1988 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 3000 m obstacle (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	3000 meter obstacle course
gender	Men
Attendees	32 athletes from 24 countries
Competition location	Seoul Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	September 26, 1988 (preliminary round) September 28, 1988 (semi-finals) September 30, 1988 (final)
Medalist Julius Kariuki ( KEN )   Peter Koech ( KEN )   Mark Rowland ( GBR )

The men's 3000 meter obstacle course at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul was held on September 26, 28 and 30, 1988 in the Seoul Olympic Stadium. 32 athletes took part.

The Kenyan Julius Kariuki became Olympic champion . He won ahead of his compatriot Peter Koech and the British Mark Rowland .

Jens Volkmann started for the Federal Republic of Germany, who was eliminated in the semifinals. Hagen Melzer , who
started for the GDR, reached the finals and was tenth there. Runners from Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein did not take part.

Current title holders

Olympic champion 1984	Julius Korir ( Kenya )	8: 11.80 min	Los Angeles 1984
World Champion 1987	Francesco Panetta ( Italy )	8: 08.57 min	Rome 1987
European champion 1986	Hagen Melzer ( GDR )	8: 16.65 min	Stuttgart 1986
Pan American champion 1987	Adauto Domingues ( Brazil )	8: 23.26 min	Indianapolis 1987
Central America and Caribbean Champion 1987	Juan Ramón Conde ( Cuba )	8: 42.38 min	Caracas 1987
South America Champion 1987	Emilio Ulloa ( Chile )	8: 51.41 min	São Paulo 1987
Asian champion 1987	Masashi Otokita ( Japan )	9: 04.21 min	Singapore 1987
African Champion 1988	Azzedine Brahmi ( Algeria )	8: 26.56 min	Annaba 1988

Existing records

World record	8: 05.4 min	Henry Rono ( Kenya )	Seattle , USA	May 13, 1978
Olympic record	8: 08.02 min	Anders Gärderud ( Sweden )	Final of Montreal , Canada	July 28, 1976

Preliminary round

Date: September 26, 1988

The athletes competed in a total of three heats. The first seven athletes per run qualified for the semifinals. In addition, the following five fastest times, the so-called lucky losers , advanced. The directly qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue, the lucky losers in light green.

Forward 1

The Dutchman Johannes Koeleman reached the semi-finals and was eliminated there as eighth of his run

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Raymond Pannier	France	8: 30.94 min
2	Mark Rowland	Great Britain	8: 31.40 min
3	Peter Koech	Kenya	8: 31.66 min
4th	Alessandro Lambruschini	Italy	8: 32.59 min
5	Adauto domingues	Brazil	8: 32.77 min
6th	Henry Marsh	United States	8: 33.89 min
7th	Johannes Koeleman	Netherlands	8: 35.20 min
8th	Héctor Begeo	Philippines	8: 46.60 min
9	Ramón López	Paraguay	8: 56.06 min
10	Davendra Prakash Singh	Fiji	9: 23.50 min
DSQ	Abdelaziz Sahere	Morocco

Forward 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Francesco Panetta	Italy	8: 29.75 min
2	Julius Kariuki	Kenya	8: 33.42 min
3	Azzedine Brahmi	Algeria	8: 35.59 min
4th	Brian Diemer	United States	8: 38.40 min
5	Edison Wedderburn	Great Britain	8: 38.90 min
6th	Bogusław Mamiński	Poland	8: 45.72 min
7th	Graeme fur	Canada	8: 51.25 min
8th	Cha Han-sik	South Korea	8: 59.82 min
9	Ikaji Salom	Tanzania	9: 10.36 min
DNF	Emilio Ulloa	Chile
DNS	Bela Vago	Hungary

Forward 3

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Patrick Sang	Kenya	8: 36.11 min
2	Jens Volkmann	BR Germany	8: 36.37 min
3	Hagen Melzer	GDR	8: 36.45 min
4th	Brian Abshire	United States	8: 36.56 min
5	William Van Dijck	Belgium	8: 36.80 min
6th	Bruno Le Stum	France	8: 36.95 min
7th	Fethi Baccouche	Tunisia	8: 38.67 min
8th	Roger Hackney	Great Britain	8: 39.30 min
9	Brendan Quinn	Ireland	8: 40.87 min
10	Mohamed Barak Al-Dosari	Saudi Arabia	8: 45.25 min
11	Abdullah Al-Doseri	Bahrain	9: 10.85 min

Semifinals

Date: September 28, 1988

The first five athletes of each run qualified for the final. In addition, the three fastest times, the so-called lucky losers , made it through. The directly qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue, the lucky losers in light green.

