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| Event type

1,500 metres, Men

Date5 – 6 August 1936
StatusOlympic
LocationOlympiastadion, Reichssportfeld, Berlin
Participants43 from 27 countries

All the top runners from 1932 were back, led by Jack Lovelock, Glenn Cunningham, and the defending champion Luigi Beccali. Cunningham was the top American but barely, as Gene Venzke and Bill Bonthron had pushed him in 1934-35 and formed a formidable American triumvirate. The other top miler present was Britain’s dimunitive Sydney Wooderson. The top race in the year before Berlin was the Princeton Invitational mile, where Lovelock defeated Bonthron and Cunningham.

At the Olympics, most of the favorites made it thru to the final, which also included the silver and bronze medalists from Los Angeles, John “Jerry” Cornes, and Phil Edwards, as well as the USA runner, Archie San Romani, who had beaten out Bonthron at the Olympic Trials. Wooderson was the only favorite who did not come thru the heats. Cunningham went into the lead early, passing 400 metres in 61.5. The pace was slow and Cunningham led thru 800 in 2:05.2 with the field bunched. Sweden’s Eric Ny passed Cunningham on the third lap, and Lovelock moved to his shoulder at the bell. On the curve just past the line, he shot into a four-yard lead and continued to push the pace down the backstretch. Cunningham kept after him but made up no ground until Lovelock eased a bit near the finish, as he won in the world record time of 3:47.8

PosNrAthleteNOCR1Final
1467Jack LovelockNZL4:00.6 (3 h2)3:47.8 (1)GoldWR
2746Glenn CunninghamUSA3:54.8 (=1 h1)3:48.4 (2)Silver
3331Luigi BeccaliITA3:55.6 (1 h3)3:49.2 (3)Bronze
4747Archie San RomaniUSA3:55.0 (2 h4)3:50.0 (4)
574Phil EdwardsCAN3:56.2 (3 h3)3:50.4 (5)
6256Jerry CornesGBR4:00.6 (2 h2)3:51.4 (6)
7708Miklós SzabóHUN3:55.6 (2 h3)3:53.0 (7)
8202Robert GoixFRA3:54.0 (1 h4)3:53.8 (8)
9748Gene VenzkeUSA4:00.4 (1 h2)3:55.0 (9)
10831Fritz SchaumburgGER3:55.2 (3 h4)3:56.2 (10)
11573Eric NySWE3:54.8 (=1 h1)3:57.6 (11)
12829Werner BöttcherGER3:55.0 (3 h1)4:04.2 (12)
4 h1 r1/2160Ossi TeileriFIN3:55.6 (4 h1)
4 h2 r1/2203Pierre LeichtnamFRA4:01.0 (4 h2)
4 h3 r1/2257Bobby GrahamGBR3:56.6 (4 h3)
4 h4 r1/244Joseph MostertBEL3:56.6 (4 h4)
5 h1 r1/2710Mihály IglóiHUN3:56.0 (5 h1)
5 h2 r1/2652Clarke ScholtzRSA4:02.0 (5 h2)
5 h3 r1/2665Bedřich HošekTCH3:59.4 (5 h3)
5 h4 r1/2161Niilo HartikkaFIN3:59.0 (5 h4)
6 h1 r1/24Grigorios GeorgakopoulosGRE4:01.4 (6 h1)
6 h2 r1/2376Kiyoshi NakamuraJPN4:04.8 (6 h2)
6 h3 r1/2201André GlatignyFRA3:59.6 (6 h3)
6 h4 r1/2490Franz EichbergerAUT3:59.2 (6 h4)
7 h1 r1/243René GeeraertBEL– (7 h1)
7 h2 r1/2419Emil GoršekYUG4:13.0 (7 h2)
7 h3 r1/235Gerald BackhouseAUS– (7 h3)
7 h4 r1/2471Ragnar EkholdtNOR– (7 h4)
8 h1 r1/2133Børge LarsenDEN– (8 h1)
8 h2 r1/2491Emil HübscherAUT– (8 h2)
8 h3 r1/2830Harry MehlhoseGER– (8 h3)
8 h4 r1/276Hugh ThomsonCAN– (9 h4)
9 h1 r1/2456Pierre HemmerLUX– (9 h1)
9 h2 r1/275Jack LiddleCAN– (9 h2)
9 h3 r1/2146Reginald UbaEST4:26.2 (9 h3)
9 h4 r1/2457Charles SteinLUX– (10 h4)
10 h1 r1/2616Paul MartinSUI– (10 h1)
10 h2 r1/294Miguel CastroCHI– (10 h2)
10 h3 r1/2108Jia LianrenCHN– (10 h3)
10 h4 r1/2526Francisco ValdezPER– (11 h4)
11 h3 r1/2131Emilio TorresCOL– (11 h3)
AC h2 r1/2162Martti MatilainenFIN– (DNF h2)
AC h4 r1/2258Sydney WoodersonGBR– (8 h4)
DNS23Mohamed Abu SobeaEGY
DNS640Enrique PiferrerESP
DNS5Stavros VelkopoulosGRE– (DNS h2)
DNS320Raunaq Singh GillIND
DNS374Kumao AochiJPN– (DNS h1)
DNS375Toshinao TomieJPN– (DNS h4)
DNS466Pat BootNZL– (DNS h2)
DNS525Carlos MarcenaroPER
DNS575Ingvar HaglundSWE
DNS421Ivan KrevsYUG– (DNS h3)

