2016 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 1500 m (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	1500 meter run
gender	Men
Attendees	43 athletes from 28 countries
Competition location	Estádio Nilton Santos
Competition phase	August 16, 2016 (preliminary) August 18, 2016 (semi-finals) August 20, 2016 (final)
Medalist Matthew Centrowitz ( USA )   Taoufik Makhloufi ( ALG )   Nick Willis ( NZL )

The men's 1500 meter run at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro was held on August 16, 18 and 20, 2016 at the Estádio Nilton Santos . 43 athletes took part.

The US-American Matthew Centrowitz became Olympic champion . He won ahead of the Algerian Taoufik Makhloufi and the New Zealander Nick Willis .

Homiyu Tesfaye started for Germany and was eliminated in the semifinals.
Athletes from Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein did not take part.

In this competition, the South Sudanese Paulo Amotun started under the Olympic flag and the abbreviation ROT (Refugee Olympic Team) as an athlete who had fled his home country.

Current title holders

Olympic champion	Taoufik Makhloufi ( Algeria )	3: 34.08 min	London 2012
World Champion	Asbel Kiprop ( Kenya )	3: 34.40 min	Beijing 2015
European champion	Filip Ingebrigtsen ( Norway )	3: 46.65 min	Amsterdam 2016
North / Central America / Caribbean champions	Andrew Wheating ( USA )	3: 45.08 min	San José 2015
South America champion	Carlos Díaz ( Chile )	3: 40.79 min	Lima 2015
Asian champion	Mohamad Al-Garni ( Qatar )	3: 41.42 min	Wuhan 2015
African champions	Fouad El Kaam ( Morocco )	3: 39.49 min	Durban 2016
Oceania Champion	Sam Russell ( Australia )	4: 05.76 min	Cairns 2015

Existing records

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

Note: All times are based on Rio local time ( UTC-3 ).

Preliminary round

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

Forward 1

Scene from the first run:
Centrowitz in the lead, followed by Philibert-Thiboutot and Matthews, André and Kenyi, followed by Elkaam, Bustos, Gregson Al-Zaabi, O'Hare, Souleiman and Kiprop

As tenth of the first heat, the Frenchman Florian Carvalho did not reach the semifinals

August 16, 2016, 10:30 a.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	Asbel Kiprop	Kenya	3: 38.97
2	Ryan Gregson	Australia	3: 39.13
3	Ayanleh Souleiman	Djibouti	3: 39.25
4th	Chris O'Hare	Great Britain	3: 39.26
5	Matthew Centrowitz	United States	3: 39.31
6th	Fouad Elkaam	Morocco	3: 39.51
7th	David Bustos	Spain	3: 39.73
8th	Charles Philibert-Thiboutot	Canada	3: 40.04
9	Julian Matthews	New Zealand	3: 40.40
10	Florian Carvalho	France	3: 41.87
11	Thiago André	Brazil	3: 44.42
12	Santino Kenyi	South Sudan	3: 45.27	NO
13	Saud Al-Zaabi	United Arab Emirates	4: 02.35
DNS	Aman Wote	Ethiopia

Forward 2

Scene from the second run:
Makhloufi and Manangoi in the lead in front of Kaazouzi, Andrews and Tesfaye, behind them Brannen, Grice, Mechaal, Mouhyadin, Gebremedhin and Carson

August 16, 2016, 10:39 am

The reigning European champion Filip Ingebrigtsen from Norway was disqualified due to disability. The disadvantaged athletes, Homiyu Tesfaye from Germany and the Briton Charlie Grice, were admitted to the semi-finals in addition to the fastest.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	Taoufik Makhloufi	Algeria	3: 46.82
2	Elijah Manangoi	Kenya	3: 46.83
3	Robert Andrews	United States	3: 46.97
4th	Nathan Brannen	Canada	3: 47.07
5	Mekonnen Gebremedhin	Ethiopia	3: 47.33
6th	Brahim Kaazouzi	Morocco	3: 47.39
7th	Homiyu Tesfaye	Germany	3: 47.44	admitted to the semifinals
8th	Hamish Carson	New Zealand	3: 48.18
9	Nobility Mechaal	Spain	3: 48.41
10	Charlie Grice	Great Britain	3: 48.51	admitted to the semifinals
11	Paulo Amotun	Refugee Olympic Team	4: 03.96	Country of origin: South Sudan
12	Augusto Ramos Soares	East Timor	4: 11.35
DNF	Abdi Waiss Mouhyadin	Djibouti
DSQ	Filip Ingebrigtsen	Norway		IAAF Rule 163.2 - Disability

