Athletics at the 1980 Summer Olympics – Men's 1500 metres

The men's 1,500m metres was an event at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Soviet Union. The final was held on Friday 1 August 1980.[1] Forty athletes from 29 nations competed.[2] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by 0.4 seconds by Sebastian Coe of Great Britain, the nation's first championship in the event since back-to-back wins surrounding World War I in 1912 and 1920, and first medal of any color since 1932. East Germany took its first medal in the 1500 metres since starting to compete separately, with Jürgen Straub's silver.

Men's 1500 metres
at the Games of the XXII Olympiad
Olympic Athletics
VenueLenin Central Stadium
Date30 July 1980 (qualification)
31 July 1980 (semi-finals)
1 August 1980 (final)
Competitors40 from 29 nations
Winning time3:38.4
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Sebastian Coe
 Great Britain
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Jürgen Straub
 East Germany
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Steve Ovett
 Great Britain
← 1976
1984 →
Official Video

Background

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This was the 19th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. None of the 1976 finalists returned, with the American-led boycott keeping out defending champion John Walker of New Zealand as well as top American runner Steve Scott. Those two would have been strong challengers, but a British pair would have been co-favorites anyway. The world record was shared by Steve Ovett and Sebastian Coe, with Coe having a slightly faster time before the rounding required by the rules of the time. The British Olympic Association did not join the boycott, so Ovett and Coe raced in Moscow.[2]

Benin, Botswana, Kuwait, Lesotho, Libya, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Syria, Vietnam, and Zambia each made their first appearance in the event. Great Britain and France each made their 17th appearance, most of those competing in 1980, though still one fewer than the United States (which had had runners in each of the 18 previous 1500 metres competitions).

Competition format

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The competition was again three rounds (used previously in 1952 and since 1964). The "fastest loser" system introduced in 1964 was used for both the first round and semifinals. The 9-man semifinals and finals from 1976 were retained.

There were four heats in the first round, each with 10 or 11 runners (before withdrawals). The top four runners in each heat, along with the next two fastest overall, advanced to the semifinals. The 18 semifinalists were divided into two semifinals, each with 9 runners. The top four men in each semifinal, plus the fastest fifth-placer, advanced to the 9-man final.[2][3]

Records

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These were the standing world and Olympic records prior to the 1980 Summer Olympics.

World record   Sebastian Coe (GBR) 3:32.1 Zürich, Switzerland 15 August 1979
Olympic record   Kip Keino (KEN) 3:34.9 Mexico City, Mexico 20 October 1968

No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.

Schedule

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All times are Moscow Time (UTC+3)

Date Time Round
Wednesday, 30 July 1980 17:10 Round 1
Thursday, 31 July 1980 21:00 Semifinals
Friday, 1 August 1980 17:30 Final

Results

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Round 1

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Heat 1

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 José Marajo   France 3:43.9 Q
2 Mehdi Aidet   Algeria 3:43.9 Q
3 Dragan Zdravković   Yugoslavia 3:44.0 Q
4 Steve Cram   Great Britain 3:44.1 Q
5 Pavel Yakovlev   Soviet Union 3:44.2
6 José Manuel Abascal   Spain 3:44.7
7 Mopeli Molapo   Lesotho 3:55.5
8 Khaled Khalifa Al-Shammari   Kuwait 3:57.6
9 Vicente Santos   Mozambique 3:58.7
Filbert Bayi   Tanzania DNS

Heat 2

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Andreas Busse   East Germany 3:44.3 Q
2 Vitaliy Tyshchenko   Soviet Union 3:44.4 Q
3 Jozef Plachý   Czechoslovakia 3:44.4 Q
4 Alex Gonzalez   France 3:44.6 Q
5 Pierre Délèze   Switzerland 3:44.8
6 Haile Zeru   Ethiopia 3:45.7
7 Abderrahmane Morceli   Algeria 3:46.0
8 Sant Kumar   India 3:55.6
9 Ishmael Mhaladi   Botswana 3:59.1
10 George Branche   Sierra Leone 4:03.9
11 Damien Degboe   Benin 4:15.3

Heat 3

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Vittorio Fontanella   Italy 3:40.1 Q
2 Sebastian Coe   Great Britain 3:40.1 Q
3 Antti Loikkanen   Finland 3:40.5 Q
4 José Luis González   Spain 3:40.9 Q
5 João Campos   Portugal 3:41.3 q
6 Ray Flynn   Ireland 3:42.0
7 Nigusse Bekele   Ethiopia 3:45.8
8 Archfell Musango   Zambia 3:53.7
9 Tisbite Rakotoarisoa   Madagascar 3:55.9
10 Lê Quang Khải   Vietnam 4:06.8

Heat 4

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Steve Ovett   Great Britain 3:36.8 Q
2 Jürgen Straub   East Germany 3:37.0 Q
3 Robert Nemeth   Austria 3:38.3 Q
4 Vladimir Malozemlin   Soviet Union 3:38.7 Q
5 Mirosław Żerkowski   Poland 3:39.2 q
6 Kassa Balcha   Ethiopia 3:43.1
7 Jón Didriksson   Iceland 3:44.4
8 Derradji Harek   Algeria 3:45.3
9 Marzouk Mabrouk   Libya 3:54.3
10 Mohamed Makhlouf   Syria 4:00.4

Semifinals

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Semifinal 1

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Steve Ovett   Great Britain 3:43.1 Q
2 Dragan Zdravković   Yugoslavia 3:43.4 Q
3 Andreas Busse   East Germany 3:43.5 Q
4 Steve Cram   Great Britain 3:43.6 Q
5 Vladimir Malozemlin   Soviet Union 3:43.6
6 Antti Loikkanen   Finland 3:44.0
7 João Campos   Portugal 3:44.4
8 Alex Gonzalez   France 3:44.7
9 Mehdi Aidet   Algeria 3:44.9

Semifinal 2

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Sebastian Coe   Great Britain 3:39.4 Q
2 Jürgen Straub   East Germany 3:39.4 Q
3 José Marajo   France 3:39.6 Q
4 Vittorio Fontanella   Italy 3:40.1 Q
5 Jozef Plachý   Czechoslovakia 3:40.4 q
6 Robert Nemeth   Austria 3:40.8
7 Vitaliy Tyshchenko   Soviet Union 3:41.5
8 José Luis González   Spain 3:42.6
9 Mirosław Żerkowski   Poland 3:48.2

Final

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Rank Athlete Nation Time
  Sebastian Coe   Great Britain 3:38.4
  Jürgen Straub   East Germany 3:38.8
  Steve Ovett   Great Britain 3:39.0
4 Andreas Busse   East Germany 3:40.2
5 Vittorio Fontanella   Italy 3:40.4
6 Jozef Plachý   Czechoslovakia 3:40.7
7 José Marajo   France 3:41.5
8 Steve Cram   Great Britain 3:42.0
9 Dragan Zdravković   Yugoslavia 3:43.1

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Athletics at the 1980 Moscow Games: Men's 1500 metres". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  2. ^ a b c "1500 metres, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  3. ^ Official Report, vol. 3, p. 33.
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