Athletics at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Men's 1500 metres

Men's 1500 metres at the Games of the XXIII Olympiad
Venue	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Dates	9–11 August
Competitors	59 from 40 nations
Winning time	3:32.53 OR
Medalists
Sebastian Coe  Great Britain Steve Cram  Great Britain José Manuel Abascal  Spain

Official Video

These are the official results of the Men's 1500 metres event at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. The final was held on August 11, 1984.

From the start Omar Khalifa went to the lead, shadowed by Joseph Chesire with Sebastian Coe marking their lead in third. The first lap was 58.85. 500 metres into the race, Steve Scott ran around the leaders to take the point, Coe and José Manuel Abascal stringing out the field. They passed the 800 metre mark in a slightly faster 1:56.81. Abascal continued to speed up, passing Coe then Scott between 900 and 1000. Scott began to fall back through the field as Steve Cram and Steve Ovett moved forward. At the bell the three Brits were 2–4, three Steves were 3–5. Midway through the penultimate turn, suddenly the world record holder Ovett stepped inside of the curb and stopped. With 300 to go in an even faster 2:53.21, Abascal, Coe and Cram had three metres on Cheshire who accelerated around Scott and Jim Spivey as Ovett dropped out. Cram accelerated down the back stretch, Coe reacting, with about 220 metres to go, the leaders were three abreast across the track. Coe emerged ahead into the turn with Cram sprinting in his wake. Coe looked around to see where his competition was then focused on holding his position. Coming off the turn, Coe checked again, seeing Cram still a metre behind him, breaking away from Abascal. Coe sprinted away from Cram, checking again mid-straightaway to be sure his work was accomplished, then extending his lead to 6 metres by the finish. Cram had another 7 metres on Abascal who was able to hold off Cheshire for bronze. Coe became the only man to successfully defend his title in the 1500 metres. Coe turned back toward the press area and angrily showed them his index finger on both hands, indicating he was number one again. Still fresh after running less than 2 seconds off the world record, Coe jogged back still looking at that area of the stands and again showing his number one finger.

Medalists

Gold	Sebastian Coe  Great Britain
Silver	Steve Cram  Great Britain
Bronze	José Manuel Abascal  Spain

Abbreviations

Q	automatic qualification
q	qualification by rank
DNS	did not start
NM	no mark
OR	olympic record
WR	world record
AR	area record
NR	national record
PB	personal best
SB	season best

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1984 Summer Olympics.

World Record	3:30.77	Steve Ovett	Rieti (ITA)	September 4, 1983
Olympic Record	3:34.91	Kipchoge Keino	Mexico City (MEX)	October 20, 1968

Sebastian Coe set a new Olympic record with 3:32.53 minutes in the final.

Final

Rank	FINAL	Time	Notes
	Sebastian Coe	Great Britain	3:32.53
	Steve Cram	Great Britain	3:33.40
	José Manuel Abascal	Spain	3:34.30
4	Joseph Chesire	Kenya	3:34.52
5	Jim Spivey	United States	3:36.07
6	Peter Wirz	Switzerland	3:36.97
7	Andrés Vera	Spain	3:37.02
8	Omar Khalifa	Sudan	3:37.11
9	Tony Rogers	New Zealand	3:38.98
10.	Steve Scott	United States	3:39.86
11.	Riccardo Materazzi	Italy	3:40.74
—	Steve Ovett	Great Britain	DNF

Semifinals

Rank	HEAT 1	Time	Notes
1	José Manuel Abascal	Spain	3:35.70
2	Steve Scott	United States	3:35.71
3	Sebastian Coe	Great Britain	3:35.81
4	Joseph Chesire	Kenya	3:35.83
4	Peter Wirz	Switzerland	3:35.83
6	Tony Rogers	New Zealand	3:36.48
7	Riccardo Materazzi	Italy	3:36.51
8	Michael Hillardt	Australia	3:38.12
9	Pascal Thiébaut	France	3:40.96
10.	James Igohe	Tanzania	3:41.57
–	Abdi Bile	Somalia	DQ
–	Agberto Guimarães	Brazil	DQ

