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1500 metres
at the Olympic Games
1500 metres; at the Olympic Games
	The 2012 Olympic women's 1500 m heats
Overview
Sport	Athletics
Gender	Men and women
Years held	Men: 1896–2024 ; Women: 1972–2024
Olympic record
Men	3:27.65 Cole Hocker (2024)
Women	3:51.29 Faith Kipyegon (2024)
Reigning champion
Men	Cole Hocker (USA)
Women	Faith Kipyegon (KEN)

The 1500 metres at the Summer Olympics has been contested since the first edition of the multi-sport event. The men's 1500 m has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since 1896. The women's event was not introduced until over seventy years later, but it has been a permanent fixture since it was first held in 1972. The Olympics final and the World Athletics Championships final are the most prestigious 1500 m races at an elite level. The competition format comprises three rounds: a heats stage, semi-finals, then a final typically between twelve athletes.

The 1500 meters was one of four individual events documented exclusively by Olympic documentary filmmaker Bud Greenspan.^[1]

The Olympic records for the event are 3:27.65 minutes for men, set by Cole Hocker in Paris in 2024, and 3:51.29 minutes for women, set by Faith Kipyegon in 2024. The 1500 metres world record has been broken several times at the Olympics: the men's record was beaten in 1900, 1936, and 1960, while the women's record was improved in 1972 (three times) and in 1980.^[2]

Faith Kipyegon was the first athlete to win three times, with gold medals in 2016, 2020 and 2024. Two other athletes have defended the Olympic 1500 m title: Tatyana Kazankina became the first person to win two gold medals in the event in 1980 (repeating her 1976 win) and, soon after, Sebastian Coe became the first man to do so in 1980 and 1984. Historically, athletes in this event have also had success in the 800 metres at the Olympics. Kelly Holmes was the last athlete to win both events at the same Olympics in 2004. The 2012 1500m gold medalist Taoufik Makhloufi made both podiums without winning gold in 2016.

Kenya is the most successful nation in the event, having won seven gold medals. Great Britain has the next highest number of gold medals, with six. The United States is the only nation to have swept the medals in the event, having done so in St. Louis in 1904, albeit in a final between seven Americans and two foreigners.

Medal summary

Men

edit
Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1896 Athens details	Edwin Flack Australia	Arthur Blake United States	Albin Lermusiaux France
1900 Paris details	Charles Bennett Great Britain	Henri Deloge France	John Bray United States
1904 St. Louis details	Jim Lightbody United States	Frank Verner United States	Lacey Hearn United States
1908 London details	Mel Sheppard United States	Harold Wilson Great Britain	Norman Hallows Great Britain
1912 Stockholm details	Arnold Jackson Great Britain	Abel Kiviat United States	Norman Taber United States
1920 Antwerp details	Albert Hill Great Britain	Philip Baker Great Britain	Lawrence Shields United States
1924 Paris details	Paavo Nurmi Finland	Willy Schärer Switzerland	H. B. Stallard Great Britain
1928 Amsterdam details	Harri Larva Finland	Jules Ladoumègue France	Eino Purje Finland
1932 Los Angeles details	Luigi Beccali Italy	Jerry Cornes Great Britain	Phil Edwards Canada
1936 Berlin details	Jack Lovelock New Zealand	Glenn Cunningham United States	Luigi Beccali Italy
1948 London details	Henry Eriksson Sweden	Lennart Strand Sweden	Willem Slijkhuis Netherlands
1952 Helsinki details	Josy Barthel Luxembourg	Bob McMillen United States	Werner Lueg Germany
1956 Melbourne details	Ron Delany Ireland	Klaus Richtzenhain United Team of Germany	John Landy Australia
1960 Rome details	Herb Elliott Australia	Michel Jazy France	István Rózsavölgyi Hungary
1964 Tokyo details	Peter Snell New Zealand	Josef Odložil Czechoslovakia	John Davies New Zealand
1968 Mexico City details	Kipchoge Keino Kenya	Jim Ryun United States	Bodo Tümmler West Germany
1972 Munich details	Pekka Vasala Finland	Kipchoge Keino Kenya	Rod Dixon New Zealand
1976 Montreal details	John Walker New Zealand	Ivo Van Damme Belgium	Paul-Heinz Wellmann West Germany
1980 Moscow details	Sebastian Coe Great Britain	Jürgen Straub East Germany	Steve Ovett Great Britain
1984 Los Angeles details	Sebastian Coe Great Britain	Steve Cram Great Britain	José Manuel Abascal Spain
1988 Seoul details	Peter Rono Kenya	Peter Elliott Great Britain	Jens-Peter Herold East Germany
1992 Barcelona details	Fermín Cacho Spain	Rachid El Basir Morocco	Mohamed Suleiman Qatar
1996 Atlanta details	Noureddine Morceli Algeria	Fermín Cacho Spain	Stephen Kipkorir Kenya
2000 Sydney details	Noah Ngeny Kenya	Hicham El Guerrouj Morocco	Bernard Lagat Kenya
2004 Athens details	Hicham El Guerrouj Morocco	Bernard Lagat Kenya	Rui Silva Portugal
2008 Beijing details	Asbel Kiprop Kenya	Nick Willis New Zealand	Mehdi Baala France
2012 London details	Taoufik Makhloufi Algeria	Leonel Manzano United States	Abdalaati Iguider Morocco
2016 Rio de Janeiro details	Matthew Centrowitz Jr. United States	Taoufik Makhloufi Algeria	Nick Willis New Zealand
2020 Tokyo details	Jakob Ingebrigtsen Norway	Timothy Cheruiyot Kenya	Josh Kerr Great Britain
2024 Paris details	Cole Hocker United States	Josh Kerr Great Britain	Yared Nuguse United States