Round One (5 August 1936)

Top three in each heat advanced to the final.

Heat One

PosNrAthleteNOCTime (H)Time (A)
=1573Eric NySWE3:54.83:54.80Q
=1746Glenn CunninghamUSA3:54.83:54.805Q
3829Werner BöttcherGER3:55.03:55.05Q
4160Ossi TeileriFIN3:55.6
5710Mihály IglóiHUN3:56.0
64Grigorios GeorgakopoulosGRE4:01.4
743René GeeraertBEL
8133Børge LarsenDEN
9456Pierre HemmerLUX
10616Paul MartinSUI
DNS374Kumao AochiJPN

Splits

400 m1:00.4
800 m2:06.4

Heat Two

PosNrAthleteNOCTime (H)Time (A)
1748Gene VenzkeUSA4:00.44:00.55Q
2256Jerry CornesGBR4:00.64:00.625Q
3467Jack LovelockNZL4:00.64:00.63Q
4203Pierre LeichtnamFRA4:01.04:00.97
5652Clarke ScholtzRSA4:02.0
6376Kiyoshi NakamuraJPN4:04.8
7419Emil GoršekYUG4:13.0
8491Emil HübscherAUT
975Jack LiddleCAN
1094Miguel CastroCHI
DNF162Martti MatilainenFIN
DNS5Stavros VelkopoulosGRE
DNS466Pat BootNZL

Splits

400 m1:03.4
800 m2:11.2

Heat Three

PosNrAthleteNOCTime (H)
1331Luigi BeccaliITA3:55.6Q
2708Miklós SzabóHUN3:55.6Q
374Phil EdwardsCAN3:56.2Q
4257Bobby GrahamGBR3:56.6
5665Bedřich HošekTCH3:59.4
6201André GlatignyFRA3:59.6
735Gerald BackhouseAUS
8830Harry MehlhoseGER
9146Reginald UbaEST4:26.2
10108Jia LianrenCHN
11131Emilio TorresCOL
DNS421Ivan KrevsYUG

Splits

400 m1:02.6
800 m2:09.4

Heat Four

PosNrAthleteNOCTime (H)
1202Robert GoixFRA3:54.0Q
2747Archie San RomaniUSA3:55.0Q
3831Fritz SchaumburgGER3:55.2Q
444Joseph MostertBEL3:56.6
5161Niilo HartikkaFIN3:59.0
6490Franz EichbergerAUT3:59.2
7471Ragnar EkholdtNOR
8258Sydney WoodersonGBR1
976Hugh ThomsonCAN2
10457Charles SteinLUX
11526Francisco ValdezPER
DNS375Toshinao TomieJPN

Splits

400 m59.8
800 m2:08.4

Final (6 August 1936 — 16:15)

PosNrAthleteNOCTime (H)Time (A)
1467Jack LovelockNZL3:47.8WR
2746Glenn CunninghamUSA3:48.4
3331Luigi BeccaliITA3:49.2
4747Archie San RomaniUSA3:50.0
574Phil EdwardsCAN3:50.4
6256Jerry CornesGBR3:51.4
7708Miklós SzabóHUN3:53.0
8202Robert GoixFRA3:53.8
9748Gene VenzkeUSA3:55.0
10831Fritz SchaumburgGER3:56.2
11573Eric NySWE3:57.6
12829Werner BöttcherGER4:04.2

Splits

400 m1:01.5Glenn Cunningham
800 m2:05.2Glenn Cunningham
1000 m2:37.0Glenn Cunningham
1200 m3:05.4Eric Ny