| | Event type

1,500 metres, Women

Date	31 July – 3 August 1996
Status	Olympic
Location	Centennial Olympic Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia
Participants	32 from 21 countries

The pre-Olympic favorites were defending champion Hassiba Boulmerka, who had also won the 1995 World Championships, and Ireland’s Sonia O’Sullivan. Not highly considered was Russia Svetlana Masterkova, who had not raced in 1994-95, but she had earlier won the 800 gold medal in Atlanta. She had also posted some fast times in pre-Olympic meets. O’Sullivan ran the 5,000 earlier in the Games but came down with an intestinal disorder and was not herself, and did not qualify for the 1,500 final. In the semis, Boulmerka stumbled in heavy traffic, sprained an ankle, and finished last, also not qualifying. That left the final open for Masterkova, who took the lead at 1,200 metres. Though Gabriela Szabo (ROM) and Theresia Kiesl (AUT) moved to her shoulder on the final curve, she powered away to an easy victory. She was the first women to win the 800/1,500 double since Soviet Tatyana Kazankina in 1976.

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	R1	SF	Final
1	3700	Svetlana Masterkova	RUS	4:09.88 (2 h1)	4:10.35 (3 h1)	4:00.83 (1)	Gold
2	3664	Gabriela Szabo	ROU	4:07.32 (1 h3)	4:09.83 (2 h1)	4:01.54 (2)	Silver
3	3050	Theresia Kiesl	AUT	4:09.24 (1 h1)	4:09.44 (1 h1)	4:03.02 (3)	Bronze
4	3135	Leah Pells	CAN	4:13.17 (8 h1)	4:06.26 (4 h2)	4:03.56 (4)
5	3023	Marg Crowley	AUS	4:07.51 (4 h3)	4:06.21 (3 h2)	4:03.79 (5)
6	3644	Carla Sacramento	POR	4:13.57 (3 h2)	4:06.70 (5 h2)	4:03.91 (6)
7	3675	Lyudmila Borisova	RUS	4:13.29 (1 h2)	4:06.89 (6 h2)	4:05.90 (7)
8	3626	Małgorzata Rydz	POL	4:07.51 (5 h3)	4:10.77 (4 h1)	4:05.92 (8)
9	3669	Gwen Griffiths	RSA	4:10.80 (6 h1)	4:11.12 (5 h1)	4:06.33 (9)
10	3847	Regina Jacobs	USA	4:07.41 (3 h3)	4:06.13 (2 h2)	4:07.21 (10)
11	3313	Kelly Holmes	GBR	4:07.36 (2 h3)	4:05.88 (1 h2)	4:07.46 (11)
12	3620	Anna Brzezińska	POL	4:11.06 (7 h1)	4:07.17 (7 h2)	4:08.27 (12)
6 h1 r2/3	3076	Natasha Dukhnova	BLR	4:14.75 (8 h2)	4:11.43 (6 h1)	–
7 h1 r2/3	3383	Carmen Wüstenhagen	GER	4:10.06 (4 h1)	4:11.47 (7 h1)	–
8 h1 r2/3	3283	Blandine Bitzner-Ducret	FRA	4:13.83 (5 h2)	4:12.27 (8 h1)	–
8 h2 r2/3	3259	Kutre Dulecha	ETH	4:07.69 (7 h3)	4:09.03 (8 h2)	–
9 h1 r2/3	3419	Sinéad Delahunty	IRL	4:10.20 (5 h1)	4:12.52 (9 h1)	–
9 h2 r2/3	3770	Malin Ewerlöf	SWE	4:09.06 (8 h3)	4:13.85 (9 h2)	–
10 h1 r2/3	3253	Maite Zúñiga	ESP	4:14.05 (6 h2)	4:14.10 (10 h1)	–
10 h2 r2/3	3359	Sylvia Kühnemund	GER	4:14.35 (7 h2)	4:16.85 (10 h2)	–
11 h1 r2/3	3708	Lyudmila Rogachova	RUS	4:07.61 (6 h3)	4:14.54 (11 h1)	–
11 h2 r2/3	3518	Naomi Mugo	KEN	4:13.35 (2 h2)	4:20.01 (11 h2)	– (DNS)
12 h1 r2/3	3003	Hassiba Boulmerka	ALG	4:09.96 (3 h1)	4:23.86 (12 h1)	–
AC h2 r2/3	3654	Cătălina Gheorghiu	ROU	4:13.82 (4 h2)	[4:09.30] (DQ h2)	–
9 h1 r1/3	3300	Frédérique Quentin	FRA	4:15.95 (9 h1)	–	–
9 h2 r1/3	3845	Vicki Huber	USA	4:14.82 (9 h2)	–	–
9 h3 r1/3	3230	Marta Domínguez	ESP	4:15.00 (9 h3)	–	–
10 h1 r1/3	3841	Juli Henner	USA	4:27.14 (10 h1)	–	–
10 h2 r1/3	3425	Sonia O'Sullivan	IRL	4:19.77 (10 h2)	–	–
10 h3 r1/3	3138	Paula Schnurr	CAN	4:29.67 (10 h3)	–	–
11 h1 r1/3	3571	Khin Khin Htwe	MYA	4:30.64 (11 h1)	–	–
11 h2 r1/3	3115	Petya Strashilova	BUL	4:26.66 (11 h2)	–	–