Multiple medalists

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Olympics	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Sebastian Coe	Great Britain (GBR)	1980–1984	2	0	0	2
2	Kipchoge Keino	Kenya (KEN)	1968–1972	1	1	0	2
2	Fermin Cacho	Spain (ESP)	1992–1996	1	1	0	2
2	Hicham El Guerrouj	Morocco (MAR)	2000–2004	1	1	0	2
2	Taoufik Makhloufi	Algeria (ALG)	2012–2016	1	1	0	2
6	Luigi Beccali	Italy (ITA)	1932–1936	1	0	1	2
7	Bernard Lagat	Kenya (KEN)	2000–2004	0	1	1	2
7	Nick Willis	New Zealand (NZL)	2008-2016	0	1	1	2
7	Josh Kerr	Great Britain (GBR)	2020-2024	0	1	1	2

Medals by country

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Great Britain (GBR)	5	6	4	15
2	United States (USA)	4	7	5	16
3	Kenya (KEN)	4	3	2	9
4	New Zealand (NZL)	3	1	3	7
5	Finland (FIN)	3	0	1	4
6	Algeria (ALG)	2	1	0	3
7	Australia (AUS)	2	0	1	3
8	Morocco (MAR)	1	2	1	4
9	Spain (ESP)	1	1	1	3
10	Sweden (SWE)	1	1	0	2
11	Italy (ITA)	1	0	1	2
12=	Ireland (IRL)	1	0	0	1
12=	Luxembourg (LUX)	1	0	0	1
12=	Norway (NOR)	1	0	0	1
15	France (FRA)	0	3	2	5
16=	East Germany (GDR)	0	1	1	2
16=	Germany (GER)^[nb]	0	1	1	2
18=	Belgium (BEL)	0	1	0	1
18=	Czechoslovakia (TCH)	0	1	0	1
18=	Switzerland (SUI)	0	1	0	1
21	West Germany (FRG)	0	0	2	2
22=	Canada (CAN)	0	0	1	1
22=	Hungary (HUN)	0	0	1	1
22=	Netherlands (NED)	0	0	1	1
22=	Portugal (POR)	0	0	1	1
22=	Qatar (QAT)	0	0	1	1

^nb The German total includes teams both competing as Germany and the United Team of Germany, but not East or West Germany.

Women

edit
Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1972 Munich details	Lyudmila Bragina Soviet Union	Gunhild Hoffmeister East Germany	Paola Pigni Italy
1976 Montreal details	Tatyana Kazankina Soviet Union	Gunhild Hoffmeister East Germany	Ulrike Klapezynski East Germany
1980 Moscow details	Tatyana Kazankina Soviet Union	Christiane Wartenberg East Germany	Nadezhda Olizarenko Soviet Union
1984 Los Angeles details	Gabriella Dorio Italy	Doina Melinte Romania	Maricica Puică Romania
1988 Seoul details	Paula Ivan Romania	Laimutė Baikauskaitė Soviet Union	Tetyana Samolenko Soviet Union
1992 Barcelona details	Hassiba Boulmerka Algeria	Lyudmila Rogachova Unified Team	Qu Yunxia China
1996 Atlanta details	Svetlana Masterkova Russia	Gabriela Szabo Romania	Theresia Kiesl Austria
2000 Sydney details	Nouria Mérah-Benida Algeria	Violeta Szekely Romania	Gabriela Szabo Romania
2004 Athens details	Kelly Holmes Great Britain	Tatyana Tomashova Russia	Maria Cioncan Romania
2008 Beijing details	Nancy Langat Kenya	Iryna Lishchynska Ukraine	Nataliya Tobias Ukraine
2012 London details	Maryam Yusuf Jamal Bahrain^[3]	Abeba Aregawi Ethiopia	Shannon Rowbury United States
2016 Rio de Janeiro details	Faith Kipyegon Kenya	Genzebe Dibaba Ethiopia	Jennifer Simpson United States
2020 Tokyo details	Faith Kipyegon Kenya	Laura Muir Great Britain	Sifan Hassan Netherlands
2024 Paris details	Faith Kipyegon Kenya	Jessica Hull Australia	Georgia Bell Great Britain

