Athletics at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Men's 3000 metres steeplechase

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Men's 3000 metres steeplechase
at the Games of the XXI Olympiad
Olympic Athletics.png
Olympic Athletics
Venue Olympic Stadium
Dates25 July 1976 (qualifying)
28 July 1976 (final)
Competitors24 from 16 nations
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Anders Gärderud Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden
Silver medal icon.svg Bronisław Malinowski Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg  Poland
Bronze medal icon.svg Frank Baumgartl Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany
  1972
1980  

These are the official results of the Men's 3000 metres steeplechase event at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. The competition was held on July 25, 1976, and on July 28, 1976. [1]

Summary

The final was held on July 28, 1976. Contrary to many other Olympic middle- and long-distance Olympic finals, this final was fast from the start. Finland's Tapio Kantanen, the defending Olympic bronze medalist from the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics, took the lead after the start. About one lap later, Britain's Dennis Coates briefly moved into the lead, before Spain's Antonio Campos passed him. Leading the 12-man field through 1,000 metres in 2:43.57, Campos kept up the fast pace.

With about 3.5 laps left, Poland's Bronislaw Malinowski took the lead. Before 2,000 metres, which Malinowski passed in 5:29.07, the lead group was reduced to four men: Malinowski, East Germany's Frank Baumgartl, Sweden's Anders Gärderud, and Finland's Kantanen. West Germany's Michael Karst, the defending European Championships bronze medalist from Rome in 1974, rose to the fifth place, and tried unsuccessfully to pursue the lead group. With about 600 metres left, Kantanen began to struggle, and he dropped decisively from the lead group early on the last back straight. Around the same time, Gärderud sprinted past Malinowski - the exact reverse of what Malinowski had managed to do in Rome in 1974. Baumgartl fought hard with Malinowski for the second place, and was able to pass the Polish steeplechaser fully by early on the final bend. After the last water barrier, Baumgartl launched his final kick, and closed the gap on Gärderud.

As the leading duo jumped to the last barrier, Baumgartl appeared to be in a slight lead. However, the East German steeplechaser timed his last jump a bit too late, hitting the final barrier with his right knee. As Baumgartl fell to the track, Gärderud was able to sprint into a wider lead over Malinowski, who had to jump over the fallen East German. Although Kantanen saw Baumgartl's fall, he was at least ten metres too far to pass the East German, who very quickly got up, and sprinted remarkably quickly towards the finish line. All the top four runners set their personal and national records, while Gärderud set also the world, Olympic, European, and Nordic (or Scandinavian) record in this distance. Gärderud's Olympic record would last until 1988, when Kenya's Julius Kariuki broke it in the Seoul Summer Olympics.

However, Kariuki's countryman Henry Rono set a new world record at this distance already in 1978 in Seattle. (Hannus, Matti, The Montreal Olympic Book, Helsinki, Finland, 1976;

Records

Prior to the 1976 Summer Olympics, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows:

World recordFlag of Sweden.svg  Anders Gärderud  (SWE)8:09.70 Stockholm, Sweden1 July 1975
Olympic recordFlag of Kenya.svg  Kipchoge Keino  (KEN)8:23.64 Munich, West Germany7 September 1972

The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition:

DateEventAthleteTimeNotes
25 July 1976QualifyingFlag of Poland (1928-1980).svg  Bronisław Malinowski  (POL)8:18.56 OR
28 July 1976FinalFlag of Sweden.svg  Anders Gärderud  (SWE)8:08.02 WR , OR

The following national records were established during the competition:

CountryAthleteRoundTime
Poland Flag of Poland.svg  Bronisław Malinowski  (POL)Final8:09.11

Results

Heats

Held on 25 July 1976. Note: Top six in each heat (Q) advanced to the final.

Heat 1

RankAthleteNationalityTimeNotes
1 Bronisław Malinowski Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg  Poland 8:18.56 Q, OR
2 Frank Baumgartl Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany 8:21.25 Q
3 Anders Gärderud Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 8:21.43 Q
4 Antonio Campos Flag of Spain (1945-1977).svg  Spain 8:24.53 Q
5 Ismo Toukonen Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 8:27.96 Q
6 Henry Marsh Flag of the United States.svg  United States 8:31.46 Q
7 Jean-Paul Villain Flag of France.svg  France 8:35.03
8 John Bicourt Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 8:35.71
9 Willi Maier Flag of Germany.svg  West Germany 8:44.82
10 Peter Larkins Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 8:46.89
11 Ágúst Ásgeirsson Flag of Iceland.svg  Iceland 8:53.95
Gerd Frähmcke Flag of Germany.svg  West Germany DNF

Heat 2

RankAthleteNationalityTimeNotes
1 Dennis Coates Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 8:18.95 Q
2 Tapio Kantanen Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 8:20.82 Q
3 Dan Glans Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 8:23.73 Q
4 Michael Karst Flag of Germany.svg  West Germany 8:25.02 Q
5 Euan Robertson Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 8:26.31 Q
6 Tony Staynings Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 8:29.21 Q
7 Paul Thys Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium 8:31.55
8 Doug Brown Flag of the United States.svg  United States 8:33.25
9 Takaharu Koyama Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg  Japan 8:37.28
10 Mike Roche Flag of the United States.svg  United States 8:37.36
11 Dušan Moravčík Flag of Czechoslovakia.svg  Czechoslovakia 8:41.95
12 Gheorghe Cefan Flag of Romania (1965-1989).svg  Romania 8:57.22

Final

RankAthleteNationalityTimeNotes
Gold medal icon.svg Anders Gärderud Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 8:08.02 WR
Silver medal icon.svg Bronisław Malinowski Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg  Poland 8:09.11 NR
Bronze medal icon.svg Frank Baumgartl Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany 8:10.36 NR
4 Tapio Kantanen Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 8:12.60 NR
5 Michael Karst Flag of Germany.svg  West Germany 8:20.14
6 Euan Robertson Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 8:21.08
7 Dan Glans Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 8:21.53
8 Antonio Campos Flag of Spain (1945-1977).svg  Spain 8:22.65
9 Dennis Coates Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 8:22.99
10 Henry Marsh Flag of the United States.svg  United States 8:23.99
11 Tony Staynings Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 8:33.66
12 Ismo Toukonen Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 8:42.74

Related Research Articles

References

  1. "Athletics at the 1976 Montreal: Men's 3,000 metres Steeplechase". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 24 November 2017.