Sport-Olympic.com

All Athletics Menu

1976 Olympic Games Montreal - Men's 1500 m

Print
Email

Details: Parent Category: Olympic Games (Athletics); Category: 1976 Olympic Games Montreal - (Athletics); Last Updated: 30 July 2016; Hits: 1022

Tags:

Host City: Montréal, Canada

Format: Top four in each heat and next fastest advanced to the final.

Date Started: July 29, 1976

Format: Top three and next three fastest advanced to the semi-finals.

Date Finished: July 31, 1976

(Competitors: 42; Countries: 28; Finalists: 9)

Venue(s): Olympic Stadium, Olympic Park, Montréal, Québec

Overview by IAAF

The final should have been a battle between world record holder Filbert Bayi (TAN) and John Walker, the Mile record holder. However, the anti-apartheid boycott took care of that, leaving Walker a big favourite. The New Zealander won his first round heat in a startling 3:36.87, with Britons Clement (3:37.53) and Steve Ovett (3:37.89) the next fastest. Walker won his semi-final in 3:39.65, while Coghlan won the other semi in 3:38.60 ahead of Wohlhuter (3:38.71), both winners running 53 for their last laps. All told, 25 clockings of sub-3:40 were achieved in the preliminary rounds (1972 had six similar marks). The field was frightened of Walker – and seemed to be aiming for silver rather than trying to win the final. The race started slowly with the first 400m in 62.48, followed by laps of 60.67 and 58.08. From 800m Coghlan was in the lead, and at 1200m Walker, like Lovelock before him, struck. His next 100m was covered in 12.5, with Coghlan, Wohlhuter and Crouch in the slipstream; the pace was upped to 12.2 for the next 100m, and 800m silver medallist Van Damme moved from fifth to second. The last 100m was the survival of the strongest, and Walker reached the sanctuary of the tape under a metre clear of Van Damme, with Wellman finishing fast to edge Coghlan for the bronze medal. Walker’s last 400m was completed in 52.7, and his last 800m in 1:51.0.

Summary by Sports-reference.com

The 1976 Olympic 1,500 was one of the most eagerly awaited races among track fans. There were two leading contenders, with diametrically different running styles. On 2 February 1974, Tanzania’s Filbert Bayi won the greatest 1,500 run to that date, at the Commonwealth Games. His time of 3:32.16 was a world record, and he needed it to defeat John Walker of New Zealand, who placed second in 3:32.52, also surpassing the previous record. On 17 May 1975, at the International Freedom Games in Jamaica, Bayi then broke the world mile record with 3:51.0, but that mark would not last long. In Göteborg, Sweden, on 12 August, Walker became the first runner to break the 3:50 barrier, winning the mile in 3:49.4. Walker was a solid middle-distance runner with an excellent kick, while Bayi was an almost maniacal front runner who set what seemed to be suicidal paces. The Olympic match-up between them was highly anticipated.

But it never happened. Tanzania joined the African boycott of the Montréal Olympics and Bayi could not compete. In his absence, Walker seemed a cinch for the gold medal. But his 1976 form was not what it had been in 1974-75. He suffered from chronic compartment syndrome in both his lower legs, which would later require surgery, and he had to back off on his training, running shorter distances but of very high quality. Among the nine finalists in Montréal, only Ireland’s Eamonn Coghlan was a top miler, with many of the others being better known as 800 metre runners. The pace was quite slow, with Coghlan leading thru 800 and 1,200 metres in 2:03.15 and 3:01.23. Walker then took off on the backstretch and led out a 300 metre sprint. He quickly took the lead and his anerobic capacity held off the runners to win the gold medal, with Belgium’s Ivo Van Damme adding a silver medal to the one he had earned earlier in the 800. Before the end of the year, Van Damme was killed in a car crash. In his honor, the Ivo Damme Memorial athletics meeting is held annually in Brussels.

Records

These are the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1976 Summer Olympics.

