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2000 Olympic Games Sydney - Women's 1500 m

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Details: Parent Category: Olympic Games (Athletics); Category: 2000 Olympic Games Sydney - (Athletics); Last Updated: 27 June 2019; Hits: 610

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Host City: Sydney, Australia

Format: Top three in each heat and three two fastest advanced to the final.

Date Started: September 27, 2000

Format: Top six in each heat and next six fastest advanced to the semi-finals.

Date Finished: September 30, 2000

(Competitors: 42; Countries: 27; Finalists: 12)

Venue(s): Olympic Stadium, Olympic Park, Sydney, New South Wales

Overview by IAAF

The Olympics throws up some curious races on occasion, and this was one of them. Before the final Svetlana Masterkova, the defending champion collided with another runner and fell in her heat, which meant that no Russian in either the Sydney 800m or 1500m qualified for the final. The fastest race before the final was the first semi-final won by Mérah-Benida in 4:05.24, with four others under 4:06. Partly sighted Marla Runyan led the field in the first lap, but the pace of 70.56 was too slow, and the lead passed to Suzy Favor Hamilton after 700m. The tempo quickened, and the pack surged. Britain’s Hayley Tullett fell, and race favourite Gabriela Szabo had to jump over her, and almost stopped, losing 30m. The American held the lead until the bell, when Carla Sacramento took over. Favor Hamilton regained the lead with 250m to go, and was caught by Mérah-Benida with 110m to go. The Algerian forged ahead while Favor Hamilton buckled and she eventually fell and finished last. Szekely finished quickly and ended less than half a metre behind, but it was Szabo who finished fastest of all to take third place. The winning time of 4:05.10 was the second slowest in Olympic history.

Summary by Sports-reference.com

The defending champion Svetlana Masterkova, had won the 1998 European and 1999 World Championship, and was favored. But in her heat, she collided with another runner, fell, and was out of the competition. Without her, the final was wide open. The first lap of the final was absurdly slow, at over 70 seconds, the lead taken by Marla Runyan (USA), who was partially blind. America's Suzy Favor-Hamilton then took over and led for most of the next two laps, fighting off several challenges. Going into the final turn, she still led with Romania's Violeta Szekely and Algeria's Noria Mérah-Benida on her shoulder. Mérah-Benida took the lead coming into the final straight and would not be caught, although Szekely pushed her to the end, finishing only 0.05 down. Romania's Gabriela Szabo had been almost in last place on the backstretch but closed strongly to get the bronze medal.

Records

World Record	3:50.46	Yunxia Qu	China	Beijing, China	11 September 1993
Olympic Record	3:53.96	Paula Ivan	Romania	Seoul, South Korea	1 October 1988

			Results
The Women's 1500 metres at the 2000 Summer Olympics as part of the athletics programme was held at Stadium Australia on Wednesday 27 September, Thursday 28 September, and Saturday 30 September 2000. The top six runners in each of the initial three heats automatically qualified for the semi-final. The next six fastest runners from across the heats also qualified for the semi-final. The top five runners in each semi-final automatically qualified for the final. The next two fastest runners from across the heats also qualified for the final. There were a total number of 43 participating athletes. The last lap was the battleground for this final. Going into this lap, Portugal's Carla Sacramento held the lead, with Poland's Lidia Chojecka on the outside and America's Suzy Favor-Hamilton edging ahead on the inside. Over the next 200 metres, Favor-Hamilton edged ahead of Sacramento while a pack of six formed behind, led by Algeria's Nouria Mérah-Benida. Favor-Hamilton held the lead around the turn as Mérah-Benida moved to her shoulder. As the final straightaway neared, Favor-Hamilton looked at her feet expecting her usual final acceleration. It was not there, as first Mérah-Benida went by, followed by the other Polish runner, Anna Jakubczak, and then Chojecka and Romania's Violeta Szekely. After a small gap, Ethiopia's Kutre Dulecha went by Favor-Hamilton, who then crashed to the track untouched. Years later, Favor-Hamilton admitted that the fall was deliberate, as she realised that she was not going to win.^[1] As a result, she finished in last place. At the head of the straightaway, Mérah-Benida opened up a clear lead over the two Polish runners. Moving out to lane 3, Szekely ran around Jakubczak and Chojecka, with Dulecha following in her wake. With speed, suddenly Mérah-Benida's lead started to shrink. The Algerian runner was tiring fast, but she managed to hold off Szekely's furious charge, crossing the line 0.05 seconds ahead. All the way down the straightaway, Dulecha looked like she would hold on for the bronze - but from last place with 200 metres to go, Gabriela Szabo came sprinting down the outside to take the medal, meaning that there were two Romanians on the podium. Only 0.23 seconds separated the first four runners - but none of them were directly battling the others, each taking a different pace and path to the tight finish.
*1500 m*	Women		Final	30 September

