Athletics at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's 1500 metres

Men's 1500 metres
at the Games of the XVI Olympiad
Olympic Athletics.png
Olympic Athletics
VenueMelbourne Cricket Ground
DatesNovember 29 (semifinals)
December 1 (final)
Competitors37 from 22 nations
Winning time3:41.2 OR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Ron Delany
 Ireland
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Klaus Richtzenhain
 United Team of Germany
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) John Landy
 Australia
← 1952
1960 →
Video on YouTube Official Video @13:13

The men's 1500 metres was an event at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, with the final held on Saturday, December 1, 1956. There were a total number of 37 participants from 22 nations. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Ron Delany of Ireland, the nation's first 1500 metres medal. The silver medalist was Klaus Richtzenhain, the only medalist in the event for the United Team of Germany. John Landy took bronze, Australia's first medal in the event since 1896.

Summary

Among the non-qualifiers for the final were defending champion Josy Barthel, future silver medalist Michel Jazy and eventual marathon champion Mamo.

The final had twelve men toe the line. Uniquely, Murray Halberg used a sprinter's crouched start in lane 1 and sprinted into the lead from the gun. In future years, this kind of start would become forbidden in a long race. Halberg held that lead until there were two laps to go where he was passed in a rush by Mervyn Lincoln running in front of a home crowd. Lincoln held the lead until just after the bell when he was swallowed up by a rush led by Brian Hewson. Ten men went around Lincoln and he was cooked. Klaus Richtzenhain was the next to follow with Halberg making one more rush down the backstretch before he too was cooked. From tenth place, Ron Delany began picking off runners on the backstretch, as Halberg slowed, Delany used the traffic to step into fifth place at the start of the final turn. Passing in lane 2, Delany ran around the field, catching Hewson at the head of the straightaway. Hewson looked helplessly at Delany as he passed. Fighting out of the group Delany passed at the start of the turn, another home town favorite John Landy chased from behind, still in sixth at the head of the straight. With a stiff, upright sprinting style, Delany pulled away from the field. Hewson struggled down the final straight, watching Richtzenhain run past on the outside. Landy made a late final charge in lane 3 but just came up short in trying to catch Richtzenhain for silver.

Background

This was the 13th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Two finalists from the 1952 Games returned: gold medalist Josy Barthel of Luxembourg and eighth-place finisher Ingvar Ericsson of Sweden. The world record had changed hands six times since the 1952 Games; three of the men who had had it but were surpassed (László Tábori of Hungary, John Landy of Australia, and Gunnar Nielsen of Denmark) competed in Melbourne, along with the man who still held it (István Rózsavölgyi of Hungary). Five men had run a sub-four minute mile; the first to do so (Roger Bannister of Great Britain, who had finished fourth in this event in 1952) had retired, but three of those men (Tábori, Landy, and Brian Hewson, also of Great Britain) competed.

Ethiopia and Pakistan each made their first appearance in the event; Germany competed as the United Team of Germany for the first time. The United States made its 13th appearance, the only nation to have competed in the men's 1500 metres at each Games to that point.

Competition format

After a one-Games stint at three rounds in 1952, the 1956 competition returned to two rounds. There were three heats with 15 runners each (before withdrawals), with the top four runners in each advancing to the typical 12-man final race.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records prior to the 1956 Summer Olympics.

World record  István Rózsavölgyi (HUN) 3:40.6 Tata, Hungary 3 August 1956
Olympic record  Josy Barthel (LUX) 3:45.2 Helsinki, Finland 26 July 1952

During the final, Ron Delany set a new Olympic record at 3:41.2. The top ten men in the final all surpassed the old Olympic record; the eleventh man matched it.

Schedule

All times are Australian Eastern Standard Time (UTC+10)

Date Time Round
Thursday, 29 November 1956 16:30 Semifinals
Saturday, 1 December 1956 16:15 Final

Results

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Klaus Richtzenhain  United Team of Germany 3:46.6 Q
2 Stanislav Jungwirth  Czechoslovakia 3:46.6 Q
3 Ian Boyd  Great Britain 3:47.0 Q
4 Murray Halberg  New Zealand 3:47:2 Q
5 István Rozsavolgyi  Hungary 3:49:4
6 André Ballieux  Belgium 3:49:8
7 Michel Jazy  France 3:50:0
8 Ted Wheeler  United States 3:50:1
9 Jonas Pipynė  Soviet Union 3:50:6
10 Josy Barthel  Luxembourg 3:50:6
11 Mamo Wolde  Ethiopia 3:51:0
Jim Bailey  Australia DNS
Phol Jaiswang  Thailand DNS
Dimitrios Konstantinidis  Greece DNS
Joseph Narmath  Liberia DNS

