Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's 3000 metres steeplechase

Men's 3000 metres steeplechase at the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad
Venue	Athens Olympic Stadium
Dates	21–24 August
Competitors	41 from 27 nations
Winning time	8:05.81
Medalists
Ezekiel Kemboi   Kenya   Brimin Kipruto   Kenya   Paul Kipsiele Koech   Kenya

Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m		men		women
200 m		men		women
400 m		men		women
800 m		men		women
1500 m		men		women
5000 m		men		women
10,000 m		men		women
100 m hurdles				women
110 m hurdles		men
400 m hurdles		men		women
3000 m steeplechase		men
4×100 m relay		men		women
4×400 m relay		men		women
Road events
Marathon		men		women
20 km walk		men		women
50 km walk		men
Field events
Long jump		men		women
Triple jump		men		women
High jump		men		women
Pole vault		men		women
Shot put		men		women
Discus throw		men		women
Javelin throw		men		women
Hammer throw		men		women
Combined events
Heptathlon				women
Decathlon		men
Wheelchair races

The men's 3000 metres steeplechase at the 2004 Summer Olympics as part of the athletics program were held at the Athens Olympic Stadium from August 21 to 24.

The athletes competed in a three-heat qualifying round in which the top three from each heat, together with the six fastest losing runners, were given a place in the final race.

The Kenyan dominance in this event had become well notable. In the final, the Kenyan trio of Brimin Kipruto, Paul Kipsiele Koech, and 2003 World silver medalist Ezekiel Kemboi had established themselves into the lead, supporting each other throughout the race, and running the pace with their own strategy and tactics that could not be matched by any other athlete. On the other hand, Qatar's (Kenyan born) Musa Amer Obaid trailed the Kenyans to keep in contact and follow their every move. At the bell, the Kenyans were able to stay at the front. Spaniard Luis Miguel Martín joined them and tried to launch his sprint to chase the leaders, but he quickly fell behind as the race began to accelerate. Koech took the lead for the Kenyans and opened up a gap through the water jump, before Kemboi moved decisively to pass him and came down the home straight smoothly to victory. Kemboi turned to wave on his teammates Kipruto and Koech, as they cleared the final barrier and sprinted away jubilantly to give the Kenyans a sweep of the medal podium for the first time since the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.^[1][2]

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

World record	Brahim Boulami (MAR)	7:55.28	Brussels, Belgium	24 August 2001
Olympic record	Julius Kariuki (KEN)	8:05.52	Seoul, South Korea	30 September 1988

No new records were set during the competition.

Qualification

The qualification period for athletics was 1 January 2003 to 9 August 2004. For the men's 3000 metres steeplechase, each National Olympic Committee was permitted to enter up to three athletes that had run the race in 8:24.60 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 8:32.00 or faster could be entered.

Schedule

All times are Greece Standard Time (UTC+2)

Results

Round 1

Qualification rule: The first three finishers in each heat (Q) plus the next six fastest overall runners (q) advanced to the final.^[3]

Heat 1

Rank	Name	Nationality	Result	Notes
1	Saifeldin, Khamis AbdullahKhamis Abdullah Saifeldin	Qatar	8:17.89	Q, SB
2	Kemboi, EzekielEzekiel Kemboi	Kenya	8:18.20	Q
3	Tahri, BouabdellahBouabdellah Tahri	France	8:18.98	Q
4	Lincoln, DanielDaniel Lincoln	United States	8:19.62	q
5	Ezzine, AliAli Ezzine	Morocco	8:20.18	q
6	Martín, EliseoEliseo Martín	Spain	8:21.88	q
7	Popławski, RadosławRadosław Popławski	Poland	8:22.16	q, SB
8	Pröll, MartinMartin Pröll	Austria	8:26.01
9	Luchianov, IonIon Luchianov	Moldova	8:26.17	NR
10	Buč, BoštjanBoštjan Buč	Slovenia	8:37.29
11	Potapovich, PavelPavel Potapovich	Russia	8:52.65
12	Maffei, GiuseppeGiuseppe Maffei	Italy	DNF
13	Mandje, RobertoRoberto Mandje	Equatorial Guinea	DNS
13	Turki, LotfiLotfi Turki	Tunisia	DNS

