# Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's 1500 metres

The women's 1500 metres at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place from 21–23 August at the Beijing National Stadium.
The qualifying standards were 4:07.00 (A standard) and 4:08.00 (B standard).
This event was hit hard by the Russian doping scandal on 31 July 2008, as all three Russian entrants, Yuliya Fomenko, Tatyana Tomashova and Yelena Soboleva, were suspended from competition. These athletes were three of the favourites to take the medals in Beijing.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world record, Olympic record, and world leading time were as follows:
| World record | Qu Yunxia (CHN) | 3:50.46 | Beijing, China | 11 September 1993 |
| Olympic record | Paula Ivan (ROU) | 3:53.96 | Seoul, South Korea | 1 October 1988 |
| World Leading | Gelete Burka (ETH) | 3:59.75 | Valencia, Spain | 9 March 2008 |
No new world or Olympic records were set for this event.

## Results
### Round 1

Qualification: First 3 in each heat(Q) and the next 3 fastest(q) advance to the final.
| Rank | Heat | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 3 | Nancy Langat | Kenya | 4:03.02 | Q, SB |
| 2 | 3 | Nataliya Tobias | Ukraine | 4:03.19 | Q, SB |
| 3 | 3 | Lisa Dobriskey | Great Britain | 4:03.22 | Q, PB |
| 4 | 3 | Shannon Rowbury | United States | 4:03.89 | q |
| 5 | 3 | Anna Alminova | Russia | 4:04.66 | q |
| 6 | 1 | Maryam Yusuf Jamal | Bahrain | 4:05.14 | Q |
| 7 | 1 | Natalia Rodríguez | Spain | 4:05.30 | Q |
| 8 | 1 | Siham Hilali | Morocco | 4:05.36 | Q, SB |
| 9 | 1 | Anna Mishchenko | Ukraine | 4:05.61 | q, PB |
| 10 | 1 | Sarah Jamieson | Australia | 4:06.64 | |
| 11 | 1 | Stephanie Twell | Great Britain | 4:06.68 | |
| 12 | 1 | Anna Jakubczak | Poland | 4:07.33 | |
| 13 | 3 | Sylwia Ejdys | Poland | 4:08.37 | |
| 14 | 3 | René Kalmer | South Africa | 4:08.41 | |
| 15 | 3 | Sonja Roman | Slovenia | 4:08.52 | |
| 16 | 3 | Liu Qing | China | 4:09.27 | |
| 17 | 1 | Christin Wurth-Thomas | United States | 4:09.70 | |
| 18 | 1 | Irene Jelagat | Kenya | 4:09.92 | |
| 19 | 3 | Meskerem Assefa | Ethiopia | 4:10.04 | |
| 20 | 2 | Iryna Lishchynska | Ukraine | 4:13.60 | Q |
| 21 | 2 | Iris Fuentes-Pila | Spain | 4:14.10 | Q |
| 22 | 2 | Btissam Lakhouad | Morocco | 4:14.34 | Q |
| 23 | 2 | Susan Scott | Great Britain | 4:14.66 | |
| 24 | 1 | Konstadína Efedáki | Greece | 4:15.02 | |
| 25 | 2 | Viola Kibiwot | Kenya | 4:15.62 | |
| 26 | 2 | Gelete Burka | Ethiopia | 4:15.77 | |
| 27 | 2 | Agnes Samaria | Namibia | 4:15.80 | |
| 28 | 2 | Erin Donohue | United States | 4:16.05 | |
| 29 | 2 | Lisa Corrigan | Australia | 4:16.32 | |
| 30 | 1 | Nahida Touhami | Algeria | 4:18.99 | |
| 31 | 2 | Lidia Chojecka | Poland | 4:19.57 | |
| 32 | 3 | Bouchra Chaabi | Morocco | 4:19.89 | |
| 33 | 2 | Domingas Togna | Guinea-Bissau | 5:05.76 | NR |

### Final

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| | Nancy Langat | Kenya | 4:00.03 | PB |
| | Iryna Lishchynska | Ukraine | 4:01.63 | |
| | Nataliya Tobias | Ukraine | 4:01.78 | PB |
| 4 | Lisa Dobriskey | Great Britain | 4:02.10 | PB |
| 5 | Maryam Yusuf Jamal | Bahrain | 4:02.71 | |
| 6 | Natalia Rodríguez | Spain | 4:03.19 | SB |
| 7 | Shannon Rowbury | United States | 4:03.58 | |
| 8 | Iris Fuentes-Pila | Spain | 4:04.86 | |
| 9 | Anna Mishchenko | Ukraine | 4:05.13 | PB |
| 10 | Siham Hilali | Morocco | 4:05.57 | |
| 11 | Anna Alminova | Russia | 4:06.99 | |
| 12 | Btissam Lakhouad | Morocco | 4:07.25 | |

### Splits

| Intermediate | Athlete | Country | Mark |
| 400m | Anna Alminova | Russia | 1:05.90 |
| 800m | Anna Alminova | Russia | 2:13.70 |
| 1200m | Maryam Yusuf Jamal | Bahrain | 3:16.41 |