The men's 1500 metres at the 2004 Summer Olympics as part of the athletics program were held at the Athens Olympic Stadium from August 20 to 24. Thirty-eight athletes from 26 nations competed. After clearly running the fastest last lap, Silva was unable to make any further headway, celebrating his bronze medal as he finished.
Four days later, El Guerrouj outsprinted 10000 metres gold medalist Kenenisa Bekele to take the 5000 metres gold medal and never competed internationally again, officially retiring in 2006.
Background
This was the 25th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Half of the finalists from 2000, including four of the top five but not the defending champion, returned: silver medalist Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco, bronze medalist Bernard Lagat of Kenya, fourth-place finisher Mehdi Baala of France, fifth-place finisher Kevin Sullivan of Canada, eighth-place finisher Juan Carlos Higuero of Spain, and twelfth-place finisher Youssef Baba of Morocco. El Guerrouj (who had stretched his world championship streak to four and still held the world record) and Lagat were the strongest contenders; Lagat and Baala had finished second to El Guerrouj at the last two world championships.
Bahrain, Brunei, the Czech Republic, and Guam each made their first appearance in the event. The United States made its 24th appearance, most of all nations (having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games).
Qualification
The qualification period for athletics was 1 January 2003 to 9 August 2004. For the men's 1500 metres, each National Olympic Committee was permitted to enter up to three athletes that had run the race in 3:36.20 or faster during the qualification period. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. If an NOC had no athletes that qualified under that standard, one athlete that had run the race in 3:38.00 or faster could be entered.
Competition format
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 12-man semifinals and finals introduced in 1984 and used since 1992 were retained.
As in 2000, there were three heats in the first round, each with 13 or 14 runners (before withdrawals). There was a slight move towards "fastest losers" advancing, with only the top five runners in each heat, along with the next nine fastest overall, advancing to the semifinals. The 24 semifinalists were divided into two semifinals, each with 12 runners. The top five men in each semifinal, plus the next two fastest overall, advanced to the 12-man final.
Records
, the existing World record, Olympic record, and world leading time were as follows.
No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition. The following national records were established during the competition:
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Nation !! Athlete !! Round !! Time
|-
|align=left| ||align=left | Roberto Mandje || Heat 1 || 4:03.37
|}
Schedule
<small>All times are Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3)</small>
{| class="wikitable"
! Date
! Time
! Round
|-
| Friday, 20 August 2004 || 19:40 || Round 1
|-
| Sunday, 22 August 2004 || 21:50 || Semifinals
|-style=background:lemonchiffon
| Tuesday, 24 August 2004 || 23:40 || Final
|}
Results
Round 1
Qualification rule: The first five finishers in each heat (Q) plus the next nine fastest overall runners (q) advanced to the semifinals.
Heat 1
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Rank !! Athlete !! Nation !! Time !! Notes
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|1||align=left| Hicham El Guerrouj || align=left| ||3:37.86||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|2||align=left| Rui Silva || align=left| ||3:37.98||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|3||align=left| Álvaro Fernández || align=left| ||3:38.34||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|4||align=left| Kamal Boulahfane || align=left| ||3:38.59||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|5||align=left| Isaac Kiprono Songok || align=left| ||3:38.89||
|-bgcolor=ccf9cc
|6||align=left| Kevin Sullivan || align=left| ||3:39.30||
|-bgcolor=ccf9cc
|7||align=left| Michal Šneberger || align=left| ||3:39.68||
|-bgcolor=ccf9cc
|8||align=left| James Nolan || align=left| ||3:41.14||
|-
|9||align=left| Wolfram Müller || align=left| ||3:46.75||
|-
|10||align=left| Mounir Yemmouni || align=left| ||3:51.08||
|-
|11||align=left| Grant Robison || align=left| ||3:53.66||
|-
|12||align=left| Roberto Mandje || align=left| ||4:03.37|| NR
|-
|data-sort-value=13| — ||align=left| Peter Roko Ashak || align=left| ||||
|}
Heat 2
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Rank !! Athlete !! Nation !! Time !! Notes
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|1||align=left| Reyes Estévez || align=left| ||3:39.71||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|2||align=left| Bernard Lagat || align=left| ||3:39.80||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|3||align=left| Nick Willis || align=left| ||3:39.80||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|4||align=left| Adil Kaouch || align=left| ||3:39.88||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|5||align=left| Mulugeta Wendimu || align=left| ||3:39.96||
