Host City: Moskva, Soviet Union |
Format: Top four in each heat and next fastest advanced to the final. |
Date Started: July 30, 1980 |
Format: Top four in each heat and next two fastest advanced to the semi-finals. |
Date Finished: August 1, 1980 |
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(Competitors: 40; Countries: 29; Finalists: 9) |
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Venue(s): Grand Arena, Central Lenin Stadium Area, Moskva
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Overview by IAAF |
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Ovett recorded the fastest Olympic heat time ever – 3:36.80 – in the first round, and Coe won the second semi-final in 3:39.34. There were no other races under 3:40 and the final shaped up as a return duel following Ovett’s 800m win. Straub set the pace in the final, not quite as slow as in Montreal, but here the pace slowed in the second lap. Just after 800m the East German made a bold move. Coe reacted quickest and at the bell, reached by Straub in 2:45.9, Coe was just 0.3 seconds in arrears. Ovett was a further 2m back, with Busse and Fontanella just behind. As Straub accelerated down the back straight only Coe and Ovett could stay with him. Coe zipped by Straub as they came into the straight and his last 100m, run in 12.1 was too strong for the other two. Straub richly deserved his silver medal for making a great – if not world recordpaced – race, as Ovett gave up in the last 10m. Coe’s last 800m was a fine 1:49.2, while Ovett’s defeat was his first loss over 1500m or Mile final for more than three years – a run of 41 victories. |
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Summary by Sports-reference.com |
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By 1980, the two top milers in the world were both from Great Britain – Steve Ovett and Sebastian Coe. Ovett had won the 1978 European Championship. Coe came to the fore in the summer of 1979 when he broke the world records for 800 metres, 1,500 metres, and the mile. At the Dubai Golden Mile on 17 July, he ran 3:48.95 to break John Walker's mile record. A few weeks later, at the Weltklasse Meet in Zürich, he ran 3:32.03 to better Filbert Bayi's record for 1,500 metres. But Ovett had been ranked #1 in the world in 1977-78 and he fought back, posting times of 3:49.57 and 3:32.11. Then on 21 May 1980, at the Crystal Palace in London, Ovett broke Coe's world mile record, running 3:48.8. And in early June, at Bislett Stadium in Oslo, he ran 3:32.09 for 1,500 metres. In that era both his mark and Coe's world record of 3:32.03 were rounded up to 3:32.1 and Ovett had another world record. |
The Moskva Olympics were sorely affected by the American-led boycott, and two runners who were missed were John Walker, the defending champion, and American Steve Scott. But the British Olympic Association defied their government and Great Britain entered a team, allowing both Coe and Ovett to compete. Earlier in the Olympics, they both ran the 800, where Coe was considered the stronger runner because of his greater speed. But Ovett won that race in a slight upset, Coe getting the silver medal. In the 1,500 final, the pace was absurdly slow, passing 800 in 2:04.9. The West German Jürgen Straub then began a sustained kick, trying to draw out the field. It played into Coe's hands, who could maintain high speed longer than anyone. He pulled up to Straub on the final curve and passed him at the start of the homestretch, holding him off in the straight, with Ovett finishing third. |
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Results |
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1500 m |
Men |
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Final |
1 August |
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Rank |
Mark |
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Athlete |
Country |
NOC |
Birth Date |
Records |
1 |
3.38.40 |
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Sebastian Coe |
Great Britain |
GBR |
29 Sep 56 |
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2 |
3.38.80 |
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Jürgen Straub |
East Germany |
GDR |
3 Nov 53 |
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3 |
3.38.99 |
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Steve Ovett |
Great Britain |
GBR |
9 Oct 55 |
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4 |
3.40.17 |
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Andreas Busse |
East Germany |
GDR |
6 May 59 |
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5 |
3.40.37 |
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Vittorio Fontanella |
Italy |
ITA |
17 Mar 53 |
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6 |
3.40.66 |
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Jozef Plachý |
Czechoslovakia |
TCH |
28 Feb 49 |
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7 |
3.41.48 |
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José Marajo |
France |
FRA |
10 Aug 54 |
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8 |
3.41.98 |
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Steve Cram |
Great Britain |
GBR |
14 Oct 60 |
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9 |
3.43.05 |
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Dragan Zdravkovic |
Yugoslavia |
YUG |
16 Dec 59 |
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1500 m |
Men |
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Semifinal 1 |
31 July |
