Athletics at the 1992 Summer Olympics – Women's 1500 metres

These are the official results of the Women's 1500 metres event at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. There were a total of 43 participating athletes. The three qualifying heats were held on August 5, followed by the two semi-finals on August 6. The final was held on August 8, 1992.

This field was stacked with the world championship podium of Algerian Hassiba Boulmerka with Tetyana Dorovskikh and Lyudmila Rogachova, who had represented the Soviet Union, but after the demise of that political entity just over eight months earlier were representing the "Unified Team." Other key competitors look to be '84 silver medalist / 800 metre gold medalist Doina Melinte, and the wild card of 800 meter specialist Maria Mutola moving up in distance. Another wild card were two young Chinese athletes, 21 year old Liu Li and 19 year old Qu Yunxia who had qualified for the final. While the Soviet Union had virtually owned the event for the previous two decades, the Chinese had no history in this event. In the World Championships the previous year, the sole Chinese representative finished last in her qualifying heat.

This was not going to be a slow tactical final. Rogachova went to the front, quickly marked by Melinte and a third former Soviet, double 1983 medalist Yekaterina Podkopayeva. Left behind at the line, Liu rushed forward on the outside, chased by Boulmerka. From last position, Qu had to work her way around PattiSue Plumer and Mutola who had dropped back expecting to pick up the pieces with her finishing kick. Dorovskikh rushed to join the party at the front, followed by Qu who had a noticeably less refined running style, rocking from side to side, looking strained. Boulmerka aggressively stuck behind Rogachova at the front, the only one to break up the Unified former Soviet bloc at the front of the pack. 700 metres into the race, Qu rocked her way past Melinte and Liu onto third place Podkopayeva's back. As the two leaders started to break, Qu followed onto Boulmerka's back. With a lap to go, the field had strung out, with Podkopayeva falling behind dramatically. Only the remaining green Unified team members were able to struggle to hold on to the three leaders with a gap back to Plummer and Mutola leading the second group. As she was falling back through the field, Melinte walked off the track at the end of the third lap. Mutola launched into what would be a long final kick, but after leaving Plummer, she wasn't making any headway. Down the backstretch, Boulmerka made her one move, accelerating past Rogachova. Rogachova couldn't answer, just holding her same speed. Dorovskikh stuck to Qu's back and made her move for bronze off the final turn. Qu looked at her and sprinted away gaining rapidly on Rogachova toward the finish. Boulmerka celebrated, flexing her muscles while the rest of the field looked exhausted. A little over a year later, Qu would set the world record that would last for 22 years.

Medalists

Records These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1992 Summer Olympics.

World record 3:52.47 Tatyana Kazankina Zürich (SUI) August 13, 1980 Olympic record 3:53.96 Paula Ivan Seoul (KOR) September 26, 1988

Final Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes Hassiba Boulmerka 3:55.30 Lyudmila Rogachova 3:56.91 Qu Yunxia 3:57.08 4 Tetyana Dorovskikh 3:57.92 5 Liu Li 4:00.20 6 Maite Zúñiga 4:00.59 7 Małgorzata Rydz 4:01.91 8 Yekaterina Podkopayeva 4:02.03 9 Maria de Lurdes Mutola 4:02.6010 PattiSue Plumer 4:03.4211 Elena Fidatov 4:06.44— Doina Melinte

Semi finals Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Hassiba Boulmerka 4:03.81 2 Lyudmila Rogachova 4:03.85 3 Maria de Lurdes Mutola 4:04.20 4 Liu Li 4:04.35 5 Elena Fidatov 4:04.55 6 Angela Chalmers 4:04.87 7 Violeta Beclea 4:05.46 8 Letitia Vriesde 4:09.64 9 Kirsty Wade 4:11.3610 Maria Akraka 4:14.3011 Anna Brzezińska 4:15.5312 Regina Jacobs 4:21.5513 Marie Pierre Duros 4:26.61

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Tetyana Dorovskikh 4:03.79 2 Małgorzata Rydz 4:03.83 3 Qu Yunxia 4:03.86 4 Yekaterina Podkopayeva 4:03.93 5 Maite Zúñiga 4:04.00 6 PattiSue Plumer 4:04.23 7 Doina Melinte 4:04.42 8 Paula Schnurr 4:04.80 9 Carla Sacramento 4:05.5410. Fabia Trabaldo 4:06.0511 Sonia O'Sullivan 4:06.2412 Theresia Kiesl 4:07.4613 Debbie Bowker 4:12.50

Heats

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Hassiba Boulmerka 4:09.91 2 Tetyana Dorovskikh 4:09.94 3 Paula Schnurr 4:09.99 4 Elena Fidatov 4:10.00 5 Carla Sacramento 4:10.01 6 Liu Li 4:10.08 7 Marie-Pierre Duros 4:10.14 8 Maxine Newman 4:15.16 9 Simone Meier 4:15.6410 Susan Sirma 4:17.7311 Suzy Favor 4:22.3612 Laurence Niyonsaba 4:24.8713 Bigna Samuel 4:33.4114 Mantokoane Pitso 4:39.9615 Rosemary Turare 5:10.52

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Maite Zúñiga 4:07.82 2 Doina Melinte 4:08.58 3 Małgorzata Rydz 4:09.47 4 Lyudmila Rogachova 4:09.54 5 Letitia Vriesde 4:10.63 6 Debbie Bowker 4:11.27 7 Regina Jacobs 4:13.87 8 Sriyani Dhammika Manike 4:26.22 9 Carol Galea 4:33.4110 Rosalie Gangué 5:06.31— Ann Williams DQ— Fabia Trabaldo — Maria Akraka — Ellen Kießling

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Qu Yunxia 4:07.40 2 Yekaterina Podkopayeva 4:07.55 3 Maria de Lurdes Mutola 4:07.59 4 Violeta Beclea 4:07.60 5 Sonia O'Sullivan 4:07.70 6 Angela Chalmers 4:07.75 7 Theresia Kiesl 4:07.81 8 Kirsty Wade 4:08.30 9 Anna Brzezińska 4:08.3510. PattiSue Plumer 4:09.4711 Getenesh Urge 4:18.0912 Khin Khin Htwe 4:18.8113 Brigitte Nganaye 4:33.57 (NR)14 Ana Isabel Elias 4:33.66

See also 1990 Women's European Championships 1500 metres (Split) 1991 Women's World Championships 1500 metres (Tokyo) 1993 Women's World Championships 1500 metres (Stuttgart) 1994 Women's European Championships 1500 metres (Helsinki)

References

External links Official Report Results