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1980 Olympic Games Moscow - Men's 1500 m

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Details: Parent Category: Olympic Games (Athletics); Category: 1980 Olympic Games Moscow - (Athletics); Last Updated: 30 July 2016; Hits: 1211

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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

(Competitors: 40; Countries: 29; Finalists: 9)

Venue(s): Grand Arena, Central Lenin Stadium Area, Moskva

Overview by IAAF

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.

Summary by Sports-reference.com

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.

		Results

*1500 m*	Men	Final	1 August

Rank	Mark	Athlete	Country	NOC	Birth Date	Records
1	3.38.40	Sebastian Coe	Great Britain	GBR	29 Sep 56
2	3.38.80	Jürgen Straub	East Germany	GDR	3 Nov 53
3	3.38.99	Steve Ovett	Great Britain	GBR	9 Oct 55
4	3.40.17	Andreas Busse	East Germany	GDR	6 May 59
5	3.40.37	Vittorio Fontanella	Italy	ITA	17 Mar 53
6	3.40.66	Jozef Plachý	Czechoslovakia	TCH	28 Feb 49
7	3.41.48	José Marajo	France	FRA	10 Aug 54
8	3.41.98	Steve Cram	Great Britain	GBR	14 Oct 60
9	3.43.05	Dragan Zdravkovic	Yugoslavia	YUG	16 Dec 59
*1500 m*	Men	Semifinal 1	31 July

Rank	Mark	Athlete	Country	NOC	Birth Date	Records
1	3.43.09	Steve Ovett	Great Britain	GBR	9 Oct 55
2	3.43.39	Dragan Zdravkovic	Yugoslavia	YUG	16 Dec 59
3	3.43.47	Andreas Busse	East Germany	GDR	6 May 59
4	3.43.55	Steve Cram	Great Britain	GBR	14 Oct 60
5	3.43.56	Vladimir Malozemlin	Soviet Union	URS	26 Jan 56
6	3.43.98	Antti Loikkanen	Finland	FIN	15 Apr 55
7	3.44.40	João Campos	Portugal	POR	22 Sep 58
8	3.44.64	Alex Gonzalez	United States	USA	18 May 60
9	3.44.85	Mehdi Aïdet	Algeria	ALG	3 Nov 53
*1500 m*	Men	Semifinal 2	31 July

Rank	Mark	Athlete	Country	NOC	Birth Date	Records
1	3.39.34	Sebastian Coe	Great Britain	GBR	29 Sep 56
2	3.39.38	Jürgen Straub	East Germany	GDR	3 Nov 53
3	3.39.56	José Marajo	France	FRA	10 Aug 54
4	3.40.07	Vittorio Fontanella	Italy	ITA	17 Mar 53
5	3.40.37	Jozef Plachý	Czechoslovakia	TCH	28 Feb 49
6	3.40.72	Robert Nemeth	Austria	AUT	5 Jun 58
7	3.41.50	Vitaliy Tishchenko	Soviet Union	URS	28 Jul 57
8	3.42.55	José Luís González	Spain	ESP	8 Dec 57
9	3.48.15	Mirosław Żerkowski	Poland	POL	20 Aug 56
*1500 m*	Men	Heat 1	30 July

Rank	Mark	Athlete	Country	NOC	Birth Date	Records
1	3.43.85	José Marajo	France	FRA	10 Aug 54
2	3.43.86	Mehdi Aïdet	Algeria	ALG	3 Nov 53
3	3.43.99	Dragan Zdravkovic	Yugoslavia	YUG	16 Dec 59
4	3.44.06	Steve Cram	Great Britain	GBR	14 Oct 60
5	3.44.19	Pavel Yakovlev	Soviet Union	URS	16 Jan 58
6	3.44.65	José Manuel Abascal	Spain	ESP	17 Mar 58
7	3.55.50	Mopeli Molapo	Lesotho	LES	27 Nov 57
8	3.57.55	Khaled Khalifa	Kuwait	KUW	3 Dec 57
9	3.58.67	Vicente Santos	Mozambique	MOZ
*1500 m*	Men	Heat 2	30 July

Rank	Mark	Athlete	Country	NOC	Birth Date	Records
1	3.44.27	Andreas Busse	East Germany	GDR	6 May 59
2	3.44.39	Vitaliy Tishchenko	Soviet Union	URS	28 Jul 57
3	3.44.39	Jozef Plachý	Czechoslovakia	TCH	28 Feb 49
4	3.44.42	Alex Gonzalez	United States	USA	18 May 60
5	3.44.72	Pierre Délèze	Switzerland	SUI	25 Aug 58
6	3.45.68	Hailu Zeru	Ethiopia	ETH	7 Jan 55
7	3.45.96	Abderrahmane Morceli	Algeria	ALG	1 Jan 57
8	3.55.60	Sant Kumar	India	IND	24 Jul 59
9	3.59.1a	Ishmael Mhaladi	Botswana	BOT	21 Jan 48
10	4.03.9a	George Branche	Sierra Leone	SLE	3 Apr 53
11	4.15.3a	Demien Degboe	Benin	BEN
*1500 m*	Men	Heat 3	30 July

Rank	Mark	Athlete	Country	NOC	Birth Date	Records
1	3.40.03	Vittorio Fontanella	Italy	ITA	17 Mar 53
2	3.40.05	Sebastian Coe	Great Britain	GBR	29 Sep 56
3	3.40.49	Antti Loikkanen	Finland	FIN	15 Apr 55
4	3.40.85	José Luís González	Spain	ESP	8 Dec 57
5	3.41.25	João Campos	Portugal	POR	22 Sep 58
6	3.41.92	Ray Flynn	Ireland	IRL	22 Jan 57
7	3.45.79	Nigousse Bekele	Ethiopia	ETH	9 Nov 59
8	3.53.62	Archfel Musango	Zambia	ZAM	9 Mar 59
9	3.55.9a	Tisbite Rakotoarisoa	Madagascar	MAD
10	4.06.8a	Quang Khai Le	Vietnam	VIE	2 Sep 52
*1500 m*	Men	Heat 4	30 July

Rank	Mark	Athlete	Country	NOC	Birth Date	Records
1	3.36.80	Steve Ovett	Great Britain	GBR	9 Oct 55
2	3.36.95	Jürgen Straub	East Germany	GDR	3 Nov 53
3	3.38.30	Robert Nemeth	Austria	AUT	5 Jun 58
4	3.38.68	Vladimir Malozemlin	Soviet Union	URS	26 Jan 56
5	3.39.19	Mirosław Żerkowski	Poland	POL	20 Aug 56
6	3.43.04	Kassa Balcha	Ethiopia	ETH	5 Dec 55
7	3.44.34	Jón Didriksson	Iceland	ISL	17 Jun 55
8	3.45.29	Derradji Harek	Algeria	ALG	19 Dec 59
9	3.54.21	Marzouq Mabrouk	Libya	LBA	61
10	4.00.3a	Mohamed Makhlouf	Syria	SYR	10 Nov 57