| Final | time | electr | | 1. Hezakieh Keino |  Kenya | 3.34.9 OR | 3:34.91 | | 2. Jim Ryun |  United States | 3.37.8 | 3:37.89 | | 3. Bodo Tümmler |  West Germany | 3.39.0 | 3:39.08 | | 4. Harald Norpoth | West Germany | 3.42.5 | 3:42.57 | | 5. John Whetton |  Great Britain | 3.43.8 | 3:43.90 | | 6. Jacques Boxberger |  France | 3.46.6 | 3:46.65 | | 7. Henryk Szordykowski |  Poland | 3.46.6 | 3:46.69 | | 8. Josef Odlozil |  Czechoslovakia | 3.48.6 | 3:48.69 | | 9. Thomas Von Ruden | United States | 3:49.2 | | 10.Ben Wabura Jipcho | Kenya | 3:51.2 | | 11.Andre De Hertoghe |  Belgium | 3:53.6 | | 12.Martin Liquori | United States | 4:18.2 |
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| Splits | 400m 800m 1200m | | Keino | 56.6s 1:55.3 2:53.4 | | Ryun | 58.5s 1:58.5 2:56.0 | | Tümmler | 56.8s 1:56.8 2:55.4 | | Norpoth | 56.4s 1:57.0 2:55.8 | | Whetton | 57.2s 1:57.2 2:55.6 |
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In 1964, Jim Ryun had been an Olympic semi-finalist at the age of 17,
and had gone on to break Elliott’s world record of 3:35.6 by 2.5 sec-
onds in 1967. But the effects of altitude and a bout of glandular fever
made him no more than co-favourite with Keino. Ryun was fastest in
both the heats (3:45.7) and the more tactical semi-finals (3:51.2).
Only the Kenyans believed a fast run could be achieved at altitude,
and Jipcho set the pace in the final, running the first 100m in 13.5 and
continuing to 400m in 56.0 with Keino in contact (56.6) and Ryun
(58.5) waiting for the Kenyans to come back to him. Keino shortly
moved ahead and reached 800m in 1:55.3, with Ryun now more than
20m back (1:58.5). Keino managed a slightly quicker third lap (58.1)
while Ryun anxiously began to recoup a little of the deficit with a 57.5
lap. In the meantime, Tümmler had maintained second place, 10m
behind the flying Kenyan, with Norpoth and Whetton in close atten-
dance. Ryun got past Tümmler with 150m to go, but never had a chance
of catching Keino. He eased off in the last 50m, assured of silver.
Ahead, Keino was running four seconds faster than was thought possi-
ble at altitude, and his Olympic record was the number two perform-
ance of all-time. It was felt that he would likely have broken Ryun’s
world record by more than a second at low altitude.
| Semi 1 | time | | 1. Bodo Tümmler | West Germany | 3:53.6 | | 2. Jacques Boxberger | France | 3:53.9 | | 3. Thomas Von Ruden | United States | 3:54.1 | | 4. Henryk Szordykowski | Poland | 3:54.2 | | 5. Harald Norpoth | West Germany | 3:54.3 | | 6. Ben Wabura Jipcho | Kenya | 3:54.6 | | 7. Francesco Arese |  Italy | 3:54.8 | | 8. Arne Kvalheim |  Norway | 3:55.3 | | 9. John Boulter | Great Britain | 3:56.1 | | 10.Edgard Salve | Belgium | 3:58.1 | | 11.Mikhail Zhelobovsky |  Soviet Union | 3:59.0 | | 12.Hamadi Haddou |  Marocco | 4:01.6 |