World Record	3:32.16	Filbert Bayi	Christchurch (NZL)	February 2, 1974
Olympic Record	3:34.9	Kip Keino	Mexico City (MEX)	October 20, 1968

		Results
These are the official results of the Men's 1,500m metres event at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada. The final was held on Saturday 31 July 1976 and was contested by 9 athletes. The semi-finals were held on 30 July 1976 and were contested by 18 athletes. The heats were held on 29 July 1976 and 45 athletes entered. With the absence of notable front runner, world record holder Filbert Bayi, who was part of the 1976 Summer Olympics boycott, the race devolved into a slow, tactical battle. After a slow 62 second first lap, notable kicker Eamonn Coghlan rushed from the back of the field to the front, followed by mile world record holder, John Walker, but their action in the front only seemed to keep the pace slow. For another lap and a half, the field jockeyed for position for the inevitable final kick. Between 500 meters out and the bell the field bunched so it was almost four abreast across the line behind Walker and Coghlan. The bunch followed around the turn to the start line, then Walker decided to make the break, gaining a step on Coghlan with 800 meter medalists Rick Wohlhuter and Ivo Van Damme the next in line. Walker never relinquished his lead, slowly building on the gap. Behind him van Damme with Wohlhuter as his shadow, edged up on Coghlan. First Wohlhuter fell back, then Coghlan. As van Damme continued to chase Walker, Paul-Heinz Wellmann ran past the faltering athletes along the rail. A defeated Coghlan tried not to give up, dipping for the finish line in vain almost 10 meters too early. All that succeeded in doing was making him lose his balance, clearly falling to fourth place. Five months after this race, van Damme was killed in an automobile accident. Three other competitors from this race had notable extended careers; Walker set the record for running 100 sub-4 minute miles in his career in 1985. He competed in the Athletics at the 1990 Commonwealth Games on home soil at age 38. David Moorcroft set the 5,000 metres world record and later the masters M40 world record in the mile. Coghlan held the title of "Chairman of the boards" as a spectacular indoor mile runner. He took Moorcroft's masters record on an indoor track, becoming the first masters runner to break the 4 minute mile.
*1500 m*	Men	Final	31 July

Rank	Mark	Athlete	Country	NOC	Birth Date	Records
1	3.39.17	John Walker	New Zealand	NZL	12 Jan 52
2	3.39.27	Ivo Van Damme	Belgium	BEL	21 Feb 54
3	3.39.33	Paul-Heinz Wellmann	West Germany	FRG	31 Mar 52
4	3.39.51	Eamonn Coghlan	Ireland	IRL	24 Nov 52
5	3.39.65	Frank Clement	Great Britain	GBR	26 Apr 52
6	3.40.64	Rick Wohlhuter	United States	USA	23 Dec 48
7	3.40.94	Dave Moorcroft	Great Britain	GBR	10 Apr 53
8	3.41.80	Graham Crouch	Australia	AUS	7 Mar 48
9	3.43.02	János Zemen	Hungary	HUN	29 Aug 50
*1500 m*	Men	Semifinal 1	30 July

Rank	Mark	Athlete	Country	NOC	Birth Date	Records
1	3.39.65	John Walker	New Zealand	NZL	12 Jan 52
2	3.39.86	Graham Crouch	Australia	AUS	7 Mar 48
3	3.39.88	Dave Moorcroft	Great Britain	GBR	10 Apr 53
4	3.39.94	János Zemen	Hungary	HUN	29 Aug 50
5	3.40.06	Thomas Wessinghage	West Germany	FRG	22 Feb 52
6	3.40.34	Steve Ovett	Great Britain	GBR	9 Oct 55
7	3.40.92	Herman Mignon	Belgium	BEL	21 Mar 51
8	3.42.59	Fernando Mamede	Portugal	POR	1 Nov 51
	DNF	Dave Hill	Canada	CAN	26 Dec 52
*1500 m*	Men	Semifinal 2	30 July

Rank	Mark	Athlete	Country	NOC	Birth Date	Records
1	3.38.60	Eamonn Coghlan	Ireland	IRL	24 Nov 52
2	3.38.71	Rick Wohlhuter	United States	USA	23 Dec 48
3	3.38.75	Ivo Van Damme	Belgium	BEL	21 Feb 54
4	3.38.92	Frank Clement	Great Britain	GBR	26 Apr 52
5	3.38.99	Paul-Heinz Wellmann	West Germany	FRG	31 Mar 52
6	3.40.73	Francis Gonzalez	France	FRA	6 Feb 52
7	3.41.02	Paul Craig	Canada	CAN	2 Sep 53
8	3.41.52	Marc Nevens	Belgium	BEL	6 Nov 54
9	3.47.37	Hélder de Jesús	Portugal	POR	12 Apr 54
*1500 m*	Men	Heat 1	29 July