Rank	Mark		Athlete	Country	NOC	Birth Date	Records
1	4.05.10		Nouriah Mérah-Benida	Algeria	ALG	19 Oct 70
2	4.05.15		Violeta Szekely	Romania	ROU	26 Mar 65
3	4.05.27		Gabriela Szabo	Romania	ROU	14 Nov 75
4	4.05.33		Kutre Dulecha	Ethiopia	ETH	22 Aug 78
5	4.06.42		Lidia Chojecka	Poland	POL	25 Jan 77
6	4.06.49		Anna Jakubczak-Pawelec	Poland	POL	2 Feb 73
7	4.08.02		Kelly Holmes	Great Britain	GBR	19 Apr 70
8	4.08.30		Marla Runyan	United States	USA	4 Jan 69
9	4.08.84		Sabine Fischer	Switzerland	SUI	29 Jun 73
10	4.11.15		Carla Sacramento	Portugal	POR	10 Dec 71
11	4.22.29		Hayley Tullett	Great Britain	GBR	17 Feb 73
12	4.23.05		Suzy Favor Hamilton	United States	USA	8 Aug 68
*1500 m*	Women		Semifinal 1	28 September

Rank	Mark		Athlete	Country	NOC	Birth Date	Records
1	4.05.24	Q	Nouriah Mérah-Benida	Algeria	ALG	19 Oct 70
2	4.05.25	Q	Suzy Favor Hamilton	United States	USA	8 Aug 68
3	4.05.34	Q	Hayley Tullett	Great Britain	GBR	17 Feb 73
4	4.05.35	Q	Kelly Holmes	Great Britain	GBR	19 Apr 70
5	4.05.78	Q	Lidia Chojecka	Poland	POL	25 Jan 77
6	4.06.14	Q	Marla Runyan	United States	USA	4 Jan 69
7	4.06.67	Q	Sabine Fischer	Switzerland	SUI	29 Jun 73
8	4.09.16		Margaret Crowley	Australia	AUS	24 May 67
9	4.09.18		Lyudmila Rogachova	Russia	RUS	30 Oct 66
10	4.10.92		Nuria Fernández	Spain	ESP	16 Aug 76
11	4.14.57		Irina Krakoviak	Lithuania	LTU	16 Nov 77
12	4.14.75		Elena Antoci	Romania	ROU	16 Jan 75
*1500 m*	Women		Semifinal 2	28 September

Rank	Mark		Athlete	Country	NOC	Birth Date	Records
1	4.06.60	Q	Violeta Szekely	Romania	ROU	26 Mar 65
2	4.06.78	Q	Kutre Dulecha	Ethiopia	ETH	22 Aug 78
3	4.07.03	Q	Anna Jakubczak-Pawelec	Poland	POL	2 Feb 73
4	4.07.38	Q	Gabriela Szabo	Romania	ROU	14 Nov 75
5	4.07.65	Q	Carla Sacramento	Portugal	POR	10 Dec 71
6	4.07.87		Veerle Dejaeghere	Belgium	BEL	1 Aug 73
7	4.09.11		Saloua Ouaziz	Morocco	MAR	27 Jul 74
8	4.09.42		Süreyya Ayhan	Turkey	TUR	6 Sep 78
9	4.09.60		Helen Clitheroe	Great Britain	GBR	2 Jan 74
10	4.10.99		Georgie Clarke	Australia	AUS	17 Jun 84
11	4.14.20		Mardrea Hyman	Jamaica	JAM	22 Dec 72
12	4.30.80		Anita Weyermann	Switzerland	SUI	8 Dec 77
*1500 m*	Women		Heat 1	27 September

