2004 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 1500 m (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	1500 meter run
gender	Men
Attendees	38 athletes from 27 countries
Competition location	Athens Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	August 20, 2004 (preliminary round) ; August 22, 2004 (semi-finals) ; August 24, 2004 (final)
	Medalist
	Hicham El Guerrouj ( MAR )
	Bernard Lagat ( KEN )
	Rui Silva ( POR )

The men's 1500 meter run at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens was held on August 20, 22 and 24, 2004 in the Athens Olympic Stadium. 38 athletes took part.

The Olympic champion was the Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj . He won ahead of the Kenyan Bernard Lagat and the Portuguese Rui Silva .

The German participant Wolfram Müller was eliminated in the preliminary round.
Athletes from Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein did not take part.

Title holder

Olympic Champion 2000	Noah Ngeny ( Kenya ) Kenya	3: 32.07 min	Sydney 2000
World Champion 2003	Hicham El Guerrouj ( Morocco ) Morocco	3: 31.77 min	Paris 2003
European Champion 2002	Mehdi Baala ( France ) France	3: 45.25 min	Munich 2002
Pan American Champion 2003	Hudson de Souza ( Brazil ) Brazil	3: 45.72 min	Santo Domingo 2003
Central America and Caribbean champions 2003	Juan Luis Barrios ( Mexico ) Mexico	3: 44.78 min	St. George’s 2003
South American Champion 2003	Fabiano Peçanha ( Brazil ) Brazil	3: 39.74 min	Barquisimeto 2003
Asian champion 2003	Rashid Ramzi ( Bahrain ) Bahrain	3: 41.66 min	Manila 2003
African champion 2004	Paul Korir ( Kenya ) Kenya	3: 39.48 min	Brazzaville 2004
Oceania Champion 2002	Gareth Hyett ( New Zealand ) New Zealand	3: 53.64 min	Christchurch 2002

Existing records

World record	3: 26.00 min	Hicham El Guerrouj ( Morocco ) Morocco	Rome , Italy	July 14, 1998
Olympic record	3: 32.07 min	Noah Ngeny ( Kenya ) Kenya	Sydney final , Australia	September 29, 2000

Note: All times are based on Athens local time ( UTC + 2 ).

Preliminary round

A total of three preliminary runs were completed. The first five athletes per run qualified for the semifinals. In addition, the nine fastest times, 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

August 20, 2004, 7:40 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	Hicham El Guerrouj	Morocco Morocco	3: 37.86
2	Rui Silva	Portugal Portugal	3: 37.98
3	Álvaro Fernández	Spain Spain	3: 38.34
4th	Kamal Boulahfane	Algeria Algeria	3: 38.59
5	Isaac Songok	Kenya Kenya	3: 38.89
6th	Kevin Sullivan	Canada Canada	3: 39.30
7th	Michal Šneberger	Czech Republic Czech Republic	3: 39.68
8th	James Nolan	Ireland Ireland	3: 41.14
9	Wolfram Müller	Germany Germany	3: 46.75
10	Mounir Yemmouni	France France	3: 51.08
11	Grant Robison	United States United States	3: 53.66	Qualified for the semi-finals by wildcard
12	Roberto Mandje	Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea	4: 03.37	NO
DNS	Peter Roko Ashak	Sudan Sudan

Forward 2

The American Alan Webb was eliminated in ninth place in his run

August 20, 2004, 7:48 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Reyes Estévez	Spain Spain	3: 39.71
2	Bernard Lagat	Kenya Kenya	3: 39.80
3	Nick Willis	New Zealand New Zealand	3: 39.80
4th	Adil Kaouch	Morocco Morocco	3: 39.88
5	Mulugeta Wendimu	Ethiopia 1996 Ethiopia	3: 39.96
6th	Gert-Jan Liefers	Netherlands Netherlands	3: 40.10
7th	Hudson de Souza	Brazil Brazil	3: 40.78
8th	Johan Cronje	South Africa South Africa	3: 40.99
9	Alan Webb	United States United States	3: 41.25
10	Alexander Krivtschonkov	Russia Russia	3: 41.37
11	Abdulrahman Suleiman	Qatar Qatar	3: 42.00
12	Mohamed Khaldi	Algeria Algeria	3: 42.47
13	Mehdi Baala	France France	3: 46.06

Forward 3

August 20, 2004, 7:56 pm

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Michael East	United Kingdom Great Britain	3: 37.37
2	Timothy Kiptanui	Kenya Kenya	3: 37.71
3	Ivan Heschko	Ukraine Ukraine	3: 37.78
4th	Rashid Ramzi	Bahrain Bahrain	3: 37.93
5	Tarek Boukensa	Algeria Algeria	3: 37.94
6th	Juan Carlos Higuero	Spain Spain	3: 38.36
7th	Youssef Baba	Morocco Morocco	3: 38.71
8th	Manuel Damião	Portugal Portugal	3: 39.94
9	Charles Gruber	United States United States	3: 41.73
10	Branko Zorko	Croatia Croatia	3: 48.28
11	Dou Zhaobo	China People's Republic People's Republic of China	3: 50.28
12	Neil Weare	Guam Guam	4: 05.86
13	Jimmy Anak Ahar	Brunei Brunei	4: 14.11
DNS	Samwel Mwera	Tanzania Tanzania

Semifinals

The first five athletes qualified for the final in the two semi-finals. In addition, the two fastest times, the so-called lucky losers , made it through. The directly qualified runners are highlighted in light blue, the lucky losers in light green.