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	William Van Dijck	Belgium	8: 15.63 min
2	Peter Koech	Kenya	8: 15.68 min
3	Hagen Melzer	GDR	8: 16.27 min
4th	Patrick Sang	Kenya	8: 16.70 min
5	Francesco Panetta	Italy	8: 17.23 min
6th	Bogusław Mamiński	Poland	8: 18.28 min
7th	Henry Marsh	United States	8: 18.94 min
8th	Johannes Koeleman	Netherlands	8: 21.86 min
9	Bruno Le Stum	France	8: 26.69 min
10	Edison Wedderburn	Great Britain	8: 28.62 min
11	Adauto domingues	Brazil	8: 35.05 min
12	Héctor Begeo	Philippines	8: 35.09 min
DNF	Roger Hackney	Great Britain

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Azzedine Brahmi	Algeria	8: 16.54 min
2	Alessandro Lambruschini	Italy	8: 16.92 min
3	Mark Rowland	Great Britain	8: 18.31 min
4th	Julius Kariuki	Kenya	8: 18.53 min
5	Raymond Pannier	France	8: 19.39 min
6th	Graeme fur	Canada	8: 19.99 min
7th	Brian Diemer	United States	8: 23.89 min
8th	Jens Volkmann	BR Germany	8: 25.19 min
9	Brian Abshire	United States	8: 27.78 min
10	Fethi Baccouche	Tunisia	8: 31.36 min
11	Brendan Quinn	Ireland	8: 43.34 min
12	Mohamed Barak Al-Dosari	Saudi Arabia	8: 44.22 min
13	Ramón López	Paraguay	8: 52.62 min

final

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Julius Kariuki	Kenya	8: 05.51 min	OR
2	Peter Koech	Kenya	8: 06.79 min
3	Mark Rowland	Great Britain	8: 07.96 min
4th	Alessandro Lambruschini	Italy	8: 12.17 min
5	William Van Dijck	Belgium	8: 13.99 min
6th	Henry Marsh	United States	8: 14.39 min
7th	Patrick Sang	Kenya	8: 15.22 min
8th	Bogusław Mamiński	Poland	8: 15.97 min
9	Francesco Panetta	Italy	8: 17.79 min
10	Hagen Melzer	GDR	8: 19.82 min
11	Graeme fur	Canada	8: 21.73 min
12	Raymond Pannier	France	8: 23.80 min
13	Azzedine Brahmi	Algeria	8: 26.68 min

Date: September 30, 1988

The trio of Kenyans and a duo from Italy qualified for the final. The starting field was completed by one participant each from Great Britain, the GDR, the USA, Algeria, Belgium, France, Canada and Poland.

The favorites were the three Kenyans Peter Koech, Julius Kariuki and Patrick Sang as well as the Italian world champion Francesco Panetta.

In the final race, Panetta took the lead right from the start and set a high, world-record-breaking pace. The 1000 meter transit time was 2: 42.51 minutes. The field was still more or less together, but due to the fast pace it was a little bit apart. There was hardly any position fights. In second place was Belgian William Van Dijck, behind him the two Kenyans Kariuki and Koech and European champion Hagen Melzer from the GDR. After 1500 meters Melzer fell back, now the Briton Mark Rowland was fifth. The 2000-meter split was 5: 27.88 minutes, it had only become slightly slower. However, Panetta at the front could no longer keep up the high pace. At the front a seven-man leadership group had formed, which was now pushing together a little. With two laps to go, Kariuki took the initiative and passed Panetta; Koech followed him immediately. The Italian was at the end of his tether and was passed through the field to ninth place. Rowland was now third. There was a gap behind him and the three runners in front continued to pull away. In the last lap Kariuki tightened, his pursuers could not keep up with his sprint pace. There was also a gap between Koech and Rowland, the medals were as good as distributed at the beginning of the home stretch. Julius Kariuki ran to the Olympic victory and missed the ten-year-old world record of his compatriot Henry Rono by only eleven hundredths of a second. More than a second after Kariuki, Koech finished second. The bronze medal went to Mark Rowland. Four and a half seconds behind, the Italian Alessandro Lambruschini followed in fourth ahead of William Van Dijck and the American Henry Marsh.

Julius Korir won the fourth gold medal for Kenya in this discipline. Kenya caught up with Finland, which had four Olympic victories between 1924 and 1936 . Both Finnish and Kenyan runners had won three silver medals so far. Only two bronze medals put the Finns ahead of Kenya in the medal ranking of this discipline.

Web links

• SportsReference 3000 m obstacle , accessed January 25, 2018
• Official report on the Olympic Games in Seoul Volume two, part two , athletics results: p. 230f, English / French (PDF, 25.64 MB), accessed on January 25, 2018

Video

• 3000m Steeplechase Final - 1988 , published November 10, 2011 on youtube.com, accessed January 25, 2018

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Beijing 2015, page 674 , accessed on January 24, 2018
2. ↑ Official report on the Olympic Games in Seoul Volume two, part two , athletics results: p. 230f, English / French (PDF, 25.64 MB), accessed on January 24, 2018
3. ↑ ^{a b} Official report on the Olympic Games in Seoul, volume two, part two , athletics results: p. 231, English / French (PDF, 25.64 MB), accessed on January 24, 2018