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

Event:Men's 3000 metres steeplechase
Games:1976 Summer
Venue:Olympic Stadium
Dates:25 July 1976 (qualifying)
28 July 1976 (final)
Competitors:24
Nations:16
Gold:Anders Gärderud
Goldnoc:SWE
Silver:Bronisław Malinowski
Silvernoc:POL
Bronze:Frank Baumgartl
Bronzenoc:GDR
Prev:1972
Next: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:

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

Date Event Athlete Time Notes
25 July 1976 Qualifying 8:18.56 OR
28 July 1976 Final 8:08.02 WR, OR

The following national records were established during the competition:

Results

Heats

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

Heat 1

width=30Rank !width=150Athlete !width=150Nationality !width=30Time !width=30Notes
18:18.56,
2Frank Baumgartl8:21.25
38:21.43
48:24.53
58:27.96
68:31.46
78:35.03
88:35.71
9Willi Maier8:44.82
10Peter Larkins8:46.89
11Ágúst Ásgeirsson8:53.95
Gerd Frähmcke

Heat 2

width=30Rank !width=150Athlete !width=150Nationality !width=30Time !width=30Notes
18:18.95
2Tapio Kantanen8:20.82
38:23.73
48:25.02
58:26.31
68:29.21
78:31.55
88:33.25
9Takaharu Koyama8:37.28
10Mike Roche8:37.36
11Dušan Moravčík8:41.95
12Gheorghe Cefan8:57.22

Final

width=30Rank !width=150Athlete !width=150Nationality !width=30Time !width=30Notes
8:08.02
8:09.11
8:10.36
4 8:12.60
5 8:20.14
6 8:21.08
7 Dan Glans8:21.53
8 8:22.65
9 8:22.99
10 8:23.99
11 Tony Staynings8:33.66
12 8:42.74

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Athletics at the 1976 Montreal: Men's 3,000 metres Steeplechase . https://web.archive.org/web/20200417174407/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1976/ATH/mens-3000-metres-steeplechase.html . dead . 17 April 2020 . 24 November 2017 . sports-reference.com.