The men's 1500 metres was an event at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

Barcelona, Spain Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. There were a total number of 51 participating athletes from 40 nations, with four qualifying heats. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was held from 3 August to 8 August 1992. The event was won by

Fermín Cacho Fermín Cacho Ruiz (born 16 February 1969) is a Spanish track and field athlete, winner of the gold medal in the 1500m at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona and the silver medal in the 1500m at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Born in ...

of Spain, the nation's first title in the men's 1500 metres. Morocco won its first medal in the event with Rachid El Basir's silver. Qatar won its first Olympic medal in any event with

Mohamed Suleiman Mohammad Ahmed Suleiman ( ar, محمد أحمد سليمان; born 23 November 1969) is a Qatari middle-distance runner of Somali descent that won Qatar its first Olympic medal ever. Career Suleiman was born in Buuhoodle, Somalia to a noble line ...

's bronze.

Summary

Most of the eyes were on reigning world champion Noureddine Morceli, who hovered in the middle of the pack, while

Joseph Chesire Joseph Chesire (born November 12, 1957) is a former Kenyan middle-distance runner who represented his country in the 1984, 1988 and 1992 Summer Olympics. He came fourth in Los Angeles and Barcelona. Cheshire also won the 1500 m at the London Gra ...

led most of the race, marked by

Jens-Peter Herold Jens-Peter Herold (born 2 June 1965 in Neuruppin) is a retired German middle-distance runner who participated in several international championships in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In the 1987 World Championships he came sixth over 1500 me ...

through a slow race of 62.25 and 64.58 for the first two laps, setting up a fast finish. A step behind the leaders, as the pace quickened going into the final lap, home team favorite

who had been strategically watching the field, pushed the final backstretch to move up on Chesire. Passing on the inside with just over 200 to go, Cacho accelerated and was surprised Chesire was not able to mount a challenge. Charging out into a big lead around the turn, Cacho kept looking back for the next challenger, but there was none, Cacho and the Spanish fans celebrated. Even with his celebrating and looking back, Cacho's last lap was about 50.5.

edged past a fading Chesire and a final sprint around the outside from eighth place netted Rachid El Basir the silver. Suleiman earned the first Olympic medal for Qatar.

Background

This was the 22nd appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Four finalists from 1988 returned: bronze medalist

of East Germany (now Germany), eighth-place finisher

Marcus O'Sullivan Marcus O'Sullivan (born in Cork, Ireland on 22 December 1961) is an Irish retired middle-distance runner. He competed for Ireland at four Summer Olympics. After Steve Scott and John Walker, he is the third all-time by total of sub-4 minute m ...

of Ireland, ninth-place finisher Mário Silva of Portugal, and eleventh-place finisher

of Kenya. The favorite was Noureddine Morceli of Algeria, who had recently won the first of what would be three consecutive world championships. Belize, the Central African Republic, Croatia, Guinea, Laos, Lebanon, Swaziland, Vanuatu, unified Yemen (North Yemen had competed previously), and Zaire each made their first appearance in the event; the Unified Team of some former Soviet republics competed in this event in the team's only Summer Games appearance. The United States made its 21st appearance, most of all nations (having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games).

Competition format

The competition was again three rounds (used previously in 1952 and since 1964). The "fastest loser" system introduced in 1964 was used for both the first round and semifinals. The 12-man semifinals and finals introduced in 1984 were used (abandoning the short-lived 13-runner semifinal heats from 1988, though one semifinal ended up having 13 anyway). There were four heats in the first round, each with 12 or 13 runners. The top five runners in each heat, along with the next four fastest overall, advanced to the semifinals. The 24 semifinalists were divided into two semifinals, each with 12 runners. Momodou Bello N'Jie of The Gambia was placed directly in a semifinal, making a 13th runner in that semifinal. The top five men in each semifinal, plus the next two fastest overall, advanced to the 12-man final.Official Report, vol. 5, p. 43.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records prior to the 1992 Summer Olympics. No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition. The following national records were established during the competition:

Schedule

All times are

Central European Summer Time Central European Summer Time (CEST), sometimes referred to as Central European Daylight Time (CEDT), is the standard clock time observed during the period of summer daylight-saving in those European countries which observe Central European Time ...

(

UTC+2 UTC+02:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +02:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2020-11-08T23:41:45+02:00. This time is used in: As standard time (year-round) ''Principal cities: Cairo, Pretoria, C ...

)

Results

Round 1

Heat 1

Heat 2

Heat 3

Heat 4

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Semifinal 2

Final

The final was held on August 8, 1992.

References

External links

Official Report

{{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics At The 1992 Summer Olympics - Men's 1500 Metres 1500 metres at the Olympics Men's events at the 1992 Summer Olympics