Athletics at the 1896 Summer Olympics – Men's 1500 metres
| Men's 1500 metres at the Games of the I Olympiad | |||||||
| Venue | Panathinaiko Stadium | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dates | April 7 | ||||||
| Competitors | 8 from 5 nations | ||||||
| Winning time | 4:33.2 OR | ||||||
| Medalists | |||||||
| |||||||
| 1900» | |||||||
| Athletics at the 1896 Summer Olympics | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Track events | |
| 100 m | men |
| 400 m | men |
| 800 m | men |
| 1500 m | men |
| 110 m hurdles | men |
| Road events | |
| Marathon | men |
| Field events | |
| Long jump | men |
| Triple jump | men |
| High jump | men |
| Pole vault | men |
| Shot put | men |
| Discus throw | men |
The men's 1500 metres was the longest track race in the 1896 Summer Olympics. It was the last event on 7 April. The race had 8 athletes. It was ran in one round.[1]
Background
[change | change source]The 1500 metres was one of the 12 athletic events that has been held in every Summer Olympics. In 1895, Albin Lermusiaux had the unofficial world record for this event. The world record holder did not run in the race.[2]
Competition
[change | change source]The competition was all in one round.[2][3]
The track was only 330 metres, even though modern tracks are usually 400 metres. The track had quick turns was made of loose cinders. Running was very difficult. Runners also turned clockwise, rather than modern counterclockwise turns.[2]
Schedule
[change | change source]The exact times of each events were not written down. The 1500 metres was the last event of the second day.[3]
| Date | Round | |
|---|---|---|
| Gregorian | Julian | |
| Tuesday, 7 April 1896 | Tuesday, 26 March 1896 | Final |
Summary
[change | change source]Albin Lermusiaux of France was in front for most of the race. However, Edwin Flack and Arthur Blake passed him in the last 100 meters.
Flack passed Blake, and beat him by 5 meters. This made Flack the first Australian Olympic winner. Lermusiaux finished in third, 15 meters behind. Carl Galle was in 4th.
The other Greek were all in last place. However, records do not say what position the last two ran in.
Results
[change | change source]| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Edwin Flack |  Australia |
4:33.2 | OR |
 |
Arthur Blake |  United States |
4:33.6 | |
 |
Albin Lermusiaux |  France |
4:36.0 | |
| 4 | Carl Galle |  Germany |
4:39.0 | |
| 5 | Angelos Fetsis |  Greece |
Unknown | |
| 6 | Dimitrios Golemis | Greece |
Unknown | |
| 7–8 | Konstantinos Karakatsanis | Greece |
Unknown | |
| Dimitrios Tomprof | Greece |
Unknown |
Records
[change | change source]| World record |  Thomas Conneff (USA) | 4:15.6 (u) | New York City, United States | 26 August 1895 |
| Olympic record | New event | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Edwin Flack set the first Olympic record of the event. His time was 4:33.2.
References
[change | change source]- Lampros, S.P.; Polites, N.G.; De Coubertin, Pierre; Philemon, P.J. & Anninos, C. (1897). The Olympic Games: BC 776 – AD 1896. Athens: Charles Beck. (Digitally available at la84foundation.org Archived 2008-05-27 at the Wayback Machine)
- Mallon, Bill & Widlund, Ture (1998). The 1896 Olympic Games. Results for All Competitors in All Events, with Commentary. Jefferson: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-0379-0. (Excerpt available at la84foundation.org Archived 2008-04-11 at the Wayback Machine)
- Smith, Michael Llewellyn (2004). Olympics in Athens 1896. The Invention of the Modern Olympic Games. London: Profile Books. ISBN 978-1-86197-342-9.
Citations
[change | change source]- ↑ "Athletics at the 1896 Athens Games: Men's 1500 metres". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
- 1 2 3 "1500 metres, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
- 1 2 Official Report, pp. 71–72.