Round One (31 July 1996)

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

Heat One (10:00)

Pos	Ord	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	3	Theresia Kiesl	AUT	4:09.24	Q
2	1	Svetlana Masterkova	RUS	4:09.88	Q
3	10	Hassiba Boulmerka	ALG	4:09.96	Q
4	11	Carmen Wüstenhagen	GER	4:10.06	Q
5	9	Sinéad Delahunty	IRL	4:10.20	Q
6	5	Gwen Griffiths	RSA	4:10.80	Q
7	2	Anna Brzezińska	POL	4:11.06	q
8	6	Leah Pells	CAN	4:13.17	q
9	7	Frédérique Quentin	FRA	4:15.95
10	8	Juli Henner	USA	4:27.14
11	4	Khin Khin Htwe	MYA	4:30.64

Heat Two (10:10)

Pos	Ord	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	3	Lyudmila Borisova	RUS	4:13.29	Q
2	5	Naomi Mugo	KEN	4:13.35	Q
3	8	Carla Sacramento	POR	4:13.57	Q
4	9	Cătălina Gheorghiu	ROU	4:13.82	Q
5	2	Blandine Bitzner-Ducret	FRA	4:13.83	Q
6	11	Maite Zúñiga	ESP	4:14.05	Q
7	4	Sylvia Kühnemund	GER	4:14.35	q
8	1	Natasha Dukhnova	BLR	4:14.75	q
9	10	Vicki Huber	USA	4:14.82
10	6	Sonia O'Sullivan	IRL	4:19.77
11	7	Petya Strashilova	BUL	4:26.66

Heat Three (10:20)

Pos	Ord	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	2	Gabriela Szabo	ROU	4:07.32	Q
2	6	Kelly Holmes	GBR	4:07.36	Q
3	5	Regina Jacobs	USA	4:07.41	Q
4	3	Marg Crowley	AUS	4:07.51	Q
5	7	Małgorzata Rydz	POL	4:07.51	Q
6	4	Lyudmila Rogachova	RUS	4:07.61	Q
7	8	Kutre Dulecha	ETH	4:07.69	q
8	9	Malin Ewerlöf	SWE	4:09.06	q
9	10	Marta Domínguez	ESP	4:15.00
10	1	Paula Schnurr	CAN	4:29.67

Semi-Finals (1 August 1996)

Top five in each heat and next two fastest advanced to the final.

Heat One (19:30)

Pos	Ord	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	10	Theresia Kiesl	AUT	4:09.44	Q
2	11	Gabriela Szabo	ROU	4:09.83	Q
3	1	Svetlana Masterkova	RUS	4:10.35	Q
4	3	Małgorzata Rydz	POL	4:10.77	Q
5	5	Gwen Griffiths	RSA	4:11.12	Q
6	6	Natasha Dukhnova	BLR	4:11.43
7	4	Carmen Wüstenhagen	GER	4:11.47
8	9	Blandine Bitzner-Ducret	FRA	4:12.27
9	7	Sinéad Delahunty	IRL	4:12.52
10	8	Maite Zúñiga	ESP	4:14.10
11	12	Lyudmila Rogachova	RUS	4:14.54
12	2	Hassiba Boulmerka	ALG	4:23.86

Heat Two (19:45)

Pos	Ord	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	3	Kelly Holmes	GBR	4:05.88	Q
2	8	Regina Jacobs	USA	4:06.13	Q
3	12	Marg Crowley	AUS	4:06.21	Q
4	6	Leah Pells	CAN	4:06.26	Q
5	7	Carla Sacramento	POR	4:06.70	Q
6	4	Lyudmila Borisova	RUS	4:06.89	q
7	1	Anna Brzezińska	POL	4:07.17	q
8	9	Kutre Dulecha	ETH	4:09.03
9	2	Malin Ewerlöf	SWE	4:13.85
10	5	Sylvia Kühnemund	GER	4:16.85
11	10	Naomi Mugo	KEN	4:20.01
DQ	11	Cătălina Gheorghiu	ROU	[4:09.30]

Final (3 August 1996 — 20:15)

Pos	Ord	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	10	Svetlana Masterkova	RUS	4:00.83
2	11	Gabriela Szabo	ROU	4:01.54
3	5	Theresia Kiesl	AUT	4:03.02
4	7	Leah Pells	CAN	4:03.56
5	2	Marg Crowley	AUS	4:03.79
6	1	Carla Sacramento	POR	4:03.91
7	4	Lyudmila Borisova	RUS	4:05.90
8	12	Małgorzata Rydz	POL	4:05.92
9	3	Gwen Griffiths	RSA	4:06.33
10	13	Regina Jacobs	USA	4:07.21
11	6	Kelly Holmes	GBR	4:07.46
12	8	Anna Brzezińska	POL	4:08.27
DNS	9	Naomi Mugo	KEN	–