The Women's 1500 metres at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

as part of the athletics programme was held at

Stadium Australia Stadium Australia, currently known as Accor Stadium for sponsorship purposes, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Sydney Olympic Park, in Sydney, Australia. The stadium, which in Australia is sometimes referred to as Sydney Olympic Stad ...

on Wednesday 27 September, Thursday 28 September, and Saturday 30 September 2000. There were a total number of 43 participating athletes. The top six runners in each of the initial three heats automatically qualified for the semi-final. The next six fastest runners from across the heats also qualified for the semi-final. The top five runners in each semi-final automatically qualified for the final. The next two fastest runners from across the heats also qualified for the final. The last lap was the battleground for this final. Going into this lap, Portugal's

Carla Sacramento Carla Cristina Paquete Sacramento OIH (born 10 December 1971 in São Sebastião da Pedreira) is a middle distance runner from Portugal. Biography Sacramento won medals at a variety of distances but her speciality is the 1500 m. She won ...

held the lead, with Poland's

Lidia Chojecka Lidia Chojecka-Leandro (born 25 January 1977) is a retired Polish Middle-distance running, middle- and Long-distance running, long-distance runner who mainly competed in the 1500 metres and 3000 metres. She won bronze medals in the 1500 m ...

on the outside and America's

Suzy Favor-Hamilton Suzy Favor Hamilton (born August 8, 1968) is an American former middle-distance runner. She competed in the 1992, 1996, and 2000 Summer Olympics. Early life and education Suzy Favor was born in 1968 to Conrad and Rachel (Skundberg) Favor in S ...

edging ahead on the inside. Over the next 200 metres, Favor-Hamilton edged ahead of Sacramento while a pack of six formed behind, led by Algeria's

Nouria Mérah-Benida Nouria Merah-Benida ( ar, نورية مراح بنيدة) (born October 19, 1970 in Algiers) is a former Algerian middle distance runner. At the 1999 All-Africa Games in Johannesburg Merah-Benida won silver medals in both 800 metres and 1500 me ...

. Favor-Hamilton held the lead around the turn as Mérah-Benida moved to her shoulder. As the final straightaway neared, Favor-Hamilton looked at her feet expecting her usual final acceleration. It was not there, as first Mérah-Benida went by, followed by the other Polish runner, Anna Jakubczak, and then Chojecka and Romania's

Violeta Szekely Violeta Szekely, née Beclea (born 26 March 1965, in Dolheștii Mari, Suceava County) is a Romanian former middle distance runner who competed mainly in the 1500 metres. She competed in two Olympic Games, in 1992 and 2000. She was favor ...

. After a small gap, Ethiopia's

Kutre Dulecha Kutre Dulecha (born August 22, 1978 in Sidamo) is a middle distance runner from Ethiopia. She mainly competes in 1500 metres, where she set a world junior record in 1997. She became world indoor champion in 2004, Ethiopia's first ever women's 15 ...

went by Favor-Hamilton, who then crashed to the track untouched. Years later, Favor-Hamilton admitted that the fall was deliberate, as she realised that she was not going to win. As a result, she finished in last place. At the head of the straightaway, Mérah-Benida opened up a clear lead over the two Polish runners. Moving out to lane 3, Szekely ran around Jakubczak and Chojecka, with Dulecha following in her wake. With speed, suddenly Mérah-Benida's lead started to shrink. The Algerian runner was tiring fast, but she managed to hold off Szekely's furious charge, crossing the line 0.05 seconds ahead. All the way down the straightaway, Dulecha looked like she would hold on for the bronze – but from last place with 200 metres to go,

Gabriela Szabo Gabriela Szabo (, hu, Szabó Gabriella; born 14 November 1975) is a retired Romanian runner. She competed in the 1500 m and 5000 m events at the 1996 and 2000 Olympics and won a gold, a silver and a bronze medal. Szabo is a three-time world c ...

came sprinting down the outside to take the medal, meaning that there were two Romanians on the podium. Only 0.23 seconds separated the first four runners – but none of them were directly battling the others, each taking a different pace and path to the tight finish.

Records

Medals

Results

All times shown are in seconds. * Q denotes qualification by place in heat. * q denotes qualification by overall place. * DNS denotes did not start. * DNF denotes did not finish. * DQ denotes disqualification. * NR denotes national record. * OR denotes Olympic record. * WR denotes world record. * PB denotes personal best. * SB denotes season best.

Qualifying heats

Round 1

Overall Results Round 1

Semi-finals

Overall Results Semi-finals

Final

References

External links

Official Report

{{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 2000 Summer Olympics - Women's 1500 Metres 1500 metres at the Olympics 2000 in women's athletics Women's events at the 2000 Summer Olympics