| Final | | time | | 1. Arnold Jackson |  Great Britain | 3:56.8 OR | | 2. Abel Kiviat |  United States | 3:56.9 | | 3. Norman Taber | United States | 3:56.9 | | 4. John Paul Jones | United States | 3:57.2 | | 5. Ernst Wide |  Sweden | 3:57.6 | | 6. Philipp Baker | Great Britain | 4:01.0 e | | 7. John Zander | Sweden | 4:02.0 e | | 8. Walter McClure | Unuted States | 4:02.2 e | | 9-14.Henri Arnaud |  France | Unknown | | 9-14.Evert Björn | Sweden | Unknown | | 9-14.Oscar Hedlund | United States | Unknown | | 9-14.Louis Madeira | United States | Unknown | | 9-14.Mel Sheppard | United States | Unknown | | 9-14.Erwin von Sigel |  Germany | Unknown |
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| | | Venue: Stockholm Olympic Stadion. Capp.: 20,000. | | 46 competitors from 15 nations. |
| Round | H | Ath | Ath. | | Heats | 7 | 46 | 09.07 |
| World record: 3:55.8 Abel Kiviat, United States Cambridge, United States 8 June 1912 | | Olympic record: 4:03.4 Norman Hallows. Great Britain London, United Kingdom 13 July 1908 | | Abel Kiviat finished his semifinal only 1 second off the Olympic record time of 4:03.4; he and all six other finalists whose times are known broke that mark in the final. |
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Kiviat had set a world record of 3:55.8 to win the US Eastern Trials and was favoured to win, with fellow Americans Taber and Jones also well
regarded. The first two in each heat qualified for the final, and Kiviat (4:04.4) and the young Swede Zander (4:05.5) were the fastest heat
winners. Defending champion Sheppard (4:27.6) was the most economical of the victors. Arnaud led for the first two laps of the final (65,
2:08), with Erwin von Sigel (GER) and Jones close behind. Taber and Kiviat moved up, the former leading at 1000m in 2:39, and the latter
ahead at 1200m in 3:09. Baker, in sixth place was dealing well with a foot bound in surgical tape because of a dislocated bone. Kiviat held
the lead all the way to the finishing straight, where the tall Jackson began to close on Kiviat and Taber. Just behind these three were Jones
and Wide. The Swede had been 15m behind Kiviat at the bell. With 10m to go Jackson settled the race with a surge which left Kiviat and
Taber half a metre back. With five under four minutes for the first time and the winner always in doubt, this was the first great Olympic.
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Heats - Tuesday, 9 July 1912 14:30 | | First 2 from each of 7 Heats advanced to Final. |
| Heat 1 | time | | | 1. Mel Sheppard | United States | 4:27.6 | Q | | 2. Louis Madeira | United States | 4:27.9 | Q | | 3. Albert Hare | Great Britain | 4:39.4 | |
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| Heat 2 | time | | | 1. Norman Taber | United States | 4:25.5 | Q | | 2. Philip Baker | Great Britain | 4:26.0 | Q | | 3. Georg Amberger |  Germany | 4:27.0 | | | 4-5. Teofil Savniky |  Hungary | Unknown | | | 4-5. Rudolfs Vītols |  Russia | Unknown | | | -. Dmitri Nazarov | Russia | DNF | |
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| Heat 3 | time | | | 1. Abel Kiviat | United States | 4:04.4 | Q | | 2. Henri Arnaud | France | 4:05.4 | Q | | 3. Norman Patterson | United States | 4:05.5 | | | 4. John Tait |  Canada | Unknown | | | 5. Ferenc Forgács | Hungary | Unknown | | | 6-7. François Delloye |  Belgium | Unknown | | | 6-7. Jacob Pedersen |  Norway | Unknown | | | -. Edward Owen | Great Britain | DNF | |
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| Heat 4 | time | | | 1. Arnold Jackson | Great Britain | 4:10.8 | Q | | 2. John Paul Jones | United States | 4:12.4 | Q | | 3. John Victor | South Africa | 4:12.7 | | | 4. Lewis Anderson | United States | Unknown | | | 5. Oscar Larsen | Norway | Unknown | | | 6. Arnolds Indriksons | Russia | Unknown | | | 7. Alfrēds Ruks | Russia | Unknown | |
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| Heat 5 | time | | | 1. John Zander | Sweden | 4:05.5 | Q | | 2. Evert Björn | Sweden | 4:07.2 | Q | | 3. Herbert Putnam | United States | 4:07.6 | | | 4. Richard Yorke | Great Britain | Unknown | | | 5. Georg Mickler | Germany | Unknown | | | 6. Aleksandr Elizarov | Russia | Unknown | | | 7. Nikolay Kharkov | Russia | Unknown | | | -. Charles Ruffell | Great Britain | DNF | |
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| Heat 6 | time | | | 1. Erwin von Sigel | Germany | 4:09.3 | Q | | 2. Oscar Hedlund | United States | 4:10.8 | Q | | 3. William Moore | Great Britain | 4:11.2 | | | 4. Nils Frykberg | Sweden | 4:11.2 | | | 5-6. Frederick Hulford | Great Britain | Unknown | | | 5-6. Andrejs Krūkliņš | Russia | Unknown | | | -. Guido Calvi |  Italy | DNF | |
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| Heat 7 | time | | | 1. Ernst Wide | Sweden | 4:06.0 | Q | | 2. Walter McClure | United States | 4:07.3 | Q | | 3. Joe Cottrill | Great Britain | Unknown | | | 4. Efraim Harju |  Finland | Unknown | | | 5. Yevgeny Petrov | Russia | Unknown | | | -. Vahram Papazian |  Turkey | DNF | |
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