This was the second appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. None of the runners from 1896 returned. John Bray of the United States was the unofficial world record holder, but the field was otherwise undistinguished. John Cregan, Alexander Grant, and George Orton were among the top runners at the distance and competed in the 1900 Games in other events, but did not run the 1500 metres (possibly due to the event being held on a Sunday.)[2]
Austria, Bohemia, Denmark, and Great Britain made their first appearance in the event. France and the United States were the only two countries to have previously competed in 1896 and return in 1900.
Competition format
The competition consisted of a single round, with one three-lap race around the 500-metre stadium.[2]
Records
These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1900 Summer Olympics.
Charles Bennett set a new Olympic record and a new unofficial world record at 4:06.2.
Schedule
Date
Time
Round
Sunday, 15 July 1900
15:30
Final
Results
Bennett, who had led the entire distance by a small margin over Deloge, broke off in the final lap, and ran last 500 metres in a time of 1:10.2 to set an unofficial world record, finishing five yards ahead of Deloge. John Bray edged out David Hall by two yards.
De Wael, Herman. Herman's Full Olympians: "Athletics 1900". Accessed 18 March 2006. Available electronically at [1]Archived 2006-02-11 at the Wayback Machine.
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