Multiple medalists

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Olympics	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Faith Kipyegon	Kenya (KEN)	2016–2024	3	0	0	3
2	Tatyana Kazankina	Soviet Union (URS)	1976–1980	2	0	0	2
3	Gunhild Hoffmeister	East Germany (GDR)	1972–1976	0	2	0	2
4	Gabriela Szabo	Romania (ROU)	1996–2000	0	1	1	2

Medalists by country

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Kenya (KEN)	4	0	0	4
2	Soviet Union (URS)	3	1	2	6
3	Algeria (ALG)	2	0	0	2
4	Romania (ROU)	1	3	3	7
6	Russia (RUS)	1	1	0	2
5	Great Britain (GBR)	1	1	1	3
7	Italy (ITA)	1	0	1	2
8	East Germany (GDR)	0	3	1	4
9=	Ethiopia (ETH)	0	1	1	2
9=	Ukraine (UKR)	0	1	1	2
10	Bahrain (BRN)	1	0	0	1
11=	Unified Team (EUN)	0	1	0	1
11=	Australia (AUS)	0	1	0	1
13=	Austria (AUT)	0	0	1	1
13=	China (CHN)	0	0	1	1
13=	Netherlands (NED)	0	0	1	1
13=	United States (USA)	0	0	1	1

Intercalated Games

The 1906 Intercalated Games were held in Athens and at the time were officially recognised as part of the Olympic Games series, with the intention being to hold a games in Greece in two-year intervals between the internationally held Olympics. However, this plan never came to fruition and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) later decided not to recognise these games as part of the official Olympic series. Some sports historians continue to treat the results of these games as part of the Olympic canon.^[4]

At this event a men's 1500 m was held and the reigning 800 metres and 1500 m champion from the 1904 Olympics, James Lightbody, was the winner. Two 1908 Olympic participants, Britain's John McGough and Sweden's Kristian Hellström were the silver and bronze medalists.^[5]

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1906 Athens details	James Lightbody (USA)	John McGough (GBR)	Kristian Hellström (SWE)

References

Participation and athlete data

Athletics Men's 1500 metres Medalists. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-02-07.
Athletics Women's 1500 metres Medalists. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-02-07.

Olympic record progressions

Mallon, Bill (2012). TRACK & FIELD ATHLETICS - OLYMPIC RECORD PROGRESSIONS. Track and Field News. Retrieved on 2014-02-07.

Specific

^ "Bud Greenspan Films". Archived from the original on 2007-07-16. Retrieved 2018-11-13.
^ "12th IAAF World Championships In Athletics: IAAF Statistics Handbook. Berlin 2009" (PDF). Monte Carlo: IAAF Media & Public Relations Department. 2009. pp. Pages 546, 549. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 29, 2011. Retrieved August 4, 2009.
^ On 17 August 2015, the Court of Arbitration for Sport says it approved a settlement agreed to by Turkish athlete Aslı Çakır Alptekin and the IAAF. Alptekin has agreed to forfeit her 1500 metres Olympic title and serve an eight-year ban for blood doping.1 2 On 29 March 2017, Turkish athlete Gamze Bulut was banned for doping and lost her Olympic silver medal. Maryam Yusuf Jamal of Bahrain was advanced to gold, the silver medal was awarded to Tatyana Tomashova of Russia, and the bronze medal was awarded to Abeba Aregawi of Ethiopia. Tomashova was earlier found guilty of doping and missed the 2008 Olympics because of that, and was banned after the Olympics for failing another drug test.3
^ 1906 Athina Summer Games. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-01-26.
^ Athletics at the 1906 Athina Summer Games: Men's 1500 metres. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-01-26.