Rank	Mark	Athlete	Country	NOC	Birth Date	Records
1	3.44.18	Marc Nevens	Belgium	BEL	6 Nov 54
2	3.44.20	Hélder de Jesús	Portugal	POR	12 Apr 54
3	3.44.27	János Zemen	Hungary	HUN	29 Aug 50
4	3.44.42	Åke Svenson	Sweden	SWE	29 Mar 53
5	3.45.00	Evert Hoving	Netherlands	NED	14 Jan 53
6	3.45.02	Matt Centrowitz	United States	USA	28 Jan 55
7	3.45.32	Antti Loikkanen	Finland	FIN	15 Apr 55
8	3.45.39	Ruben Sørensen	Denmark	DEN	1 Jan 54
*1500 m*	Men	Heat 2	29 July

Rank	Mark	Athlete	Country	NOC	Birth Date	Records
1	3.37.89	Steve Ovett	Great Britain	GBR	9 Oct 55
2	3.37.93	Thomas Wessinghage	West Germany	FRG	22 Feb 52
3	3.37.98	Fernando Mamede	Portugal	POR	1 Nov 51
4	3.38.32	Herman Mignon	Belgium	BEL	21 Mar 51
5	3.38.89	Mike Durkin	United States	USA	14 Apr 53
6	3.39.20	Gheorghe Ghipu	Romania	ROU	30 Sep 54
7	3.39.34	Günther Hasler	Liechtenstein	LIE	2 Feb 51	NR
8	3.45.32	Markku Laine	Finland	FIN	26 May 55
9	4.12.47	Francisco Menocal	Nicaragua	NCA	3 Dec 45
*1500 m*	Men	Heat 3	29 July

Rank	Mark	Athlete	Country	NOC	Birth Date	Records
1	3.36.87	John Walker	New Zealand	NZL	12 Jan 52
2	3.37.53	Frank Clement	Great Britain	GBR	26 Apr 52
3	3.37.97	Graham Crouch	Australia	AUS	7 Mar 48
4	3.38.00	Paul Craig	Canada	CAN	2 Sep 53
5	3.38.59	Francis Gonzalez	France	FRA	6 Feb 52
6	3.41.67	Bronisław Malinowski	Poland	POL	4 Jun 51
7	3.45.47	Ágúst Ásgeirsson	Iceland	ISL	15 Jul 52
8	4.08.70	Shukair Al-Shaibani	Saudi Arabia	KSA	5 Jan 50
*1500 m*	Men	Heat 4	29 July

Rank	Mark	Athlete	Country	NOC	Birth Date	Records
1	3.39.86	Paul-Heinz Wellmann	West Germany	FRG	31 Mar 52
2	3.39.93	Ivo Van Damme	Belgium	BEL	21 Feb 54
3	3.39.94	Rick Wohlhuter	United States	USA	23 Dec 48
4	3.40.12	Niall O'Shaughnessy	Ireland	IRL	23 Nov 55
5	3.43.51	Antonio Colon	Puerto Rico	PUR	24 Mar 53
6	3.47.96	Ulf Högberg	Sweden	SWE	21 Jan 46
7	3.59.60	Peter Spir	Canada	CAN	6 Nov 55
8	4.23.41	Emmanuel Saint-Hilaire	Haiti	HAI	5 Dec 51
*1500 m*	Men	Heat 5	29 July

Rank	Mark	Athlete	Country	NOC	Birth Date	Records
1	3.39.87	Eamonn Coghlan	Ireland	IRL	24 Nov 52
2	3.40.69	Dave Moorcroft	Great Britain	GBR	10 Apr 53
3	3.41.24	Dave Hill	Canada	CAN	26 Dec 52
4	3.42.09	Karl Fleschen	West Germany	FRG	28 May 55
5	3.42.69	Rolf Gysin	Switzerland	SUI	29 Jan 52
6	3.42.71	Luis Medina	United States	USA
7	3.44.59	Lars-Martin Kaupang	Norway	NOR	18 Aug 52
8	3.45.12	Spilios Zacharopoulos	Greece	GRE	2 Feb 50
9	3.45.59	Muhammed Siddique	Pakistan	PAK	30 Oct 48