• 

  Augusto Ramos Soares from East Timor was eliminated in twelfth place in the second heat

• 

  The Norwegian European champion Filip Ingebrigtsen was disqualified because of handicap

Forward 3

The Turk İlham Tanui Özbilen was thirteenth in his prelude and was eliminated

August 16, 2016, 10:48 am

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	Jakub Holuša	Czech Republic	3: 38.31
2	Ronald Kwemoi	Kenya	3: 38.33
3	Abdalaati Iguider	Morocco	3: 38.40
4th	Ronald Musagala	Uganda	3: 38.45
5	Henrik Ingebrigtsen	Norway	3: 38.50
6th	Nick Willis	New Zealand	3: 38.55
7th	Benson Seurei	Bahrain	3: 38.82
8th	Pieter-Jan Hannes	Belgium	3: 38.89
9	Ben Blankenship	United States	3: 38.92
10	Dawit Wolde	Ethiopia	3: 39.29
11	Salim Keddar	Algeria	3: 40.63
12	Luke Mathews	Australia	3: 44.51
13	İlham Tanui Özbilen	Turkey	3: 49.02
14th	Mohammed Rageh	Yemen	3: 58.99
15th	Erick Rodríguez	Nicaragua	4: 00.30

Semifinals

The semifinals were held in two runs. The first five athletes per race qualified for the 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 18, 2016, 8:45 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	Asbel Kiprop	Kenya	3: 39.73
2	Taoufik Makhloufi	Algeria	3: 39.88
3	Nick Willis	New Zealand	3: 39.96
4th	Ben Blankenship	United States	3: 39.99
5	Charlie Grice	Great Britain	3: 40.05
6th	Abdalaati Iguider	Morocco	3: 40.11
7th	Nathan Brannen	Canada	3: 40.20
8th	Benson Seurei	Bahrain	3: 40.53
9	Jakub Holuša	Czech Republic	3: 40.83
10	Dawit Wolde	Ethiopia	3: 41.42
11	Henrik Ingebrigtsen	Norway	3: 42.51
12	Pieter-Jan Hannes	Belgium	3: 43.71
13	Brahim Kaazouzi	Morocco	3: 48.66

• 

  Ninth place in the first semi-final was not enough for the Czech Jakub Holuša to advance

• 

  The Ethiopian Dawit Wolde was eliminated in this lap as tenth in his semi-final race

• 

  The Norwegian Henrik Ingebrigtsen did not reach the finals with eleventh place in his semifinals

• 

  The Belgian Pieter-Jan Hannes was eliminated in twelfth place in his semi-final run

Run 2

August 18, 2016, 8:55 pm

The US athlete Robert Andrews was disqualified for disqualifying another runner. The disabled Spaniard David Bustos was wildcarded for the final.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	Ronald Kwemoi	Kenya	3: 39.42
2	Ayanleh Souleiman	Djibouti	3: 39.46
3	Matthew Centrowitz	United States	3: 39.61
4th	Ryan Gregson	Australia	3: 40.02
5	Ronald Musagala	Uganda	3: 40.37
6th	Mekonnen Gebremedhin	Ethiopia	3: 40.69
7th	Homiyu Tesfaye	Germany	3: 40.76
8th	Charles Philibert-Thiboutot	Canada	3: 40.79
9	Fouad Elkaam	Morocco	3: 40.93
10	Chris O'Hare	Great Britain	3: 44.27
11	David Bustos	Spain	3: 56.54	Wildcard for the final
DSQ	Robert Andrews	United States		IAAF Rule 163.4 - Disability
DNS	Elijah Manangoi	Kenya		Thigh injury

• 

  The Ethiopian Mekonnen Gebremedhin should have been better by one place for a final qualification

• 

  The German Homiyu Tesfaye failed as seventh of his run in the semifinals

• 

  The Briton Chris O'Hare reached tenth place in his semi-finals and was eliminated

• 

  The American Robert Andrews was disqualified for disability

• 

  The Kenyan Elijah Manangoi could not compete in the semi-finals due to a thigh injury

final

August 20, 2016, 9 p.m.

Two Kenyans and two Americans each qualified. There was also one participant each from Algeria, Australia, Djibouti, Great Britain, Canada, Morocco, New Zealand, Spain and Uganda.