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Rank |
Mark |
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Athlete |
Country |
NOC |
Birth Date |
Records |
1 |
3.43.09 |
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Steve Ovett |
Great Britain |
GBR |
9 Oct 55 |
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2 |
3.43.39 |
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Dragan Zdravkovic |
Yugoslavia |
YUG |
16 Dec 59 |
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3 |
3.43.47 |
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Andreas Busse |
East Germany |
GDR |
6 May 59 |
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4 |
3.43.55 |
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Steve Cram |
Great Britain |
GBR |
14 Oct 60 |
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5 |
3.43.56 |
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Vladimir Malozemlin |
Soviet Union |
URS |
26 Jan 56 |
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6 |
3.43.98 |
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Antti Loikkanen |
Finland |
FIN |
15 Apr 55 |
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7 |
3.44.40 |
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João Campos |
Portugal |
POR |
22 Sep 58 |
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8 |
3.44.64 |
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Alex Gonzalez |
United States |
USA |
18 May 60 |
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9 |
3.44.85 |
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Mehdi Aïdet |
Algeria |
ALG |
3 Nov 53 |
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1500 m |
Men |
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Semifinal 2 |
31 July |
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Rank |
Mark |
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Athlete |
Country |
NOC |
Birth Date |
Records |
1 |
3.39.34 |
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Sebastian Coe |
Great Britain |
GBR |
29 Sep 56 |
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2 |
3.39.38 |
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Jürgen Straub |
East Germany |
GDR |
3 Nov 53 |
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3 |
3.39.56 |
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José Marajo |
France |
FRA |
10 Aug 54 |
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4 |
3.40.07 |
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Vittorio Fontanella |
Italy |
ITA |
17 Mar 53 |
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5 |
3.40.37 |
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Jozef Plachý |
Czechoslovakia |
TCH |
28 Feb 49 |
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6 |
3.40.72 |
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Robert Nemeth |
Austria |
AUT |
5 Jun 58 |
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7 |
3.41.50 |
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Vitaliy Tishchenko |
Soviet Union |
URS |
28 Jul 57 |
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8 |
3.42.55 |
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José Luís González |
Spain |
ESP |
8 Dec 57 |
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9 |
3.48.15 |
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Mirosław Żerkowski |
Poland |
POL |
20 Aug 56 |
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1500 m |
Men |
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Heat 1 |
30 July |
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Rank |
Mark |
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Athlete |
Country |
NOC |
Birth Date |
Records |
1 |
3.43.85 |
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José Marajo |
France |
FRA |
10 Aug 54 |
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2 |
3.43.86 |
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Mehdi Aïdet |
Algeria |
ALG |
3 Nov 53 |
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3 |
3.43.99 |
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Dragan Zdravkovic |
Yugoslavia |
YUG |
16 Dec 59 |
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4 |
3.44.06 |
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Steve Cram |
Great Britain |
GBR |
14 Oct 60 |
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5 |
3.44.19 |
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Pavel Yakovlev |
Soviet Union |
URS |
16 Jan 58 |
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6 |
3.44.65 |
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José Manuel Abascal |
Spain |
ESP |
17 Mar 58 |
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7 |
3.55.50 |
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Mopeli Molapo |
Lesotho |
LES |
27 Nov 57 |
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8 |
3.57.55 |
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Khaled Khalifa |
Kuwait |
KUW |
3 Dec 57 |
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9 |
3.58.67 |
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Vicente Santos |
Mozambique |
MOZ |
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1500 m |
Men |
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Heat 2 |
30 July |
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Rank |
Mark |
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Athlete |
Country |
NOC |
Birth Date |
Records |
1 |
3.44.27 |
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Andreas Busse |
East Germany |
GDR |