Rank	HEAT 2	Time	Notes
1	Steve Cram	Great Britain	3:36.30
2	Jim Spivey	United States	3:36.53
3	Andrés Vera	Spain	3:36.55
3	Steve Ovett	Great Britain	3:36.55
5	Omar Khalifa	Sudan	3:36.76
6	Uwe Becker	West Germany	3:37.28
7	Stefano Mei	Italy	3:37.96
8	Peter O'Donoghue	New Zealand	3:38.71
9	Marcus O'Sullivan	Ireland	3:39.40
10.	Pat Scammell	Australia	3:40.83
11.	Tapfumaneyi Jonga	Zimbabwe	3:41.80
–	Joaquim Cruz	Brazil	DNF

Qualifying heats

Rank	HEAT 1	Time	Notes
1	Joseph Chesire	Kenya	3:38.51
2	Omer Khalifa	Sudan	3:38.93
3	Stefano Mei	Italy	3:39.25
4	Tony Rogers	New Zealand	3:39.78
5	José Luis González	Spain	3:47.01
6	Faouzi Lahbi	Morocco	3:47.54
7	Paul Ceesay	The Gambia	3:59.14
8	Amor Masoud Al-Sharji	Oman	4:12.76
—	Antti Loikkanen	Finland	DNF

Rank	HEAT 2	Time	Notes
1	Pascal Thiébaut	France	3:45.18
2	Sebastian Coe	Great Britain	3:45.30
3	Andrés Vera	Spain	3:45.44
4	Paul Donovan	Ireland	3:45.70
5	Jama Mohamed Aden	Somalia	3:46.80
6	Mohamed Alouini	Tunisia	3:49.78
7	Dale Jones	Antigua and Barbuda	3:55.65
8	Kgomotso Balotthanyi	Botswana	3:58.69
—	Oslen Barr	Guyana	DNF

Rank	HEAT 3	Time	Notes
1	Steve Ovett	Great Britain	3:49.23
2	Agberto Guimarães	Brazil	3:49.26
3	Marcus O'Sullivan	Ireland	3:49.65
4	Josephat Muraya	Kenya	3:51.61
5	Gawain Guy	Jamaica	3:52.04
6	Claudio Patrignani	Italy	3:52.63
7	Mehdi Aidet	Algeria	3:53.92
8	Mouteb Al-Faouri	Jordan	3:59.85
—	Pierre Délèze	Switzerland	DNF

Rank	HEAT 4	Time	Notes
1	Joaquim Cruz	Brazil	3:41.01
2	Steve Scott	United States	3:41.02
3	Michael Hillardt	Australia	3:41.18
4	Frank O'Mara	Ireland	3:41.76
5	Alex Gonzalez	France	3:42.84
6	Mark Handelsman	Israel	3:45.05
7	Abderrahmane Morceli	Algeria	3:45.09
8	Archfell Musango	Zambia	3:46.99
9	Adamou Allassane	Niger	3:56.43
10.	Tito Rodrigues	Suriname	4:02.87

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	José Manuel Abascal	Spain	3:37.68
2	Peter Wirz	Switzerland	3:37.75
3	Uwe Becker	West Germany	3:37.76
4	Riccardo Materazzi	Italy	3:37.95
5	Pat Scammell	Australia	3:39.18
6	James Igohe	Tanzania	3:39.62
7	Tapfumaneyi Jonga	Zimbabwe	3:40.42
8	Isaac Ganunga	Malawi	3:53.86
9	Hugo Allan García	Guatemala	3:57.59
10.	Kim Bok-Joo	South Korea	4:02.63
—	Ibrahim Aziz	United Arab Emirates	DNF

Rank	HEAT 6	Time	Notes
1	Steve Cram	Great Britain	3:40.33
2	Jim Spivey	United States	3:40.58
3	Peter O'Donoghue	New Zealand	3:40.69
4	Abdi Bile	Somalia	3:40.72
5	Kipkoech Cheruiyot	Kenya	3:41.96
6	Zakaria Namonge	Tanzania	3:45.55
7	Batulamai Rajakumar	Malaysia	3:55.19
8	Jean-Marie Rudasingwa	Rwanda	3:57.62
9	Philip Sinon	Seychelles	4:25.80
10.	Diosdado Lozano	Equatorial Guinea	4:34.71
—	Omar Ortega	Argentina	DNF

See also

• 1982 Men's European Championships 1500 metres (Athens)
• 1983 Men's World Championships 1500 metres (Helsinki)
• 1984 Men's Friendship Games 1500 metres (Moscow)
• 1986 Men's European Championships 1500 metres (Stuttgart)
• 1987 Men's World Championships 1500 metres (Rome)

External links

• Results
• Results