Asbel Kiprop from Kenya, who won the gold medal in Beijing in 2008 , was the favorite of the year and reigning world champion Asbel Kiprop from Kenya . His compatriots Ronald Kwemoi and Elijah Manangoi, number three on the world's best list of the year, were also among the other favorites. But Manangoi had not been able to compete in the semi-finals due to a thigh injury. In the final, the two Kenyans faced the 2012 Olympic champion Taoufik Makhloufi from Algeria, fourth on the world's best list of the year, who had already won the silver medal over 800 meters . The 800-meter final, however, only took place one day before the heats. Other promising candidates were number five and six on the year's best list, Abdalaati Iguider from Morocco and Ayanleh Souleiman from Djibouti, who also had the 800-meter race under their feet.

The final race started very slowly. The two US runners Matthew Centrowitz and Ben Blankenship took over the leadership work together with the Spaniard David Bustos. Kiprop, Makhloufi and Souleiman were at the end of the field. The 400-meter split was 1: 06.83 min. During the second lap, New Zealander Nick Willis moved forward while Blankenship dropped back. The second four hundred meters were even slower than the first at 1: 09.76 minutes. Shortly before the start of the third lap, Kiprop took the lead. A collision occurred between Souleiman and Kwemoi, in which Kwemoi fell but was able to continue the race. The pace of the race was still so slow that the Kenyan was able to catch up with the field again in a short time, but it had still cost his strength.

Souleiman now took the initiative and attacked the now leading Centrowitz, but the US athlete fended off the attack. Shortly before the home stretch of the third lap, Souleiman passed Centrowitz after all, the pace was only slightly faster - third lap: 1: 05.41 min. Centrowitz immediately took the lead again.

When the last lap started, Makhloufi was on the heels of the American, but stayed in his slipstream. Centrowitz was ahead on the back straight. He was followed by Kiprop, Iguider and Makhloufi, followed by Willis and Souleiman. Iguider and Kiprop fell back. Now Willis came forward and left Souleiman behind. After these very cautious first 1200 meters, the field was close together and the exit was open. Finally Matt Centrowitz prevailed with a strong final sprint and won the gold medal in front of Taoufik Makhloufi and Nick Willis, who narrowly beat Ayanleh Souleiman. Abdalaati Iguider followed in fifth. Asbel Kiprop had to be content with sixth place. David Bustos finished seventh ahead of Ben Blankenship.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	Matthew Centrowitz	United States	3: 50.00
2	Taoufik Makhloufi	Algeria	3: 50.11
3	Nick Willis	New Zealand	3: 50.24
4th	Ayanleh Souleiman	Djibouti	3: 50.29
5	Abdalaati Iguider	Morocco	3: 50.58
6th	Asbel Kiprop	Kenya	3: 50.87
7th	David Bustos	Spain	3: 51.06
8th	Ben Blankenship	United States	3: 51.09
9	Ryan Gregson	Australia	3: 51.39
10	Nathan Brannen	Canada	3: 51.45
11	Ronald Musagala	Uganda	3: 51.68
12	Charlie Grice	Great Britain	3: 51.73
13	Ronald Kwemoi	Kenya	3: 56.76

• 

  Olympic Champion:
  Matthew Centrowitz, USA

• 

  Silver medal winner:
  Taoufik Makhloufi from Algeria

• 

  Bronze Medal Winner:
  Nick Willis, New Zealand

• 

  Ayanleh Souleiman from Djibouti took fourth place in the final

• 

  The Moroccan Abdalaati Iguider came in fifth

• 

  The Kenyan Asbel Kiprop was sixth in the Olympics

• 

  The American Ben Blankenship came in eighth

• 

  Australian Olympic contestant Ryan Gregson

• 

  The Canadian Nathan Brannen came in tenth place

• 

  The Briton Charles Grice reached number twelve

Web links

• Results Book Rio 2016, official report at library.olympic.org, accessed October 1, 2018
• Results on the website of the IAAF World Athletics Federation (English), accessed on October 1, 2018
• Sports-Reference, result 1500 m men (English), accessed on October 1, 2018

Video

• Nick Willis wins Bronze at Rio 2016 on youtube.com, published November 8, 2016, accessed October 1, 2018

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Beijing 2015, page 670 (English) , accessed on October 1, 2018
2. ↑ ^{a b c} IAAF competition rules, page 73/74 , accessed on October 1, 2018