship in 1966, after whose problems over 5000 meters was no longer as expected.

The Kenyans Keino and Benjamin Jipcho came up with their own strategy for the final. Jipcho ensured a high pace for Keino from the start in order to prevent Ryun's dreaded final spurt. At first only Norpoth followed him, behind it there was a small gap, but this was soon closed by Tümmler and Keino. Ryun was further back. At 800 meters, Keino took the lead, the two Germans were in the next places and Ryun in the back field. After the third lap, Keino was on a world record course, now well ahead. Bottlenose dolphins and Norpoth followed. Ryun had meanwhile worked his way up to fourth position, the gap to the two Germans was getting smaller. The rest of the field was further back. On the back straight, Ryun passed Norpoth and Tümmler, but had no chance to intercept the unleashed Keino. With a 25 meter lead, Kipchoge Keino won with a new Olympic record ahead of Jim Ryun. Bodo Tümmler won the bronze medal ahead of Harald Norpoth. Such a fast race was never expected by the experts given the altitude.

Kipchoge Keino won the first Kenyan Olympic victory on this route.

Bodo Tümmler won the first medal for the Federal Republic of Germany 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. 342-344.

Video

• Keino v.Ryun.1500m. 1968 Olympic Games, Mexico City , published February 1, 2013 on youtube.com, accessed November 3, 2017

Web links

• SportsReference 1500 m , accessed November 3, 2017
• Official report - summary p. 64 f, (English, French, PDF), accessed on November 3, 2017
• Official report of the 1968 Olympic Games p. 523, (English, French, PDF), accessed on November 3, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009 Page 549 (Engl.) ( Memento of 29 June 2011 at the Internet Archive ), accessed on November 3, 2017.
2. ↑ Official report of the 1968 Olympic Games ( Memento of the original from September 17, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. P. 10 f, (English, French, PDF), accessed on November 3, 2017. 
3. ↑ ^{a b c d} Official Report of the 1968 Olympic Games ( Memento of the original from September 17, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. P. 523, (English, French, PDF), accessed on November 3, 2017. 
4. ↑ SportsReference , accessed November 3, 2017.