Athletics at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Women's 1500 metres

Athletics at the 1988 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m	men	women
200 m	men	women
400 m	men	women
800 m	men	women
1500 m	men	women
3000 m		women
5000 m	men
10,000 m	men	women
100 m hurdles		women
110 m hurdles	men
400 m hurdles	men	women
3000 m steeplechase	men
4×100 m relay	men	women
4×400 m relay	men	women
Road events
Marathon	men	women
20 km walk	men
50 km walk	men
Field events
Long jump	men	women
Triple jump	men
High jump	men	women
Pole vault	men
Shot put	men	women
Discus throw	men	women
Javelin throw	men	women
Hammer throw	men
Combined events
Heptathlon		women
Decathlon	men
Wheelchair races

The women's 1500 metres at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea had an entrylist of 28 competitors, with two qualifying heats (28) before the final (12) took place on Saturday October 1, 1988.

From the gun in the final, Paula Ivan wanted the lead. Mary Slaney and Ivan's teammate Doina Melinte didn't want to let her get away. The field behind her looked bunched but the 1:02.52 first lap showed she was serious. This was world record pace, rare for a championship race that usually breaks down into a strategic battle. After the first lap, a small gap began to open. Melinte was the last to maintain contact, perhaps having seen this strategy previously in domestic competition. The second lap was completed in 1:03.26, a ten-metre gap had opened, with Tetyana Samolenko edging past Melinte in chase. 2:52.66 at the bell and a fifteen-metre gap, Ivan began a last lap kick, trying to run the 60 second last lap to get the world record. Because of the acceleration, the third lap was the fastest of them all at 1:02.46. The battle was for the medals behind Ivan, Andrea Hahmann passing Samolenko, who had Christina Cahill on her shoulder with Lynn Williams in chase. Melinte faded back to Slaney but behind all of them, Laimutė Baikauskaitė was charging. Onto the home stretch the chase pack was tightening, some 30 metres behind Ivan. Baikauskaitė moved into lane 3 to find some running room. Ivan wasn't able to find a 60-second lap, 61.5 was enough to set the Olympic record out of sight with a dominant gold medal performance. Hahmann faded and Samolenko was leading down the stretch with Cahill in close pursuit. Making up ten metres on the final straight, Baikauskaitė passed Cahill and Hahmann in the final 15 metres and leaned past Samolenko at the line to take the silver.

Medalists

Gold	Paula Ivan Romania
Silver	Laimutė Baikauskaitė Soviet Union
Bronze	Tetyana Samolenko Soviet Union

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1988 Summer Olympics.

World Record	3:52.47	Tatyana Kazankina	Zürich (SUI)	August 13, 1980
Olympic Record	3:56.56	Tatyana Kazankina	Moscow (URS)	August 1, 1980

The following Olympic record (in minutes) was set during this competition.

Date	Athlete	Time	OR	WR
September 26, 1988	Paula Ivan (ROM)	3:53.96	OR

Final

RANK	FINAL	TIME
	Paula Ivan (ROU)	3:53.96
	Laimutė Baikauskaitė (URS)	4:00.24
	Tetyana Samolenko (URS)	4:00.30
4.	Christina Cahill (GBR)	4:00.64
5.	Lynn Williams (CAN)	4:00.86
6.	Andrea Hahmann (GDR)	4:00.96
7.	Shireen Bailey (GBR)	4:02.32
8.	Mary Slaney (USA)	4:02.49
9.	Doina Melinte (ROU)	4:02.89
10.	Fatima Aouam (MAR)	4:08.00
11.	Kim Gallagher (USA)	4:16.25
12.	Debbie Bowker (CAN)	4:17.95

Non-Qualifiers

RANK	NON-QUALIFIERS	TIME
13.	Elly van Hulst (NED)	4:07.40
14.	Hassiba Boulmerka (ALG)	4:08.33
15.	Kirsty Wade (GBR)	4:08.37
16.	Lyubov Gurina (URS)	4:08.59
17.	Angela Chalmers (CAN)	4:08.64
18.	Vera Michallek (FRG)	4:10.05
19.	Susan Sirma (KEN)	4:10.13
20.	Cornelia Bürki (SUI)	4:10.89
21.	Regina Jacobs (USA)	4:18.09
22.	Letitia Vriesde (SUR)	4:19.58
23.	Khin Khin Htwe (BIR)	4:20.92
24.	Noh Hea-Soon (KOR)	4:26.05
25.	Daphrose Nyiramutuzo (RWA)	4:32.31
26.	Laverne Bryan (ANT)	4:39.73
27.	Joanne Smitton (PNG)	4:46.49
28.	Rachel Thompson (SLE)	5:31.42

References

(English) Official Report

1500 metres at the Olympic Games

Summary

Men	1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016

Women	1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 8/13/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.