Dates July 24 (heats)
July 25 (semifinals)
July 26 (final) | ||
The men's 1500 metres event at the 1952 Olympics took place between July 24 and July 26.
Contents
The early leaders of the final were Audun Boysen followed by Warren Druetzler. Towards the end of the first lap, Werner Lueg began to move up to take the lead, with Rolf Lamers on his shoulder to place a wall to control the pack. Patrick El Mabrouk was next in line but unable to get by. On the third lap Lamers was unable to maintain the pace as Josy Barthel and Roger Bannister exchanging elbows with El Mabrouk lined up behind Leug. With 300 metres to go, Leug accelerated, opening up a 5-metre gap down the backstretch but through the final turn, Leug was unable to hold the pace allowing Barthel to catch back up. Bob McMillen moved up from eighth place to catch the group of leaders at the head of the final straight. Barthel went around Leug and sprinted to victory. McMillen ran the long way around El Mabrouk and Bannister and was chasing Barthel down the straight. Leug maintained his gap on Bannister and El Mabrouk, but looked helplessly as McMillen sprinted past, but he didn't have enough race left to catch Barthel, finishing half a metre behind but being credited with the same time, the new Olympic record.
To date, this was the only Olympic gold medal won by a Luxembourger, though Luxembourg born Michel Théato is credited for winning the 1900 Marathon for France.
Heats
The first round was held on July 24. The fastest four runners in each heat advanced to the final round.
Heat 1
Heat 2
Heat 3
Heat 4
Heat 5
Heat 6
Semifinals
The fastest six runners in each heat advanced to the final round.
Heat one
Heat two