Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Women's 1500 metres

The women's 1500 metres at the 2004 Summer Olympics as part of the athletics program were held at the Athens Olympic Stadium from August 24 to 28.<ref name="SR">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The first round comprised three heats with the first five gaining a direct qualification and then the next nine fastest across all heats progressing to the semifinals. The top five runners in each of the two semifinal heats moved on directly to the final, and they were immediately joined by the next two fastest from any of the semifinals.

The final started out quickly with the fastest qualifier Natalya Yevdokimova taking an insurmountable lead for the Russians alongside her teammates Olga Yegorova and reigning world champion Tatyana Tomashova. Great Britain's Kelly Holmes, who had earlier won the gold medal in the 800 metres, was expected to challenge her Russian rivals and the rest of the field for a possible Olympic double. Throughout the race, Holmes stayed calmly at the back of the field, lying eighth at the bell. With only one more lap to go, she bided her time to pull away from the rest of the runners through the curve, keeping an eye on the leaders. Holmes made a wider move with only 100 metres remaining to pass the leader Tomashova and sprinted down the home stretch to take the gold medal, setting a new British record of 3:57.90. Tomashova closed the race quickly to get the silver, while Romania's Maria Cioncan could not reach further to chase the leaders on a tight sprint finish, ending her up with a bronze.<ref name=holmes-double>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Holmes' feat made her one of Great Britain's most successful athletes in Olympic history, and the first to achieve an Olympic middle-distance double by either a male or a female, for 84 years, a feat that not accomplished by the 1980s running legends Sebastian Coe, Steve Ovett, and Steve Cram.<ref name=holmes-double/> Template:TOC limit

Records

Template:As of, the existing World record, Olympic record, and world leading time were as follows:

No new records were set during the competition.

Qualification

The qualification period for athletics was 1 January 2003 to 9 August 2004. For the women's 1500 metres, each National Olympic Committee was permitted to enter up to three athletes that had run the race in 4:05.80 or faster during the qualification period. If an NOC had no athletes that qualified under that standard, one athlete that had run the race in 4:07.15 or faster could be entered.

Schedule

All times are Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3)

Date	Time	Round
Tuesday, 24 August 2004	20:30	Round 1
Thursday, 26 August 2004	20:30	Semifinals
Saturday, 28 August 2004	20:30	Final

Results

Round 1

Qualification rule: The first five finishers in each heat (Q) plus the next nine fastest overall runners (q) advanced to the semifinals.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Heat 1

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Tatyana Tomashova	Template:FlagIOC	4:06.06	Q
2	Nataliya Tobias	Template:FlagIOC	4:06.06	Q
3	Nuria Fernández	Template:FlagIOC	4:06.29	Q
4	Anna Jakubczak	Template:FlagIOC	4:06.37	Q
5	Elvan Abeylegesse	Template:FlagIOC	4:06.42	Q
6	Carrie Tollefson	Template:FlagIOC	4:06.46	q
7	Hayley Tullett	Template:FlagIOC	4:07.27	q
8	Carla Sacramento	Template:FlagIOC	4:07.73	q
9	Courtney Babcock	Template:FlagIOC	4:08.18
10	Latifa Essarokh	Template:FlagIOC	4:09.08
11	Mestawat Tadesse	Template:FlagIOC	4:11.78
12	Elena Iagăr	Template:FlagIOC	4:11.48
13	Silvia Felipo	Template:FlagIOC	4:44.40	SB
14	Sloan Siegrist	Template:FlagIOC	4:44.53
Template:Hs	Bouchra Ghezielle	Template:FlagIOC	Template:Abbr
Template:Hs	Nouria Merah Benida	Template:FlagIOC	Template:Abbr

Heat 2

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Natalya Yevdokimova	Template:FlagIOC	4:05.55	Q
2	Kelly Holmes	Template:FlagIOC	4:05.58	Q
3	Daniela Yordanova	Template:FlagIOC	4:05.87	Q, SB
4	Maria Martins	Template:FlagIOC	4:05.95	Q
5	Hasna Benhassi	Template:FlagIOC	4:05.98	Q
6	Lidia Chojecka	Template:FlagIOC	4:06.13	q
7	Iris Fuentes-Pila	Template:FlagIOC	4:06.32	q
8	Nahida Touhami	Template:FlagIOC	4:06.41	q
9	Konstadina Efedaki	Template:FlagIOC	4:06.73	q
10	Malindi Elmore	Template:FlagIOC	4:09.81
11	Jasminka Guber	Template:FlagIOC	4:17.75	PB
12	Meskerem Legesse	Template:FlagIOC	4:18.03
13	Alina Cucerzan	Template:FlagIOC	4:18.07
14	Elena Guerra	Template:FlagIOC	4:35.31
15	Kanchhi Maya Koju	Template:FlagIOC	4:38.17	PB
Template:Hs	Iryna Lishchynska	Template:FlagIOC	Template:Abbr

