Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Men's 1500 metres


These are the official results of the Men's 1500 metres event at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. The competition was held on 18 to the 20 of October. The Gold was won by Kenyan Kip Keino, who beat World record holder Jim Ryun, who struggled to adapt to the altitude of Mexico City.
While this Olympics was the emergence of Kenyan runners, Kip Keino was not an unknown quantity, he had won the 1966 Commonwealth Games and 1965 African Championships. In the final, it was Ben Jipcho who took the first lap out fast, with Keino lagging to the back of the field. Keino moved up toward the front, but didn't take the lead until two laps to go. When he moved forward, he did so decisively, creating a 30-meter gap on the field. Ryun was known for his last lap kicks. He held back waiting for the bell. At the bell he took off in chase, but Bodo Tümmler was also intent on racing. Ryun was able to beat Tümmler down the backstretch but his last lap kick was no match for the still more than 20 meter lead Keino held onto the final straightaway.

First round

Top 5 in each heat advance to semifinal.
Heat one *
RankNameNationalityTimeNotes
1Kip Keino3:46.96
2Bodo Tümmler3:51.59
3John Boulter3:51.63
4Jorge Grosser3:51.79
5Franco Arese3:51.86
6Dave Bailey3:52.11
7Róbert Honti3:54.95
8Rudolf Klaban3:59.11
9Julio Quevedo4:03.13
10Édouard Sagna4:04.12
11Emilio Barahona4:56.08

Heat two *
RankNameNationalityTimeNotes
1Tom Von Ruden3:59.15
2André Dehertoghe3:59.33
3Henryk Szordykowski3:59.34
4Claude Nicolas3:59.35
5Arnd Krüger3:59.40
6Renzo Finelli3:59.51
7Ove Berg4:00.42
8Tom Hansen4:01.47
9Ramasamy Subramaniam4:06.49
10Miguel Núñez4:23.67

Heat three *
RankNameNationalityTimeNotes
1Ben Jipcho3:46.51
2Oleg Rayko3:46.84
3Harald Norpoth3:47.00
4Josef Odložil3:47.49
5Jacky Boxberger3:47.55
6José Neri3:47.88
7Jorge González3:50.49
8Ioannis Virvilis3:55.57
9Xaver Frick, Jr.4:15.38
10Alfredo Cubías4:32.58

Heat four *
RankNameNationalityTimeNotes
1Jim Ryun3:45.80
2Hamadi Haddou3:47.01
3Edgard Salvé3:47.17
4Arne Kvalheim3:47.50
5Norm Trerise3:47.67
6Gianni Del Buono3:48.41
7Peter Watson3:55.41
8Maurice Benn3:56.43
9Pekka Vasala4:08.51
10Willie Ríos4:14.47
11Jeff Payne4:18.92

Heat five *
RankNameNationalityTimeNotes
1Marty Liquori3:52.78
2Hansrüedi Knill3:52.87
3John Whetton3:53.04
4Ahmed Issa3:53.13
5Mikhail Zhelobovsky3:53.23
6Matias Habtemichael3:53.27
7Anders Gärderud3:54.28
8Byron Dyce3:54.65
9Jerzy Maluśki3:54.83
10Frank Murphy3:54.85
11Rudi Simon4:06.97
12Arturo Córdoba5:18.92

Semifinal

Top six in each heat advance to final.
Heat one *
RankNameNationalityTimeNotes
1Bodo Tümmler3:53.66
2Jacky Boxberger3:54.00
3Tom Von Ruden3:54.12
4Henryk Szordykowski3:54.24
5Harald Norpoth3:54.34
6Ben Jipcho3:54.69
7Franco Arese3:54.85
8Arne Kvalheim3:55.32
9John Boulter3:56.13
10Edgard Salvé3:58.16
11Mikhail Zhelobovsky3:59.08
12Hamadi Haddou4:01.70

Heat two *
RankNameNationalityTimeNotes
1Jim Ryun3:51.25
2Kip Keino3:51.50
3John Whetton3:52.05
4Marty Liquori3:52.17
5Josef Odložil3:52.53
6André Dehertoghe3:52.57
7Oleg Rayko3:52.73
8Ahmed Issa3:53.26
9Hansrüedi Knill3:53.65
10Norm Trerise3:57.30
11Claude Nicolas4:04.47
12Arnd Krüger4:05.40
Jorge GrosserDNF

Final

RankNameNationalityTimeNotes
Kip Keino3:34.91OR
Jim Ryun3:37.89
Bodo Tümmler3:39.08
4Harald Norpoth3:42.57
5John Whetton3:43.90
6Jacky Boxberger3:46.65
7Henryk Szordykowski3:46.69
8Josef Odložil3:48.69
9Tom Von Ruden3:49.27
10Ben Jipcho3:51.22
11André Dehertoghe3:53.63
12Marty Liquori4:18.22