Rank	Mark		Athlete	Country	NOC	Birth Date	Records
1	4.08.08	Q	Suzy Favor Hamilton	United States	USA	8 Aug 68
2	4.08.13	Q	Anna Jakubczak-Pawelec	Poland	POL	2 Feb 73
3	4.08.33	Q	Gabriela Szabo	Romania	ROU	14 Nov 75
4	4.08.37	Q	Süreyya Ayhan	Turkey	TUR	6 Sep 78
5	4.08.41	Q	Carla Sacramento	Portugal	POR	10 Dec 71
6	4.08.80	Q	Helen Clitheroe	Great Britain	GBR	2 Jan 74
7	4.08.85	Q	Margaret Crowley	Australia	AUS	24 May 67
8	4.09.28	Q	Anita Weyermann	Switzerland	SUI	8 Dec 77
9	4.09.81	Q	Lyudmila Rogachova	Russia	RUS	30 Oct 66
10	4.10.21	Q	Mardrea Hyman	Jamaica	JAM	22 Dec 72
11	4.15.52		Abebech Negussie	Ethiopia	ETH	27 May 83
12	4.21.94		Julia Sakara	Zimbabwe	ZIM	12 Jul 69
13	4.22.11		Tetyana Mezentseva	Ukraine	UKR	17 Jan 72
14	5.07.17		Shazia Hidayat	Pakistan	PAK	4 Apr 76
	DNF		Leah Pells	Canada	CAN	9 Nov 64
*1500 m*	Women		Heat 2	27 September

Rank	Mark		Athlete	Country	NOC	Birth Date	Records
1	4.10.18	Q	Violeta Szekely	Romania	ROU	26 Mar 65
2	4.10.34	Q	Lidia Chojecka	Poland	POL	25 Jan 77
3	4.10.38	Q	Kelly Holmes	Great Britain	GBR	19 Apr 70
4	4.10.68	Q	Veerle Dejaeghere	Belgium	BEL	1 Aug 73
5	4.10.78	Q	Sabine Fischer	Switzerland	SUI	29 Jun 73
6	4.10.82	Q	Saloua Ouaziz	Morocco	MAR	27 Jul 74
7	4.10.83	Q	Marla Runyan	United States	USA	4 Jan 69
8	4.11.74	Q	Georgie Clarke	Australia	AUS	17 Jun 84
9	4.12.59		Toni Hodgkinson	New Zealand	NZL	12 Dec 71
10	4.13.18		Naomi Mugo	Kenya	KEN	2 Jan 77
11	4.14.05		Hareg Sidelil	Ethiopia	ETH	20 Apr 81
12	4.22.82		Natalia Rodríguez	Spain	ESP	2 Jun 79
13	4.33.50		Daniela Kulevska	FYRO Macedonia	MKD	13 Apr 81
	DNF		Svetlana Masterkova	Russia	RUS	17 Jan 68
*1500 m*	Women		Heat 3	27 September

Rank	Mark		Athlete	Country	NOC	Birth Date	Records
1	4.09.88	Q	Kutre Dulecha	Ethiopia	ETH	22 Aug 78
2	4.10.24	Q	Nouriah Mérah-Benida	Algeria	ALG	19 Oct 70
3	4.10.58	Q	Hayley Tullett	Great Britain	GBR	17 Feb 73
4	4.11.35	Q	Elena Antoci	Romania	ROU	16 Jan 75
5	4.11.46	Q	Nuria Fernández	Spain	ESP	16 Aug 76
6	4.11.57	Q	Irina Krakoviak	Lithuania	LTU	16 Nov 77
7	4.11.75		Sinéad Evans	Ireland	IRL	12 Feb 71
8	4.11.87		Fatima Lanouar	Tunisia	TUN	14 Mar 78
9	4.12.52		Shayne Culpepper	United States	USA	3 Dec 73
10	4.12.84		Natalya Gorelova	Russia	RUS	18 Apr 73
11	4.12.90		Sarah Jamieson	Australia	AUS	24 Mar 75
12	4.18.18		Helena Javornik	Slovenia	SLO	26 Mar 66
13	4.45.32		Silvia Felipo	Andorra	AND	4 Feb 67
	DNS		Hasna Benhassi	Morocco	MAR	1 Jun 78