Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's 1500 metres

The men's 1500 metres competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom, was held at the Olympic Stadium on 3–7 August.[1] Forty-three athletes from 29 nations competed.[2] The event was won by Taoufik Makhloufi of Algeria, the nation's first title and medal in the event since 1996. Leonel Manzano's silver was the first medal for the United States in the men's 1500 metres since 1968. Morocco earned its fourth medal in six Games with Abdalaati Iguider's bronze. Kenya's four-Games podium streak ended.

Men's 1500 metres
at the Games of the XXX Olympiad
Olympic Athletics
VenueOlympic Stadium
Dates3–7 August
Competitors43 from 29 nations
Winning time3:34.08
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Taoufik Makhloufi
 Algeria
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Leonel Manzano
 United States
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Abdalaati Iguider
 Morocco
← 2008
2016 →
Official Video

Summary

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The first round races were all very tightly packed, strategic affairs. The first race was the fastest, taking all but one of the time qualifiers into the semi-final. Andrew Wheating's 3:40.92 in the second heat was the slowest time qualifier, though it was exactly equal to Nick Willis' winning time in the last race. That race was broken up when Nixon Chepseba tripped sending several athletes scrambling to avoid the falling body. Chepseba ultimately finished 9th but was awarded a place in the semi-final on appeal, though no offending athlete was disqualified.

The first semi final was strategic from the start, when the sprinting started, Taoufik Makhloufi easily took the lead and held the position. Since it was strategic, no time qualifiers came from this semi. In the other semi, Chepseba took it out at a faster pace, to avoid getting caught in traffic. At the 800 mark, Nathan Brannen fell flat and was not able to get back into contention. When the sprinting started, Abdalaati Iguider looked to be the fastest. The slowest time qualifier was almost 7 seconds faster than Makhloufi winning the first.

Earlier on the day before the final, Makhloufi was also in an 800 metres qualifying round race, but he ran slowly and dropped out. Because of the "honest effort" rule, he was disqualified from further competition in the Olympics. It took an appeal by Algerian team officials to get him re-instated by claiming he had a known knee injury.[3]

In the final, Makhloufi made a miraculous recovery from the injury in order to run. Kenyan Chepseba, and Kenyan born Bahraini Belal Mansoor Ali ran shoulder to shoulder until 600 to go when Chepseba then decided to take the lead solo. Behind him runners were three abreast, with Makhloufi and Silas Kiplagat trading elbows to be in position for the final lap. Another elbow just before 300 to go, and Makhloufi broke away with Kiplagat and Mekonnen Gebremedhin in hot pursuit. With Makhloufi gone, 8 meters ahead, Gebremedhin took over second at the head of the stretch, Iguider sprinting a step behind. Five meters further back, Leonel Manzano was starting to sprint around teammate Matthew Centrowitz, Jr. As Iguider was edging ahead of Gebremedhin, Manzano was rocketing along the outside passing into second 30 meters from the finish. Iguider just barely managed to finish a fraction ahead of the fast closing Centrowitz for the bronze medal.

Background

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This was the 27th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Five finalists from 2008 returned: gold medalist Asbel Kiprop of Kenya, silver medalist Nicholas Willis of New Zealand, fifth-place finisher Abdalaati Iguider of Morocco, seventh-place finisher Belal Mansoor Ali of Bahrain, and eighth-place finisher Andrew Baddeley of Great Britain. Kiprop was the reigning world champion as well as defending gold medalist; the rest of the Kenyan team (Silas Kiplagat and Nixon Chepseba) was strong as well, with an outside chance of a medal sweep considered.[2]

Latvia made its first appearance in the event. The United States made its 26th appearance, most of all nations (having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games).