Heat 2

Rank	Name	Nationality	Result	Notes
1	Kipruto, BriminBrimin Kipruto	Kenya	8:15.11	Q
2	Vroemen, SimonSimon Vroemen	Netherlands	8:15.28	Q, SB
3	Martín, Luis MiguelLuis Miguel Martín	Spain	8:16.90	Q
4	Mohamed, MustafaMustafa Mohamed	Sweden	8:19.37	q
5	Le Dauphin, VincentVincent Le Dauphin	France	8:20.13	q
6	Zakrzewski, JanJan Zakrzewski	Poland	8:23.72
7	Usov, RomanRoman Usov	Russia	8:24.19
8	Slobodenyuk, VadymVadym Slobodenyuk	Ukraine	8:24.84	PB
9	Chemlal, AbdelatifAbdelatif Chemlal	Morocco	8:29.36
10	Shiferaw, TewodrosTewodros Shiferaw	Ethiopia	8:33.15
11	Maazouz, AbdelhakimAbdelhakim Maazouz	Algeria	8:36.12
12	Gary, RobertRobert Gary	United States	8:38.01
13	Ramolefi, RubenRuben Ramolefi	South Africa	8:46.17
14	Ibrahim, BashirBashir Ibrahim	Kuwait	8:48.65	NR

Heat 3

Rank	Name	Nationality	Result	Notes
1	Obaid, Musa AmerMusa Amer Obaid	Qatar	8:23.94	Q
2	Jiménez, Antonio DavidAntonio David Jiménez	Spain	8:24.13	Q
3	Koech, Paul KipsielePaul Kipsiele Koech	Kenya	8:24.68	Q
4	Ouerdi, ZouhairZouhair Ouerdi	Morocco	8:27.55
5	Chaston, JustinJustin Chaston	Great Britain	8:28.35
6	Iwamizu, YoshitakaYoshitaka Iwamizu	Japan	8:29.07
7	Nowill, PeterPeter Nowill	Australia	8:29.14
8	Famiglietti, AnthonyAnthony Famiglietti	United States	8:31.59
9	Greaux, AlexanderAlexander Greaux	Puerto Rico	8:33.62
10	Svenøy, JimJim Svenøy	Norway	8:33.97
11	Silva, ManuelManuel Silva	Portugal	8:38.31
12	Wale, LulesegedLuleseged Wale	Ethiopia	8:50.73
13	Czaja, JakubJakub Czaja	Poland	8:56.24

Final

^[4]

Rank	Name	Nationality	Result	Notes
01 !	Ezekiel Kemboi	Kenya	8:05.81	SB
02 !	Brimin Kipruto	Kenya	8:06.11
03 !	Paul Kipsiele Koech	Kenya	8:06.64
4	Musa Amer Obaid	Qatar	8:07.18	PB
5	Luis Miguel Martín	Spain	8:11.64	SB
6	Simon Vroemen	Netherlands	8:13.25	SB
7	Bouabdellah Tahri	France	8:14.26	SB
8	Ali Ezzine	Morocco	8:15.58
9	Eliseo Martín	Spain	8:15.77	SB
10	Vincent Le Dauphin	France	8:16.15	SB
11	Daniel Lincoln	United States	8:16.86
12	Radosław Popławski	Poland	8:17.32	PB
13	Mustafa Mohamed	Sweden	8:18.05	PB
14	Antonio David Jiménez	Spain	8:22.63
15	Khamis Abdullah Saifeldin	Qatar	8:36.66

References

External links

• IAAF Athens 2004 Olympic Coverage