2000 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 1500 m (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	1500 meter run
gender	Men
Attendees	41 athletes from 26 countries
Competition location	Stadium Australia
Competition phase	September 25, 2000 (preliminary round) September 27, 2000 (semi-finals) September 29, 2000 (final)
Medalist Noah Ngeny ( KEN )   Hicham El Guerrouj ( MAR )   Bernard Lagat ( KEN )

The men's 1500 meter run at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney was held on September 25, 27 and 29, 2000 at Stadium Australia . 41 athletes took part.

The Kenyan Noah Ngeny became Olympic champion . He won ahead of the Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj and the Kenyan Bernard Lagat .

Athletes from Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein did not take part.

Current title holders

Olympic champion 1996	Noureddine Morceli ( Algeria )	3: 35.78 min	Atlanta 1996
World Champion 1999	Hicham El Guerrouj ( Morocco )	3: 27.65 min	Seville 1999
European champion 1998	Reyes Estévez ( Spain )	3: 41.31 min	Budapest 1998
Pan American Champion 1999	Graham Hood ( Canada )	3: 41.20 min	Winnipeg 1999
Central America and Caribbean champions 1999	Rodolfo Gómez ( Mexico )	3: 46.74 min	Bridgetown 1999
South American Champion 1999	Mauricio Ladino ( Colombia )	3: 49.95 min	Bogotá 1999
Asian champion 2000	Mohamed Suleiman ( Qatar )	3: 52.47 min	Jakarta 2000
African Champion 2000	Youssef Baba ( Morocco )	3: 42.07 min	Algiers 2000
Oceania Champion 2000	Russell Hasu ( Papua New Guinea )	4: 09.58 min	Adelaide 2000

Existing records

World record	3: 26.00 min	Hicham El Guerrouj ( Morocco )	Rome , Italy	July 14, 1998
Olympic record	3: 32.53 min	Sebastian Coe ( Great Britain )	Los Angeles final , USA	August 11, 1984

Note: All times are local Sydney time ( UTC + 10 ).

Preliminary round

A total of three preliminary runs were completed. The first six athletes per run qualified for the semifinals. In addition, the six fastest drivers, the so-called lucky losers , made it through. The directly qualified runners are highlighted in light blue, the lucky losers in light green.

Forward 1

September 25, 2000, 10:40 a.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	Hicham El Guerrouj	Morocco	3: 38.57
2	José Antonio Redolat	Spain	3: 38.66
3	Kamal Boulahfane	Algeria	3: 39.01
4th	John Mayock	Great Britain	3: 39.08
5	Hailu Mekonnen	Ethiopia	3: 39.09
6th	Michael Stember	United States	3: 39.13
7th	Julius Achon	Uganda	3: 39.40
8th	William Chirchir	Kenya	3: 40.22
9	James Nolan	Ireland	3: 40.50
10	Darko Radomirović	Yugoslavia	3: 43.57
11	Nick Howarth	Australia	3: 45.46
12	Branko Zorko	Croatia	3: 46.16
13	Francis Munthali	Malawi	3: 46.34	NO

Forward 2

September 25, 2000, 10:48 a.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	Mehdi Baala	France	3: 40.35
2	Bernard Lagat	Kenya	3: 40.42
3	Juan Carlos Higuero	Spain	3: 40.60
4th	Kevin Sullivan	Canada	3: 40.80
5	Daniel Zegeye	Ethiopia	3: 40.91
6th	Gabriel Jennings	United States	3: 40.96
7th	Adil Kaouch	Morocco	3: 41.06
8th	Mohamed Khaldi	Algeria	3: 41.16
9	Vyatcheslav Shabunin	Russia	3: 41.52
10	Ivan Heschko	Ukraine	3: 41.80
11	Alexis Sharangabo	Rwanda	3: 44.06
12	Chungu Chipako	Zambia	3: 49.79
13	José Luis Ebatela Nvo	Equatorial Guinea	4: 06.14
DNF	Anthony Whiteman	Great Britain

Forward 3

The Portuguese Rui Silva retired as thirteenth of his prelude

September 25, 2000, 10:56 am

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	Noah Ngeny	Kenya	3: 38.03
2	Noureddine Morceli	Algeria	3: 38.41
3	Andrés Manuel Díaz	Spain	3: 38.54
4th	Youssef Baba	Morocco	3: 38.68
5	Berhanu Alemu	Ethiopia	3: 38.79
6th	Driss Maazouzi	France	3: 38.88
7th	Jason Pyrah	United States	3: 38.94
8th	Marko Koers	Netherlands	3: 39.16
9	Mohammed Yagoub	Sudan	3: 39.52
10	Hudson de Souza	Brazil	3: 39.70
11	Andrew Graffin	Great Britain	3: 39.75
12	Ibrahim Mohamed Aden	Somalia	3: 40.33
13	Rui Silva	Portugal	3: 41.93
14th	Sidi Mohamed Ould Bidjel	Mauritania	4: 03.74

Semifinals

In each of the two semi-finals, the first five athletes qualified for the final. In addition, the two 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

September 27, 2000, 6:30 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	Noah Ngeny	Kenya	3: 39.29
2	Kevin Sullivan	Canada	3: 39.66
3	Jason Pyrah	United States	3: 40.04
4th	Youssef Baba	Morocco	3: 40.16
5	Driss Maazouzi	France	3: 40.23
6th	Julius Achon	Uganda	3: 40.32
7th	Hailu Mekonnen	Ethiopia	3: 49.92
8th	Hudson de Souza	Brazil	3: 41.00
9	Michael Stember	United States	3: 42.30
10	Andrew Graffin	Great Britain	3: 42.72
11	José Antonio Redolat	Spain	3: 45.46
12	Noureddine Morceli	Algeria	4: 00.78