Semifinal 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Mervyn Lincoln  Australia 3:45:4 Q
2 Kenneth Wood  Great Britain 3:46:6 Q
3 Ron Delany  Ireland 3:47.4 Q
4 Laszlo Tabori  Hungary 3:48.0 Q
5 Ingvar Ericsson  Sweden 3:49:0
6 Yevgeny Sokolov  Soviet Union 3:49:2
7 Evangelos Depastas  Greece 3:52:0
8 Olavi Salsola  Finland 3:55:0
9 Günther Dohrow  United Team of Germany 3:58:0
10 Ramón Sandoval  Chile 3:58:1
11 Donald Bowden  United States 3:59.7
12 Emile Leva  Belgium 4:06:0
13 Sank Ok-Sim  South Korea 4:09.0
14 Mahmoud Jan  Pakistan 4:15:0
15 Somnuek Srisombat  Thailand 4:30:0

Semifinal 3

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Neville Scott  New Zealand 3:48:0 Q
2 Brian Hewson  Great Britain 3:48:0 Q
3 John Landy  Australia 3:48.6 Q
4 Gunnar Nielsen  Denmark 3:48.6 Q
5 Dan Waern  Sweden 3:48:8
6 Gianfranco Baraldi  Italy 3:52:0
7 Sergey Soukhanov  Soviet Union 3:53:0
8 Jerome Walters  United States 3:55:7
9 Georgios Papavassiliou  Greece 3:57:0
10 Eduardo Fontecilla  Chile 3:58:6
Siegfried Herrmann  United Team of Germany DNF
Muhammad Anwar  Pakistan DNS
Audun Boysen  Norway DNS
George Johnson  Liberia DNS
Veliša Mugoša  Yugoslavia DNS

Overall results for semifinals

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Mervyn Lincoln  Australia 3:45:4 Q
2 Stanislav Jungwirth  Czechoslovakia 3:46.6 Q
Klaus Richtzenhain  United Team of Germany 3:46.6 Q
Kenneth Wood  Great Britain 3:46:6 Q
5 Ian Boyd  Great Britain 3:47.0 Q
6 Murray Halberg  New Zealand 3:47:2 Q
7 Ron Delany  Ireland 3:47.4 Q
8 Brian Hewson  Great Britain 3:48:0 Q
Neville Scott  New Zealand 3:48:0 Q
Laszlo Tabori  Hungary 3:48.0 Q
11 John Landy  Australia 3:48.6 Q
Gunnar Nielsen  Denmark 3:48.6 Q
13 Dan Waern  Sweden 3:48:8
14 Ingvar Ericsson  Sweden 3:49:0
15 Yevgeny Sokolov  Soviet Union 3:49:2
16 István Rozsavolgyi  Hungary 3:49:4
17 André Ballieux  Belgium 3:49:8
18 Michel Jazy  France 3:50:0
19 Ted Wheeler  United States 3:50:1
20 Jonas Pipynė  Soviet Union 3:50:6
Josy Barthel  Luxembourg 3:50:6
22 Mamo Wolde  Ethiopia 3:51:0
23 Gianfranco Baraldi  Italy 3:52:0
Evangelos Depastas  Greece 3:52:0
25 Sergey Soukhanov  Soviet Union 3:53:0
26 Olavi Salsola  Finland 3:55:0
27 Jerome Walters  United States 3:55:7
28 Georgios Papavassiliou  Greece 3:57:0
29 Günther Dohrow  United Team of Germany 3:58:0
30 Ramón Sandoval  Chile 3:58:1
31 Eduardo Fontecilla  Chile 3:58:6
32 Donald Bowden  United States 3:59.7
33 Emile Leva  Belgium 4:06:0
34 Sank Ok-Sim  South Korea 4:09.0
35 Mahmoud Jan  Pakistan 4:15:0
36 Somnuek Srisombat  Thailand 4:30:0
Siegfried Herrmann  United Team of Germany DNF
Muhammad Anwar  Pakistan DNS
Jim Bailey  Australia DNS
Audun Boysen  Norway DNS
Phol Jaiswang  Thailand DNS
George Johnson  Liberia DNS
Dimitrios Konstantinidis  Greece DNS
Veliša Mugoša  Yugoslavia DNS
Joseph Narmath  Liberia DNS

Final

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) Ron Delany  Ireland 3:41.2 OR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Klaus Richtzenhain  United Team of Germany 3:42.0
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) John Landy  Australia 3:42.0
4 Laszlo Tabori  Hungary 3:42.4
5 Brian Hewson  Great Britain 3:42.6
6 Stanislav Jungwirth  Czechoslovakia 3:42.6
7 Neville Scott  New Zealand 3:42.8
8 Ian Boyd  Great Britain 3:43.0
9 Kenneth Wood  Great Britain 3:44.3
10 Gunnar Nielsen  Denmark 3:45.0
11 Murray Halberg  New Zealand 3:45.2
12 Mervyn Lincoln  Australia 3:51.9

This page was last updated at 2022-10-24 09:05 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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