Run 1

August 22, 2004, 9:50 pm

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Adil Kaouch	Morocco Morocco	3: 35.69
2	Bernard Lagat	Kenya Kenya	3: 35.84
3	Gert-Jan Liefers	Netherlands Netherlands	3: 36.00
4th	Reyes Estévez	Spain Spain	3: 36.05
5	Ivan Heschko	Ukraine Ukraine	3: 36.20
6th	Michael East	United Kingdom Great Britain	3: 36.46
7th	Isaac Songok	Kenya Kenya	3: 37.10
8th	Manuel Damião	Portugal Portugal	3: 37.17
9	Hudson de Souza	Brazil Brazil	3: 38.83
10	James Nolan	Ireland Ireland	3: 42.61
11	Rashid Ramzi	Bahrain Bahrain	3: 44.60
12	Grant Robison	United States United States	3: 47.03
DNF	Tarek Boukensa	Algeria Algeria

Run 2

August 22, 2004, 10:01 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Hicham El Guerrouj	Morocco Morocco	3: 40.87
2	Rui Silva	Portugal Portugal	3: 40.99
3	Timothy Kiptanui	Kenya Kenya	3: 41.04
4th	Mulugeta Wendimu	Ethiopia 1996 Ethiopia	3: 41.14
5	Camel Boulahfane	Algeria Algeria	3: 41.27
6th	Nick Willis	New Zealand New Zealand	3: 41.46
7th	Álvaro Fernández	Spain Spain	3: 42.01
8th	Juan Carlos Higuero	Spain Spain	3: 42.13
9	Kevin Sullivan	Canada Canada	3: 42.86
10	Youssef Baba	Morocco Morocco	3: 42.96
11	Johan Cronje	South Africa South Africa	3: 44.41
12	Michal Šneberger	Czech Republic Czech Republic	3: 47.03

The Portuguese Manuel Damião finished eighth in his semi-final run and was eliminated
The Brazilian Hudson de Souza did not reach the final by finishing ninth in his semi-final race
Rashid Ramzi from Bahrain was eliminated as eleventh of his run in the semi-finals
The Algerian Tarek Boukensa gave up his semi-final race and was eliminated
New Zealander Nick Willis reached sixth place in his semi-final and was eliminated
As eighth in his semifinals, Juan Carlos Higuero from Spain did not make it into the final
The Moroccan Youssef Baba finished tenth in his semifinals and was eliminated
The South African Johan Cronje did not reach the final as eleventh of his semi-final run

final

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Hicham El Guerrouj	Morocco Morocco	3: 34.19
2	Bernard Lagat	Kenya Kenya	3: 34.30
3	Rui Silva	Portugal Portugal	3: 34.68
4th	Timothy Kiptanui	Kenya Kenya	3: 35.61
5	Ivan Heschko	Ukraine Ukraine	3: 35.82
6th	Michael East	United Kingdom Great Britain	3: 36.33
7th	Reyes Estévez	Spain Spain	3: 36.63
8th	Gert-Jan Liefers	Netherlands Netherlands	3: 37.17
9	Adil Kaouch	Morocco Morocco	3: 38.26
10	Mulugeta Wendimu	Ethiopia 1996 Ethiopia	3: 38.33
11	Kamal Boulahfane	Algeria Algeria	3: 39.02
12	Isaac Songok	Kenya Kenya	3: 41.72

August 24, 2004, 11:40 pm

Three Kenyans and two Moroccans qualified for the final. The final field was completed by one starter each from Algeria, Ethiopia, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Ukraine and Great Britain.

As four times ago, the favorite was the Moroccan world champion and world record holder Hicham El Guerrouj. In Sydney he had to be satisfied with the silver medal. The Kenyan Bernard Lagat, vice world champion in 2001, was seen as his strongest opponent . Other medal candidates were the 2003 European champion and runner-up world champion Mehdi Baala from France, who, however, was completely indisposed to be the last of his prelims to retire , and the strong third -party World Cup Iwan Heschko from Ukraine. Rui da Silva from Portugal, Reyes Estévez from Spain and the Dutchman Gert-Jan Liefers, who were placed after Heschko at the last World Championships, also started with prospects for top positions.

The field was initially tightly packed in the final, the starting pace was rather leisurely with a 400-meter intermediate time of 1: 00.42 min. Hardly anything changed in the second lap either, the second 400 meter section was completed in 1: 01.51 minutes. However, El Guerrouj was now in the lead and gradually increased the pace so that the field of runners spread apart. Now the race was getting faster and faster. Lagat took second place, with the Ethiopian Mulugeta Wendimu third, ahead of Heschko and Estévez. The Moroccan kept the pace extremely high, the third lap was covered in an almost unbelievable 53.28 s. Wendimu soon fell behind and there was a clear gap to the fourth Estévez. On the back straight, Silva came forward from behind and passed Estévez. In the finish curve and at the beginning of the home straight Lagat attacked the leading El Guerrouj, while Silva ran past Heschko into third place. However, there was already a clear gap between the two leaders. In the last hundred meters Lagat and El Guerrouj were next to each other, but in the end Hicham El Guerrouj narrowly prevailed and was able to celebrate the hoped-for Olympic victory. Bernard Lagat was only eleven hundredths of a second behind at the finish. Rui Silva crossed the finish line in third place, with Kenyan Timothy Kiptanui fourth, ahead of Briton Michael East and Reyes Estévez. Gert-Jan Liefers came in eighth.

Hicham El Guerrouj was the first Moroccan Olympic champion in the men's 1500 meters .

Rui Silva won the first Portuguese medal in this discipline.