# Athletics at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Men's 3000 metres steeplechase

The men's 3000 metres steeplechase at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California had an entry list of 35 competitors, with three qualifying heats (35 runners) and two semifinals (24) before the final (12) took place.

## Summary

During the first lap of the race, a bandit rushed the track, joining the race over the first water jump. He managed to sprint past security over the next barrier and beyond before being tackled. On the second lap, he managed to get free again for a few moments before finally being dragged away.
   "They've got all sorts of security at these games, designed to prevent anything from nuclear attack to germ warfare. But the odd idiot is a real problem."
Shortly after the second lap began, Peter Renner assumed the lead, followed by Kenyan Julius duo of Julius Korir and Julius Kariuki. Henry Marsh was typically as much as 20 metres back off the pace. Renner opened up several metres on the Kenyans but with two laps to go, the field began bunching behind Renner with Brian Diemer, Joseph Mahmoud, Colin Reitz and Marsh back in the fold, all getting ready to pounce. Just before the bell, Renner started to fall back. Korir accelerated and Marsh was the first to follow, Diemer was next to catch up, followed by Mahmoud. Through the final turn, Marsh looked like the only one still with any shot at Korir, but he was still losing ground. Marsh was unable to make any headway as Mahmoud passed in on the outside, with Korir taking the final barrier as a hurdler and sprinting to victory. Mahmoud sprinted away to the silver medal while Diemer challenged Marsh on the outside. Diemer got the edge on Marsh with 10 metres to go, with the beaten Marsh just striding the final few steps over the line.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world, and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Henry Rono (KEN) | 8:05.4 | Seattle, United States | 13 May 1978 |
| Olympic record | Anders Gärderud (SWE) | 8:08.02 | Montreal, Canada | 28 July 1976 |

## Schedule

The men's 3000 metres steeplechase took place over three separate days.
All times are Pacific Daylight Time (UTC-7)
| Date | Time | Round |
| Monday, 6 August 1984 | 18:25 | Round One |
| Wednesday, 8 August 1984 | 20:00 | Semi-finals |
| Friday, 10 August 1984 | 19:10 | Final |

## Results
### Heats

Note: Top six in each heat (Q) and the next six fastest (q) advanced to the semi-finals.

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Brian Diemer | United States | 8:25.92 | Q |
| 2 | Domingo Ramón | Spain | 8:26.04 | Q |
| 3 | Féthi Baccouche | Tunisia | 8:27.49 | Q |
| 4 | William Van Dijck | Belgium | 8:29.68 | Q |
| 5 | Emilio Ulloa | Chile | 8:29.71 | Q |
| 6 | Pascal Debacker | France | 8:30.35 | Q |
| 7 | Paul Davies-Hale | Great Britain | 8:31.97 | q |
| 8 | Francesco Panetta | Italy | 8:37.05 | q |
| 9 | Kip Rono | Kenya | 8:41.75 | |
| 10 | Pedro Cáceres | Argentina | 8:50.02 | |
| 11 | Emmanuel M'Pioh | Republic of the Congo | 9:05.58 | NR |
| 12 | Abdullah Azzan Al-Akbary | Oman | 10:22.56 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Julius Korir | Kenya | 8:29.08 | Q |
| 2 | Roger Hackney | Great Britain | 8:30.31 | Q |
| 3 | Joseph Mahmoud | France | 8:30.85 | Q |
| 4 | Hans Koeleman | Netherlands | 8:31.34 | Q |
| 5 | Greg Duhaime | Canada | 8:31.54 | Q |
| 6 | Carmelo Ríos | Puerto Rico | 8:31.88 | Q |
| 7 | Franco Boffi | Italy | 8:32.26 | q |
| 8 | John Gregorek | United States | 8:38.43 | q |
| 9 | Juan José Torres | Spain | 8:40.76 | |
| 10 | Hector Begeo | Philippines | 8:53.70 | |
| 11 | Hugo Allan García | Guatemala | 9:02.41 | |
| 12 | Ramón López | Paraguay | 9:36.36 | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Julius Kariuki | Kenya | 8:19.45 | Q |
| 2 | Peter Renner | New Zealand | 8:22.95 | Q |
| 3 | Peter Daenens | Belgium | 8:28.26 | Q |
| 4 | Henry Marsh | United States | 8:29.23 | Q |
| 5 | Colin Reitz | Great Britain | 8:29.33 | Q |
| 6 | Tommy Ekblom | Finland | 8:29.45 | Q |
| 7 | Filippos Filippou | Cyprus | 8:30.09 | q |
| 8 | Liam O'Brien | Ireland | 8:31.89 | q |
| 9 | Yehuda Zadok | Israel | 8:42.28 | |
| 10 | Kim Ju-ryong | South Korea | 8:43.50 | |
| 11 | Albert Marie | Seychelles | 9:32.30 | |
| — | Filbert Bayi | Tanzania | — | DNS |

### Semi-finals

Note: Top five in each heat (Q) and the next two fastest (q) advanced to the final.

#### Semi-final 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Domingo Ramón | Spain | 8:19.08 | Q |
| 2 | Pascal Debacker | France | 8:20.34 | Q |
| 3 | Tommy Ekblom | Finland | 8:20.54 | Q |
| 4 | Henry Marsh | United States | 8:20.57 | Q |
| 5 | Roger Hackney | Great Britain | 8:20.77 | Q |
| 6 | Julius Kariuki | Kenya | 8:21.07 | q |
| 7 | William Van Dijck | Belgium | 8:23.08 | |
| 8 | Paul Davies-Hale | Great Britain | 8:26.15 | |
| 9 | Greg Duhaime | Canada | 8:26.32 | |
| 10 | Franco Boffi | Italy | 8:30.82 | |
| 11 | Liam O'Brien | Ireland | 8:34.90 | |
| 12 | Filippos Filippou | Cyprus | 8:39.47 | |

#### Semi-final 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Julius Korir | Kenya | 8:17.40 | Q |
| 2 | Peter Renner | New Zealand | 8:18.12 | Q |
| 3 | Brian Diemer | United States | 8:18.36 | Q |
| 4 | Colin Reitz | Great Britain | 8:18.62 | Q |
| 5 | Joseph Mahmoud | France | 8:18.62 | Q |
| 6 | Féthi Baccouche | Tunisia | 8:18.70 | q |
| 7 | Peter Daenens | Belgium | 8:21.77 | |
| 8 | Emilio Ulloa | Chile | 8:28.99 | |
| 9 | Francesco Panetta | Italy | 8:31.24 | |
| 10 | Hans Koeleman | Netherlands | 8:32.29 | |
| 11 | John Gregorek | United States | 8:38.19 | |
| 12 | Carmelo Ríos | Puerto Rico | 8:44.70 | |

### Final

| Rank | Athlete | Nationality | Time |
| | Julius Korir | Kenya | 8:11.80 |
| | Joseph Mahmoud | France | 8:13.31 |
| | Brian Diemer | United States | 8:14.06 |
| 4 | Henry Marsh | United States | 8:14.25 |
| 5 | Colin Reitz | Great Britain | 8:15.48 |
| 6 | Domingo Ramón | Spain | 8:17.27 |
| 7 | Julius Kariuki | Kenya | 8:17.47 |
| 8 | Pascal Debacker | France | 8:21.51 |
| 9 | Tommy Ekblom | Finland | 8:23.95 |
| 10 | Roger Hackney | Great Britain | 8:27.10 |
| 11 | Peter Renner | New Zealand | 8:29.81 |
| 12 | Féthi Baccouche | Tunisia | 8:43.40 |