Athletics at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Men's 1500 metres
| Men's 1500 metres at the Games of the XVII Olympiad
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| Venue | Olympic Stadium | |||||||||
| Dates | September 3 (final) (heats) September 6 (final) |
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| Competitors | 39 | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
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Herb Elliott Australia
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Michel Jazy France
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István Rózsavölgyi Hungary
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The 1500 final was much more of an endurance race than contemporary strategic races. Michel Jazy took the lead from the beginning and dared the field to stay with him. Arne Hamarsland and Jim Grelle struggled as the pack strung out quickly. With two laps to go, Herb Elliott upped the ante, taking the lead and pushing the pace. István Rózsavölgyi was the last to drop off with Jazy close behind Rózsavölgyi. But Elliott was gone, cleanly ahead going into the final lap. Waiting on the final backstretch, his coach Percy Cerutty prearranged that he would wave a yellow towel if Elliott was in danger of being caught from behind or close to the world record. A confused Elliott saw the towel and accelerated, pushing hard to the finish. Elliott's three second victory took an additional half second out of his own world record. His record would last for seven years before being improved upon by Jim Ryun. Behind Elliott, Jazy managed to catch Rózsavölgyi for the silver medal.
The fastest three runners in each of the three heats advanced to the final round.
Heat one
Heat two
Heat three
Key: WR = world record; DNF = did not finish
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