Athletics at the 1896 Summer Olympics – Men's 1500 metres

The men's 1500 metres was the longest track race in the 1896 Summer Olympics. It was the last event on 7 April. The race had 8 athletes. It was ran in one round.

Background

The 1500 metres was one of the 12 athletic events that has been held in every Summer Olympics. In 1895, Albin Lermusiaux had the unofficial world record for this event. The world record holder did not run in the race.

 Competition 

The competition was all in one round.Official Report, pp. 71–72.

The track was only 330 metres, even though modern tracks are usually 400 metres. The track had quick turns was made of loose cinders. Running was very difficult. Runners also turned clockwise, rather than modern counterclockwise turns.

Schedule

The exact times of each events were not written down. The 1500 metres was the last event of the second day.

 Date Round Gregorian Julian Tuesday, 7 April 1896  Tuesday, 26 March 1896  Final

Summary

Albin Lermusiaux of France was in front for most of the race. However, Edwin Flack and Arthur Blake passed him in the last 100 meters.

Flack passed Blake, and beat him by 5 meters. This made Flack the first Australian Olympic winner. Lermusiaux finished in third, 15 meters behind. Carl Galle was in 4th.

The other Greek were all in last place. However, records do not say what position the last two ran in.

Results

 Rank  Athlete  Nation  Time  Notes  Edwin Flack   4:33.2   Arthur Blake   4:33.6  Albin Lermusiaux   4:36.0 4  Carl Galle   4:39.0 5  Angelos Fetsis   Unknown 6  Dimitrios Golemis   Unknown 7–8 Konstantinos Karakatsanis   Unknown Dimitrios Tomprof   Unknown 

Records

Edwin Flack set the first Olympic record of the event. His time was 4:33.2.

References

 (Digitally available at la84foundation.org )
  (Excerpt available at la84foundation.org )


 Citations 

Men's 1500 metres
Category:1500 metres at the Olympics