Heat 3

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Maria Cioncan	Template:FlagIOC	4:06.68	Q
2	Carmen Douma-Hussar	Template:FlagIOC	4:06.90	Q
3	Wioletta Janowska	Template:FlagIOC	4:06.91	Q
4	Nancy Jebet Lagat	Template:FlagIOC	4:06.94	Q
5	Kutre Dulecha	Template:FlagIOC	4:06.95	Q
6	Olga Yegorova	Template:FlagIOC	4:07.14	q
7	Natalia Rodríguez	Template:FlagIOC	4:07.19	q
8	Hind Dehiba	Template:FlagIOC	4:07.96
9	Nelya Neporadna	Template:FlagIOC	4:08.60
10	Trine Pilskog	Template:FlagIOC	4:08.61
11	Sarah Jamieson	Template:FlagIOC	4:09.25
12	Judit Varga	Template:FlagIOC	4:09.36
13	Joanne Pavey	Template:FlagIOC	4:12.50
14	Tatiana Borisova	Template:FlagIOC	4:13.36
15	Sumaira Zahoor	Template:FlagIOC	4:49.33
Template:Hs	Rosa Saul	Template:FlagIOC	Template:Abbr

Semifinals

Qualification rule: The top five finishers in each heat (Q) plus the next two fastest overall runners (q) advanced to the final.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Semifinal 1

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Maria Cioncan	Template:FlagIOC	4:06.69	Q
2	Anna Jakubczak	Template:FlagIOC	4:06.77	Q
3	Tatyana Tomashova	Template:FlagIOC	4:06.80	Q
4	Elvan Abeylegesse	Template:FlagIOC	4:07.10	Q
5	Hasna Benhassi	Template:FlagIOC	4:07.39	Q
6	Nataliya Tobias	Template:FlagIOC	4:07.55
7	Nancy Jebet Lagat	Template:FlagIOC	4:07.57
8	Kutre Dulecha	Template:FlagIOC	4:07.63
9	Nuria Fernández	Template:FlagIOC	4:07.68
10	Iris Fuentes-Pila	Template:FlagIOC	4:07.69
11	Hayley Tullett	Template:FlagIOC	4:08.92
12	Konstadina Efedaki	Template:FlagIOC	4:09.37

Semifinal 2

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Natalya Yevdokimova	Template:FlagIOC	4:04.66	Q
2	Kelly Holmes	Template:FlagIOC	4:04.77	Q
3	Lidia Chojecka	Template:FlagIOC	4:04.83	Q
4	Natalia Rodríguez	Template:FlagIOC	4:04.91	Q
5	Daniela Yordanova	Template:FlagIOC	4:04.94	Q, SB
6	Carmen Douma-Hussar	Template:FlagIOC	4:05.09	q
7	Olga Yegorova	Template:FlagIOC	4:05.57	q
8	Nahida Touhami	Template:FlagIOC	4:07.21
9	Carrie Tollefson	Template:FlagIOC	4:08.55
10	Carla Sacramento	Template:FlagIOC	4:10.85
11	Wioletta Janowska	Template:FlagIOC	4:11.41
12	Maria Martins	Template:FlagIOC	4:12.76

Final

<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
Template:Gold01	Kelly Holmes	Template:FlagIOC	3:57.90	NR
Template:Silver02	Tatyana Tomashova	Template:FlagIOC	3:58.12	PB
Template:Bronze03	Maria Cioncan	Template:FlagIOC	3:58.39	PB
4	Natalya Yevdokimova	Template:FlagIOC	3:59.05	PB
5	Daniela Yordanova	Template:FlagIOC	3:59.10	PB
6	Lidia Chojecka	Template:FlagIOC	3:59.27	SB
7	Anna Jakubczak	Template:FlagIOC	4:00.15	PB
8	Elvan Abeylegesse	Template:FlagIOC	4:00.67
9	Carmen Douma-Hussar	Template:FlagIOC	4:02.31	PB
10	Natalia Rodríguez	Template:FlagIOC	4:03.01	SB
11	Olga Yegorova	Template:FlagIOC	4:05.65
12	Hasna Benhassi	Template:FlagIOC	4:12.90

External links

• IAAF Athens 2004 Olympic Coverage

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