Qualification

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A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 3 qualified athletes in the men's 1500 metres event if all athletes met the A standard, or 1 athlete if they met the B standard. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The qualifying time standards could be obtained in various meets during the qualifying period that had the approval of the IAAF. Indoor and outdoor meets were eligible. The A standard for the 2012 men's 1500 metres was 3:35.50; the B standard was 3:38.00. The qualifying period for was from 1 May 2011 to 8 July 2012. NOCs could also have an athlete enter the 1500 metres through a universality place. NOCs could enter one male athlete in an athletics event, regardless of time, if they had no male athletes meeting the qualifying A or B standards in any men's athletic event.[4][5][6]

Competition format

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The men's 1500m competition consisted of heats (Round 1), semifinals and a final.[7] In Round 1 the first six in each heat plus the next six fastest overall advanced to the semifinals.[8] In the semifinals the first five in each heat along with the next two fastest overall qualified for the final.[9]

Records

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Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records and world leading times were as follows:

World record   Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR) 3:26.00 Rome, Italy 14 July 1998
Olympic record   Noah Ngeny (KEN) 3:32.07 Sydney, Australia 29 September 2000
2012 World leading   Asbel Kiprop (KEN) 3:28.88 Fontvieille, Monaco 20 July 2012

The following national records were set during this competition

Nation Athlete Round Time
Norway Henrik Ingebrigtsen Final 3:35.43

Schedule

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All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)

Date Time Round
Friday, 3 August 2012 20:05 Round 1
Sunday, 5 August 2012 20:15 Semifinals
Tuesday, 7 August 2012 21:00 Final

Results

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Official Video of First Round

Round 1

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Qual. rule: first 6 of each heat (Q) plus the 6 fastest times (q) qualified.

Heat 1

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes[10]
1 Taoufik Makhloufi   Algeria 3:35.15 Q
2 Mekonnen Gebremedhin   Ethiopia 3:36.56 Q
3 Asbel Kiprop   Kenya 3:36.59 Q
4 Ross Murray   Great Britain 3:36.74 Q
5 Mohamad Al-Garni   Qatar 3:36.99 Q
6 Leonel Manzano   United States 3:37.00 Q
7 Florian Carvalho   France 3:37.05 q, SB
8 Mohamed Moustaoui   Morocco 3:37.41 q
9 Ryan Gregson   Australia 3:38.54 q
10 Belal Mansoor Ali   Bahrain 3:38.69 q
11 Yegor Nikolayev   Russia 3:38.92 q, SB
12 Álvaro Rodríguez   Spain 3:41.54
13 Teklit Teweldebrhan   Eritrea 3:42.88
14 Mamadou Barry   Guinea 4:05.08
15 Rabiou Guero Gao   Niger 4:05.46

Heat 2

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes[10]
1 Mohammed Shaween   Saudi Arabia 3:39.42 Q, SB
2 Hamza Driouch   Qatar 3:39.67 Q
3 İlham Tanui Özbilen   Turkey 3:39.70 Q
4 Silas Kiplagat   Kenya 3:39.79 Q
5 Nathan Brannen   Canada 3:39.95 Q
6 Andrew Baddeley   Great Britain 3:40.34 Q
7 Andrew Wheating   United States 3:40.92 q
8 David Bustos   Spain 3:41.34
9 Dmitrijs Jurkevičs   Latvia 3:41.40
10 Dawit Wolde   Ethiopia 3:41.81
11 Niclas Sandells   Finland 3:42.67
12 Jamale Aarrass   France 3:45.13
13 Mohamed Mohamed   Somalia 3:46.16
14 Nabil Mohammed Al-Garbi   Yemen 3:55.46 SB
Amine Laâlou   Morocco DNS

Heat 3

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes[10]
1 Nick Willis   New Zealand 3:40.92 Q
2 Abdalaati Iguider   Morocco 3:41.08 Q
3 Yoann Kowal   France 3:41.12 Q
4 Henrik Ingebrigtsen   Norway 3:41.33 Q
5 Matthew Centrowitz, Jr.   United States 3:41.39 Q
6 Carsten Schlangen   Germany 3:41.51 Q
7 Diego Ruiz   Spain 3:41.52
8 Aman Wote   Ethiopia 3:41.67
9 Nixon Chepseba   Kenya 3:42.29 q[11]
10 Emad Noor   Saudi Arabia 3:42.95
11 Eduar Villanueva   Venezuela 3:43.11
12 Andreas Vojta   Austria 3:43.52
13 Ciarán O'Lionaird   Ireland 3:48.35 SB
14 Samuel Vázquez   Puerto Rico 3:49.19

Semifinals

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Official Video of Semifinal Round

Qual. rule: first 5 of each semifinal (Q) plus the 2 fastest times (q) qualified.