6 May 59 |
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2 |
3.44.39 |
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Vitaliy Tishchenko |
Soviet Union |
URS |
28 Jul 57 |
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3 |
3.44.39 |
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Jozef Plachý |
Czechoslovakia |
TCH |
28 Feb 49 |
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4 |
3.44.42 |
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Alex Gonzalez |
United States |
USA |
18 May 60 |
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5 |
3.44.72 |
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Pierre Délèze |
Switzerland |
SUI |
25 Aug 58 |
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6 |
3.45.68 |
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Hailu Zeru |
Ethiopia |
ETH |
7 Jan 55 |
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7 |
3.45.96 |
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Abderrahmane Morceli |
Algeria |
ALG |
1 Jan 57 |
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8 |
3.55.60 |
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Sant Kumar |
India |
IND |
24 Jul 59 |
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9 |
3.59.1a |
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Ishmael Mhaladi |
Botswana |
BOT |
21 Jan 48 |
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10 |
4.03.9a |
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George Branche |
Sierra Leone |
SLE |
3 Apr 53 |
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11 |
4.15.3a |
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Demien Degboe |
Benin |
BEN |
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1500 m |
Men |
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Heat 3 |
30 July |
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Rank |
Mark |
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Athlete |
Country |
NOC |
Birth Date |
Records |
1 |
3.40.03 |
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Vittorio Fontanella |
Italy |
ITA |
17 Mar 53 |
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2 |
3.40.05 |
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Sebastian Coe |
Great Britain |
GBR |
29 Sep 56 |
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3 |
3.40.49 |
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Antti Loikkanen |
Finland |
FIN |
15 Apr 55 |
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4 |
3.40.85 |
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José Luís González |
Spain |
ESP |
8 Dec 57 |
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5 |
3.41.25 |
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João Campos |
Portugal |
POR |
22 Sep 58 |
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6 |
3.41.92 |
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Ray Flynn |
Ireland |
IRL |
22 Jan 57 |
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7 |
3.45.79 |
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Nigousse Bekele |
Ethiopia |
ETH |
9 Nov 59 |
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8 |
3.53.62 |
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Archfel Musango |
Zambia |
ZAM |
9 Mar 59 |
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9 |
3.55.9a |
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Tisbite Rakotoarisoa |
Madagascar |
MAD |
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10 |
4.06.8a |
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Quang Khai Le |
Vietnam |
VIE |
2 Sep 52 |
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1500 m |
Men |
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Heat 4 |
30 July |
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Rank |
Mark |
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Athlete |
Country |
NOC |
Birth Date |
Records |
1 |
3.36.80 |
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Steve Ovett |
Great Britain |
GBR |
9 Oct 55 |
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2 |
3.36.95 |
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Jürgen Straub |
East Germany |
GDR |
3 Nov 53 |
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3 |
3.38.30 |
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Robert Nemeth |
Austria |
AUT |
5 Jun 58 |
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4 |
3.38.68 |
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Vladimir Malozemlin |
Soviet Union |
URS |
26 Jan 56 |
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5 |
3.39.19 |
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Mirosław Żerkowski |
Poland |
POL |
20 Aug 56 |
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6 |
3.43.04 |
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Kassa Balcha |
Ethiopia |
ETH |
5 Dec 55 |
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7 |
3.44.34 |
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Jón Didriksson |
Iceland |
ISL |
17 Jun 55 |
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8 |
3.45.29 |
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Derradji Harek |
Algeria |
ALG |
19 Dec 59 |
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9 |
3.54.21 |
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Marzouq Mabrouk |
Libya |
LBA |
61 |
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10 |
4.00.3a |
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Mohamed Makhlouf |
Syria |
SYR |
10 Nov 57 |
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