Run 2

September 27, 2000, 6:40 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	Hicham El Guerrouj	Morocco	3: 37.60
2	Bernard Lagat	Kenya	3: 37.84
3	Daniel Zegeye	Ethiopia	3: 38.08
4th	Mehdi Baala	France	3: 38.15
5	Juan Carlos Higuero	Spain	3: 38.37
6th	Andrés Manuel Díaz	Spain	3: 38.41
7th	John Mayock	Great Britain	3: 38.68
8th	Marko Koers	Netherlands	3: 39.42
9	Gabriel Jennings	United States	3: 40.10
10	Berhanu Alemu	Ethiopia	3: 41.09
11	Kamal Boulahfane	Algeria	3: 43.98
12	Mohammed Yagoub	Sudan	3: 50.60

• 

  The Brazilian semi-finalist Hudson de Souza finished eighth in his semi-final run and was eliminated

• 

  The Ethiopian Hailu Mekonnen reached the semi-finals and was eliminated there in seventh place of his run

• 

  The Dutchman Marko Koers was eliminated as eighth of his semi-final run

final

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	Noah Ngeny	Kenya	3: 32.07	OR
2	Hicham El Guerrouj	Morocco	3: 32.32
3	Bernard Lagat	Kenya	3: 32.44
4th	Mehdi Baala	France	3: 34.14
5	Kevin Sullivan	Canada	3: 35.50
6th	Daniel Zegeye	Ethiopia	3: 36.78
7th	Andrés Manuel Díaz	Spain	3: 37.27
8th	Juan Carlos Higuero	Spain	3: 38.91
9	John Mayock	Great Britain	3: 39.41
10	Jason Pyrah	United States	3: 39.84
11	Driss Maazouzi	France	3: 45.46
12	Youssef Baba	Morocco	3: 56.08

September 29, 2000, 8:00 p.m.

Two Spaniards, two French, two Kenyans and two Moroccans had qualified for the final. The starting field was completed by one participant each from Ethiopia, Canada, the USA and Great Britain.

The clear favorite was the Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj, the reigning world champion and world record holder . Its main competitors came mainly from Kenya. The Kenyan runner-up world champion Noah Ngeny was particularly important, as was his compatriot Bernard Lagat. Three runners from Spain had strongly come up trumps at the last World Championships in third, four and five of them, however, was only the World Cup -Fünfte Andrés Manuel Díaz here in Sydney it. With good performances in the Olympic season, the Frenchman Mehdi Baala had also gotten into the conversation.

The final race was approached very quickly. The Moroccan Youssef Baba set the pace for his compatriot El Guerrouj. The 400 meter split was 54.14 s, which was even a world record. The two leading Moroccans and the two Kenyans Ngeny and Lagat had separated a little. However, it was now a lot slower. The 800 meter transit time was 1: 54.77 minutes, so the second lap was run in 60.63 seconds. The field was now closed again. In the third round, Baba dropped back. El Guerrouj took over the lead and now accelerated the pace again. The field then fell apart into smaller groups. At the start of the last lap, El Guerrouj continued to dictate the pace, with the two Kenyans and Baala following him. There was already a clear gap behind it. At 1200 meters with an intermediate time of 2: 51.67 minutes it looked the same. The third lap was covered in 56.90 s. At the end of the target curve the order was still the same, the four runners in front had a large lead. On the home stretch, Ngeny attacked the Moroccan and ran over him. Noah Ngeny won the race quite surprisingly and set a new Olympic record - 3: 32.07 min. Behind Hicham El Guerrouj, Bernard Lagat came third in front of Mehdi Baala, who was unable to follow the three medal winners in the last hundred meters. El Guerrouj and Lagat were also faster than the previous Olympic record. The Canadian Kevin Sullivan and the Ethiopian Daniel Zegeye finished fifth and sixth in that order.

After the 1992 Games in Barcelona , it was the second time that the clear favorite over 1500 meters could not become Olympic champion. In Barcelona, ​​Algerian Noureddine Morceli fared even worse than Hicham El Guerrouj is now. Morceli had to be content with seventh place. Four years later in Atlanta , however, the Algerian won his gold medal after all. Here, too, there is a parallel to El Guerrouj, who should win not only the 1500 but also the 5000 meter run at the upcoming 2004 games in Athens .

• 

  Silver medalist
  Hicham El Guerrouj from Morocco

• 

  Bronze medalist
  Bernard Lagat, Kenya

• 

  The French Olympic champion
  Mehdi Baala

• 

  The Spaniard Juan Carlos Higuero
  finished eighth in the final

• 

  The Olympic
  twelfth Youssef Baba, Morocco

Web links

• SportsReference 1500 m , accessed March 20, 2018
• Results on the IAAF website , accessed March 20, 2018
• Official Report of the XXVIIth Olympiad, Results , English / French (PDF, 17,708 MB), accessed on March 20, 2018

Video

• 1500m final sydney olympics , published July 8, 2008 on youtube.com, accessed March 20, 2018

Individual evidence

1. ^ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Beijing 2015, page 670 , accessed on March 20, 2018