Semifinal 1

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Taoufik Makhloufi   Algeria 3:42.25 Q
2 Asbel Kiprop   Kenya 3:42.92 Q
3 Mekonnen Gebremedhin   Ethiopia 3:42.93 Q
4 Leonel Manzano   United States 3:42.94 Q
5 Henrik Ingebrigtsen   Norway 3:43.26 Q
6 Mohamed Moustaoui   Morocco 3:43.33
7 Mohammed Shaween   Saudi Arabia 3:43.39
8 Yoann Kowal   France 3:43.48
9 Andrew Wheating   United States 3:44.88
10 Ross Murray   Great Britain 3:44.92
11 Hamza Driouch   Qatar 3:49.40
12 Ryan Gregson   Australia 3:51.86

Semifinal 2

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Abdalaati Iguider   Morocco 3:34.00 Q, SB
2 Silas Kiplagat   Kenya 3:34.60 Q
3 Nick Willis   New Zealand 3:34.70 Q
4 Nixon Chepseba   Kenya 3:34.89 Q
5 Matthew Centrowitz, Jr.   United States 3:34.90 Q, SB
6 İlham Tanui Özbilen   Turkey 3:35.18 q
7 Belal Mansoor Ali   Bahrain 3:35.40 q, SB
8 Andrew Baddeley   Great Britain 3:36.03
9 Mohamad Al-Garni   Qatar 3:36.78
10 Yegor Nikolayev   Russia 3:37.28 PB
11 Carsten Schlangen   Germany 3:38.23
12 Nathan Brannen   Canada 3:39.26
13 Florian Carvalho   France 3:40.61

Final

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
  Taoufik Makhloufi   Algeria 3:34.08
  Leonel Manzano   United States 3:34.79 SB
  Abdalaati Iguider   Morocco 3:35.13
4 Matthew Centrowitz, Jr.   United States 3:35.17
5 Henrik Ingebrigtsen   Norway 3:35.43 NR
6 Mekonnen Gebremedhin   Ethiopia 3:35.44
7 Silas Kiplagat   Kenya 3:36.19
8 İlham Tanui Özbilen   Turkey 3:36.72
9 Nick Willis   New Zealand 3:36.94
10 Belal Mansoor Ali   Bahrain 3:37.98
11 Nixon Chepseba   Kenya 3:39.04
12 Asbel Kiprop   Kenya 3:43.83

References

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  1. ^ "Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics". Archived from the original on 2012-09-05. Retrieved 2012-05-11.
  2. ^ a b "1500 metres, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  3. ^ Longman, Jeré (7 August 2012). "After a Runner Stops, the Questioning Starts". The New York Times.
  4. ^ "QUALIFICATION SYSTEM – GAMES OF THE XXX OLYMPIAD" (PDF). IAAF. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  5. ^ "Olympic Qualifying Procedures for Athletics". Telegraph. 15 April 2011. Archived from the original on 19 April 2011. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
  6. ^ "Amended Qualifying Standards". IAAF. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  7. ^ "Men's 1500m". London 2012 Organising Committee. Archived from the original on 3 January 2013. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
  8. ^ Sports Reference: Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics - Men's 1500m, Round One
  9. ^ Sports Reference: Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics - Men's 1500m, Semi-Finals
  10. ^ a b c "1500 Metres - M. Heats". london2012.com. Archived from the original on 9 December 2012. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  11. ^ "Tripped Chepseba reinstated to semis on appeal". capitalfm.co.ke. 3 August 2012. Retrieved 6 August 2012.