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| Semi 2 | time | | 1. James Ryun | United States | 3:51.2 | | 2. Hezakieh Keino | Kenya | 3:51.4 | | 3. John Whetton | Great Britain | 3:52.0 | | 4. Martin Liquori | United States | 3:52.1 | | 5. Josef Odlozil | Czechoslovakia | 3:52.5 | | 6. Andre De Hertoghe | Belgium | 3:52.5 | | 7. Oleg Raiko | Soviet Union | 3:52.7 | | 8. Ahmet Issa |  Chad | 3:53.2 | | 9. Hansruedi Knill |  Switzerland | 3:53.6 | | 10.Norman Trerise |  Canada | 3:57.2 | | 11.Claude Nicolas | France | 4:04.4 | | 12.Arnd Krüger | West Germany | 4:05.3 |
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| Heat 1 | time | | 1. Hezakieh Keino | Kenya | 3:46.9 | | 2. Bodo Tümmler | West Germany | 3:51.5 | | 3. John Peter Boulter | Great Britain | 3:51.6 | | 4. Jorge Grosser |  Chile | 3:51.7 | | 5. Francesco Arese | Italy | 3:51.8 | | 6. David Bailey | Canada | 3:52.1 | | 7. Robert Honti |  Hungary | 3:54.9 | | 8. Rudolf Klaban |  Austria | 3:59.1 | | 9. Julio Quevedo |  Guatemala | 4:03.1 | | 10.Edouard Sagna |  Senegal | 4:04.1 | | 11.Emilio Barahona |  Honduras | 4:56.0 |
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| Heat 2 | time | | 1. Thomas Von Ruden | United States | 3:59.1 | | 2. Andre De Hertoghe | Belgium | 3:59.3 | | 3. Henryk Szordykowski | Poland | 3:59.3 | | 4. Claude Nicolas | France | 3:59.3 | | 5. Arnd Krüger | West Germany | 3:59.3 | | 6. Renzo Finelli | Italy | 3:59.5 | | 7. Ove Kjell Berg |  Sweden | 4:00.4 | | 8. Tom Birger Hansen |  Denmark | 4:01.4 | | 9. Subramanion Ramasamy |  MAL | 4:06.4 | | 10.Miguel Nunez |  Dominicana | 4:23.6 |
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| Heat 3 | time | | 1. Ben Wabura Jipcho | Kenya | 3:46.4 | | 2. Oleg Raiko | Soviet Union | 3:46.8 | | 3. Harald Norpoth | West Germany | 3:46.9 | | 4. Josef Odlozil | Czechoslovakia | 3:47.4 | | 5. Jacques Boxberger | France | 3:47.5 | | 6. Jose Neri |  Mexico | 3:47.5 | | 7. Jorge Gonzalez |  Spain | 3:50.4 | | 8. loannis Virvilis |  Greece | 3:55.5 | | 9. Xaver Flick |  Liechtenstain | 4:15.3 | | 10.Alfredo Cubias |  El Salvador | 4:32.5 |
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| Heat 4 | time | | 1. James Ryun | United States | 3:45.7 | | 2. Hamadi Haddou | Marocco | 3:47.0 | | 3. Edgar Salve | Belgium | 3:47.1 | | 4. Arne Kvalheim | Norway | 3:47.4 | | 5. Norman Trerise | Canada | 3:47.6 | | 6. Gianni Del Buono | Italy | 3:48.4 | | 7. Peter Watson |  Australia | 3:55.4 | | 8. Maurice Benn | Great Britain | 3:56.4 | | 9. Pekka Vasala |  Finland | 4:08.5 | | 10.Willie Rios |  Puerto Rico | 4:14.4 | | 11.Jeffrey Payne |  Bermuda | 4:18.9 |
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| Heat 5 | time | | 1. Martin Liquori | United States | 3:52.7 | | 2. Hansruedi Knill | Switzerland | 3:52.8 | | 3. John Whetton | Great Britain | 3:53.0 | | 4. Ahmet Issa | Chad | 3:53.1 | | 5. Mikhail Zhelobovsky | Soviet Union | 3:53.2 | | 6. Matias Habtemichael |  Ethiopia | 3:53.2 | | 7. Anders Garderud | Sweden | 3:54.2 | | 8. Byron Dyce |  AJM | 3:54.6 | | 9. Jerzy Maluski | Poland | 3:54 8 | | 10.Francis Murphy |  Ireland | 3:54.8 | | 11.Rudi Simon | Belgium | 4:06.9 | | 12.Arturo Cordoba | Honduras | 5:18.9 |
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