|-bgcolor=ccf9cc
|6||align=left| Gert-Jan Liefers || align=left| ||3:40.10||
|-bgcolor=ccf9cc
|7||align=left| Hudson de Souza || align=left| ||3:40.78||
|-bgcolor=ccf9cc
|8||align=left| Johan Cronje || align=left| ||3:40.99||
|-
|9||align=left| Alan Webb || align=left| ||3:41.25||
|-
|10||align=left| Aleksandr Krivchinkov || align=left| ||3:41.37||
|-
|11||align=left| Abdulrahman Suleiman || align=left| ||3:42.00||
|-
|12||align=left| Mohamed Khaldi || align=left| ||3:42.47||
|-
|13||align=left| Mehdi Baala || align=left| ||3:46.06||
|}
Heat 3
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Rank !! Athlete !! Nation !! Time !! Notes
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|1||align=left| Michael East || align=left| ||3:37.37||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|2||align=left| Timothy Kiptanui || align=left| ||3:37.71||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|3||align=left| Ivan Heshko || align=left| ||3:37.78||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|4||align=left| Rashid Ramzi || align=left| ||3:37.93||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|5||align=left| Tarek Boukensa || align=left| ||3:37.94||
|-bgcolor=ccf9cc
|6||align=left| Juan Carlos Higuero || align=left| ||3:38.36||
|-bgcolor=ccf9cc
|7||align=left| Youssef Baba || align=left| ||3:38.71||
|-bgcolor=ccf9cc
|8||align=left| Manuel Damião || align=left| ||3:39.94||
|-
|9||align=left| Charlie Gruber || align=left| ||3:41.73||
|-
|10||align=left| Branko Zorko || align=left| ||3:48.28||
|-
|11||align=left| Dou Zhaobo || align=left| ||3:50.28||
|-
|12||align=left| Neil Weare || align=left| ||4:05.86||
|-
|13||align=left| Jimmy Anak Ahar || align=left| ||4:14.11||
|-
|data-sort-value=14| — ||align=left| Samwel Mwera || align=left| ||||
|}
Semifinals
Qualification rule: The top five finishers in each heat (Q) plus the next two fastest overall runners (q) advanced to the final.
Semifinal 1
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Rank !! Athlete !! Nation !! Time !! Notes
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|1||align=left| Adil Kaouch || align=left| ||3:35.69||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|2||align=left| Bernard Lagat || align=left| ||3:35.84||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|3||align=left| Gert-Jan Liefers || align=left| ||3:36.00||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|4||align=left| Reyes Estévez || align=left| ||3:36.05||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|5||align=left| Ivan Heshko || align=left| ||3:36.20||
|-bgcolor=ccf9cc
|6||align=left| Michael East || align=left| ||3:36.46||
|-bgcolor=ccf9cc
|7||align=left| Isaac Kiprono Songok || align=left| ||3:37.10||
|-
|8||align=left| Manuel Damião || align=left| ||3:37.16||
|-
|9||align=left| Hudson de Souza || align=left| ||3:38.83||
|-
|10||align=left| James Nolan || align=left| ||3:42.61||
|-
|11||align=left| Rashid Ramzi || align=left| ||3:44.60||
|-
|data-sort-value=12| — ||align=left| Tarek Boukensa || align=left| ||||
|}
Semifinal 2
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Rank !! Athlete !! Nation !! Time !! Notes
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|1||align=left| Hicham El Guerrouj || align=left| ||3:40.87||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|2||align=left| Rui Silva || align=left| ||3:40.99||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|3||align=left| Timothy Kiptanui || align=left| ||3:41.04||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|4||align=left| Mulugeta Wendimu || align=left| ||3:41.14||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|5||align=left| Kamal Boulahfane || align=left| ||3:41.27||
|-
|6||align=left| Nick Willis || align=left| ||3:41.46||
|-
|7||align=left| Álvaro Fernández || align=left| ||3:42.01||
|-
|8||align=left| Juan Carlos Higuero || align=left| ||3:42.13||
|-
|9||align=left| Kevin Sullivan || align=left| ||3:42.86||
|-
|10||align=left| Youssef Baba || align=left| ||3:42.96||
|-
|11||align=left| Johan Cronje || align=left| ||3:44.41||
|-
|12||align=left| Michal Šneberger || align=left| ||3:47.03||
|}
Final
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Rank !! Athlete !! Nation !! Time
|-
|||align=left| Hicham El Guerrouj || align=left| ||3:34.19
|-
|||align=left| Bernard Lagat || align=left| ||3:34.30
|-
|||align=left| Rui Silva || align=left| ||3:34.68
|-
|4||align=left| Timothy Kiptanui || align=left| ||3:35.61
|-
|5||align=left| Ivan Heshko || align=left| ||3:35.82
|-
|6||align=left| Michael East || align=left| ||3:36.33
|-
|7||align=left| Reyes Estévez || align=left| ||3:36.63
|-
|8||align=left| Gert-Jan Liefers || align=left| ||3:37.17
|-
|9||align=left| Adil Kaouch || align=left| ||3:38.26
|-
|10||align=left| Mulugeta Wendimu || align=left| ||3:38.33
|-
|11||align=left| Kamal Boulahfane || align=left| ||3:39.02
|-
|12||align=left| Isaac Kiprono Songok || align=left| ||3:41.72
|}
References
External links
- IAAF Athens 2004 Olympic Coverage