The men's 1500 metres

1500 metres

The 1,500-metre run is the premier middle distance track event.Aerobic endurance is the biggest factor contributing to success in the 1500 metres but the athlete also requires significant sprint speed.In modern times, the 1,500-metre run has been run at a pace faster than the average person could...

was a track and field athletics event held as part of the athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics

Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics

These are the results of athletics competition at the 1912 Summer Olympics. 30 events were contested, all for men only.The athletics programme grew by 4 events since the 1908 Summer Olympics. The 5000 and 10000 metre races were introduced for the first time, as the 5 mile event was eliminated...

 programme. It was the fifth appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The competition was held on Tuesday, July 9, 1912 and on Wednesday, July 10, 1912.

Forty-five runners from 14 nations competed, including the Olympic champion from 1908, Mel Sheppard

Mel Sheppard

Melvin Whinfield "Peerless Mel" Sheppard was an American athlete, member of the Irish American Athletic Club and winner of four gold medals at the 1908 Summer Olympics and 1912 Summer Olympics...

.

Arnold Jackson

Arnold Jackson

Brigadier-General Arnold Nugent Strode Strode-Jackson CBE DSO & Three Bars was a British athlete, British Army officer, and a barrister. He was the winner of the 1500m at the 1912 Summer Olympics, in what was hailed at the time as "the greatest race ever run"...

 won the final by 0.1 second, ahead of an American trio, who were strong favourites, in what was acclaimed at the time as "the greatest race ever run". Aged 21, he remains the youngest ever winner of this event. This was the last Olympics where "private entries" were allowed (ie not part of a country's officially selected team), and Jackson was one such.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1912 Summer Olympics.

World Record	3:55.8	Abel Kiviat Abel Kiviat Abel Richard Kiviat was an American middle distance track event middle distance runner.-Career:...	Cambridge, MA Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...  (USA United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... )	June 8, 1912
Olympic Record	4:03.4(**)	Norman Hallows Norman Hallows Norman Frederic Hallows was an English athlete. Educated at Felsted School, he won the bronze medal and set an Olympic record in the men's 1500 metres race at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, competing on the Great Britain and Ireland team.His time in the first round was 4:03.4, beating the...	London London London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...  (GBR Great Britain Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles... )	July 13, 1908
	4:03.4(**)	Mel Sheppard Mel Sheppard Melvin Whinfield "Peerless Mel" Sheppard was an American athlete, member of the Irish American Athletic Club and winner of four gold medals at the 1908 Summer Olympics and 1912 Summer Olympics...	London London London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...  (GBR Great Britain Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles... )	July 14, 1908

(**) This track was 536.45 metres= mile in circumference.

Abel Kiviat

Abel Kiviat

Abel Richard Kiviat was an American middle distance track event middle distance runner.-Career:...

 finished his semifinal only 1 second off the Olympic record time of 4:03.4; he and all six other finalists whose times are known broke that mark in the final. Kiviat took second behind Arnold Jackson

Arnold Jackson

Brigadier-General Arnold Nugent Strode Strode-Jackson CBE DSO & Three Bars was a British athlete, British Army officer, and a barrister. He was the winner of the 1500m at the 1912 Summer Olympics, in what was hailed at the time as "the greatest race ever run"...

, who set the new record at 3:56.8.

Semifinals

All semi-finals were held on Tuesday, July 9, 1912.

Semifinal 1

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1		4:27.6	QF
2		4:27.9	QF
3		4:39.4

Semifinal 2

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1		4:25.5	QF
2		4:26.0	QF
3		4:27.0
4-5
—		Did not finish

Semifinal 3

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1		4:04.4	QF
2		4:05.4	QF
3		4:05.5
4
5
6-7
—		Did not finish

Semifinal 4

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1		4:10.8	QF
2		4:12.4	QF
3		4:12.7
4
5
6
7

Semifinal 5

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1		4:05.5	QF
2		4:07.2	QF
3		4:07.6
4
5
6
7
—		Did not finish

Semifinal 6

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1		4:09.3	QF
2		4:10.8	QF
3		4:11.2
4		4:11.2
5-6
—		Did not finish

Semifinal 7

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1		4:06.0	QF
2		4:07.3	QF
3
4
5
—		Did not finish

Final

The final was held on Wednesday, July 10, 1912.

Place	Athlete	Time
1		3:56.8 OR
2		3:56.9
3		3:56.9
4		3:57.2
5		3:57.6
6		4:01.0
7		4:02.0
8
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