Before the event there were five highly regarded possible winners –
Cunningham and San Romani who had both run 3:49.9 in the US
Trials, Beccali the reigning champion, Lovelock the Empire
Champion, and Wooderson the AAA Champion. Wooderson broke a
bone in his ankle just before the Games, and was a shadow of himself
in his heat. While the other four made the final without difficulty, lesser
lights were the fastest qualifiers, with Goix running 3:54.0 and Erik Ny
3:54.8.
In the final Cunningham led through 400m in 61.5 with Lovelock on
his shoulder. The pace slowed in the second lap, and Cunningham
passed 800m in 2:05.2 with Ny just ahead of him. The American
pushed hard over the next 200m, passing 1000m in 2:35.2, but Ny
slipped past him just before the bell (2:50.2). Cunningham was on the
inside with Lovelock next to him and Beccali 2m back in fourth place.
With 300m to go, just as the field was contemplating the finish,
Lovelock struck, taking a 4m lead seemingly in 20m. Cunningham
powered through the last 300m himself, but could never regain any of
the initial yardage obtained by the Kiwi. Indeed Lovelock extended his
lead by 2m in the finishing straight, easing off in the last 10m to win
by 5m. Lovelock’s time beat the world record of Bill Bonthron by a full
second, and was the first time the 1500m record had been broken offi-
cially in the Olympic Games.
New Zealand
United States
Italy
Canada
Great Britain
Hungary
France
Germany
Sweden
Finland
Greece
Belgium
Denmark
Luxembourg
Switzerland
Japan
South Africa
Yugoslavia
Austria
Chile
Czechoslovakia
Australia
Estonia
Rep. China
Colombia
Norway
Peru