The men's 1500 metres was the third-longest of the seven men's track races in the

Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics At the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, the athletics competition included 36 events, 24 for men and 12 for women. The women's 400 metres and women's pentathlon events were newly introduced at these Games. There were a total number of 1016 partic ...

program in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. It was held on 17 October, 19 October, and 21 October 1964. 50 athletes from 34 nations entered, with 7 not starting the first round. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The first round was held on 17 October, with the semifinals on 19 October and the final on 21 October. The event was won by

Peter Snell Sir Peter George Snell (17 December 1938 – 12 December 2019) was a New Zealand middle-distance runner. He won three Olympic gold medals, and is the only man since 1920 to have won the 800 and 1500 metres at the same Olympics, in 1964. Snell ...

of New Zealand; it was the first win by a Kiwi in the event since

Jack Lovelock John Edward Lovelock (5 January 1910 – 28 December 1949) was a New Zealand athlete who became the world 1500m and mile record holder and 1936 Olympic champion in the 1500 metres. Early life Lovelock was born in the town of Crushingto ...

did so in 1936. Snell was also the first man to double in the 800 and 1500 metres races since Albert Hill in 1920. John Davies took bronze, making the first time in any event that New Zealand had two medalists in the same competition.Peter Snell wins second gold in Tokyo
NZ Ministry for Culture and Heritage, 18-Aug-2015

Background

This was the 15th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Only two finalists, and no medalists, from 1960 returned: sixth-place finisher

Dyrol Burleson Dyrol Jay Burleson (born April 27, 1940) is a retired middle-distance runner from the United States. He attended the University of Oregon, where he ran track under the coach Bill Bowerman. Burleson lettered in track and field in 1960, 1961, and ...

of the United States and seventh-place finisher Michel Bernard of France. Silver medalist

Michel Jazy Michel Jazy (born 13 June 1936) is a French former middle-distance runner and long-distance runner. He won the 1500 metres silver medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics, as well as two golds (in 1962 and 1966) and one silver (in 1966) at the Europ ...

of France was entered, but did not start. The favorite was

of New Zealand, who had won the 800 metres in 1960 and again in 1964 (with the 800 metres final a day before the 1500 metres first round), as well as breaking the one-mile world record in 1962. Chad, Hong Kong, Iran, the Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Kenya, and Malaysia each made their first appearance in the event. The United States made its 15th appearance, the only nation to have competed in the men's 1500 metres at each Games to that point.

Competition format

The competition expanded again to three rounds (used previously in 1952, the only prior exception to the two-round format that had been in place since 1908). The 1964 competition introduced the "fastest loser" system, used only in the semifinals at this edition. Previously, advancement depended solely on the runners' place in their heat. The 1964 competition added advancement places to the fastest runners across the heats in the semifinals who did not advance based on place. There were four heats with 12 or 13 runners each (before withdrawals), with the top four runners in each and the next two fastest overall advancing to the semifinals. These 18 semifinalists ran in two heats of 9 men each, with the top four in each heat and the faster of the two fifth-place finishers advancing to the final (a 9-man final, down from 12, had first been used in 1960).Official Report, vol. 2, pp. 29–30.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records prior to the 1964 Summer Olympics. No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.

Schedule

All times are

Japan Standard Time , or , is the standard time zone in Japan, 9 hours ahead of UTC ( UTC+09:00). Japan does not observe daylight saving time, though its introduction has been debated on several occasions. During World War II, the time zone was often referred to a ...

(

UTC+9 UTC+09:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +09:00. During the Japanese occupations of British Borneo, Burma, Hong Kong, Dutch East Indies, Malaya, Philippines, Singapore, and French Indochina, it was used as a common time with ...

)

Results

First round

The top four runners in each of the 4 heats advanced, as well as the next two fastest runners from across all heats.

Heat 1

Heat 2

Heat 3

Heat 4

Semifinals

The fastest four runners in each of the two semifinals and the fastest remaining runner qualified for the final.

Semifinal 1

Semifinal 2

Final

World and Olympic record holder,

Herb Elliott Herbert James Elliott (born 25 February 1938) is a former Australian athlete and arguably the world's greatest middle distance runner of his era. In August 1958 he set the List of world records in athletics, world record in the mile run, clock ...

was not back to defend his title, having retired from the sport at 24 years of age. 1960 800 metre champion

entered the Olympics with the intent of duplicating his feat, doubling over similar distances at the previous 1962 Commonwealth Games. He had already lowered Elliott's

mile The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of distance; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 English ...

world record by a tick two years earlier. Snell had already successfully defended his 800 metre title. As had been his typical strategy, Snell chose to stay in a marking position behind the leaders. Splits were recorded at 400 metres, 800 metres, and 1200 metres. Michel Bernard led after the first lap,

Josef Odložil Josef Odložil (; 11 November 1938 – 10 September 1993) was a Czech middle-distance runner. During the 1960s he was a national champion on numerous occasions but had mixed success at international level.John Davies were in front after two. Wary of being boxed in as he was in the 1960 Olympic 800, at the bell his countryman Davies held the lead while Snell was boxed in by

. He slowed then decisively moved to the outside to be in a position to run. Others were also scrambling for position,

Witold Baran Witold Stanisław Baran (29 July 1939 – 22 June 2020) was a middle distance runner from Poland. He was born in Chmielów. Set a European mile record of 3 minutes 56.04 sec finishing first at the White City, London on 3 August 1964. ...

made his move and had the lead at the end of the third lap but Davies again assumed the lead down the backstretch. With about 220 metres to go, Snell accelerated, blowing past Baran and Davies, the others would now be racing for second place. Snell extended his lead to almost 10 metres, crossing the finish line 1.5 seconds ahead of anyone else. Through the turn, Alan Simpson got around Davies and Baran, behind them Burleson was moving to the outside. Even further back, Odložil began his final sprint around the outside of Burleson. Davies was able to get barely ahead of Simpson, holding him off at the finish line but that would only be for bronze as Odložil came roaring down the home stretch, catching both before the finish to grab silver.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics - Men's 1500 metres Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics 1500 metres at the Olympics Men's events at the 1964 Summer Olympics