1984 Olympic 1500m Final - Coe-Cram-Abascal

Coe wins, Crammy second and Abascal third. Note someone stepped on Coe from behind on the first home straight, possibly Scott? Also pay attention to what Sebby shouts up at the stands, "Now believe in me!" an emotional outburst for certain but understandable - Brit Athletic officials made an incredible blunder when they did not select him for the '88 Olympic Team.

[@LK-bz9sk]

Almost 40 years later and I get butterflies in my stomach like I did watching it live in 84. Coe. What an athlete.

[@Daz555Daz]

What an amazing final. Coe was absolutely superb - one of the GOATS without question. Cram had an astonishing career but I did feel a little sorry with how the Olympics went for him. Too young in 80 against the might of Coe and Ovett, injured all season in 84, and sadly all done by 88 due to career ending injury. He had an undiagnosed issue that was easily fixable with surgery had it been known. Still nothing to be ashamed of - along with Coe, Ovett & Aouita he was one of the greats of this era.

[@michaelnaisbitt1639]

To the commentators. If it’s not terribly fast and it’s not terribly slow Then it doesn’t need your stupid comments

[@michaelbell5984]

Great memories. I remember getting up at some stupid time at night to watch this. Went to college in Sheffield and would see Seb sometimes training on the streets. What a runner.

[@howardday9398]

The greatest middle distance runner ever, his 800 metre world record has been beaten by only two men, and more importantly, by only 0.8 of a second just shows how unique Coe was.

[@jakeboat7691]

i disagree hicham el guerrouj was the greatest middle disance runner

[@KryptonitetoallBS]

@@jakeboat7691Na, Elg was thrashed more than once by Morceli. Then mysteriously his times came down dramatically. That EPO thing will follow Elg to his grave!!!

[@clauss2563]

El Gerrouj was clearly better and is the greatest of all times! Morceli was better too.

[@KryptonitetoallBS]

@@clauss2563THE difference is that Coe was 100% clean. Morceli was good and would have been a test for Coe even at his best, but Elg is shrouded in doubt regarding EPO. Morceli thrashed Elg more than once!!

[@hbnet309]

@@KryptonitetoallBS Drugs accusations is the justification of looser.

[@peterryan6497]

Sebastian COE, was certainately poetry in motion as a runner 😊

[@APBCTechnique]

😉 Only man to have world records at 800m, 1000m, 1500m and mile + only man to retain 1500m Olympic title🥇 Poetry in motion, graceful runner 🏃‍♀️ 🏃 Fastest last 100m in a 800m race 11.3 and fastest 100m in 1500m Olympics 12.3. Simply amazing at his best 😉

[@stel3209]

Utterly magnificent....his "action" was perfection.

[@kennethlandau5396]

For those reasons I rank him number one all time

[@aidanross9489]

Who is this dude?

[@albertbrooksjr.1435]

Awesome, I never saw this version of the Men’s 1500 meter Olympic Final. I watched this race live on television in August of 1984.

[@NPA1001]

The Coe ‘kick’ is the most devastating change of pace In middle distance running ever

[@kevinkilduff2064]

No runner in history beats Coe on this day. Utterly dominant over a top flight field and world #1 Steve Cram(who would after this begin his years of dominance). Finally healthy after a battle with a mono-like disorder that saw him struggle for months, Seb turns in what might be the fastest final 100m in a 1500m race, stunning Cram and those dolts in the press box who so flippantly had lambasted him as washed up. Sweet revenge, methinks. (I feel for the great Steve Ovett who was felled by an awful allergy problem which caused him to drop out on lap 4. ) At different times Coe held world records at 800-1000-1500-mile and 2000. More over, he was a hell of a 400m relay runner, running at times on Britain's 4 x 400 team We shan't see his like again.

[@APBCTechnique]

Everything you said is true except Coe had no WR in 2,000m. His PB was 4:58.84 5 June 198 Bordeaux, FRANCE.

[@clauss2563]

El Gerrouj easily

[@KryptonitetoallBS]

@@clauss2563 We're talking about Clean athletes! Those who are shrouded in EPO mystery can't be considered!

[@sicuramentedubbioso]

My favourite! When i was a child i runned with my friends screaming "SEBASTIAN COE!!!" every time i won ours "Olympic games" around the house 😂

[@KryptonitetoallBS]

Arguably the greatest runner of all time and definitely the most elegant.

[@APBCTechnique]

Neutral Observer. 😉 Only man to have world records at 800m, 1000m, 1500m and mile + only man to retain 1500m Olympic title🥇 Poetry in motion, graceful runner 🏃‍♀️ 🏃 Fastest last 100m in a 800m race 11.3 and fastest 100m in 1500m Olympics 12.3. Simply amazing at his best 😉

[@kevinkilduff2064]

@@APBCTechnique Also the 1000 and 2000 m!

[@peterrowlands6406]

And the biggest ego

[@KryptonitetoallBS]

@@peterrowlands6406 That normally goes hand in hand with someone who is a cut above the rest. Ali, Best, Clough etc. Ovett's wave to the crowd was a prime example, but something Coe never did!

[@johnmc3862]

A wave to the crowd is hardly the worst thing!

[@Robert-mn8gc]

Seb COE was my favourite British Middle Distance Runner . 🏃‍♂️ Then Ovett . Australian's ❤ there MDR.

[@free2roam674]

Really perfect, they got him ready to run angry, like watching Iron Mike in his prime. Watch out if you piss them off.

[@denisej4813]

One of the British sports journalists, whose name escapes me, had stated very clearly towards the end of 1983 that Coe was finished as a top athlete, following a lengthy spell of illness and various injuries, and could be safely ignored in any discussions around selection for the 1984 Olympics. He really got on the wrong side of Seb and I'm guessing he was in the press contingent that Coe turned to and roared at, right after the finish of the race.

[@KryptonitetoallBS]

You've just watched the GOAT.

[@michaell8722]

Want to the 1500m and mile GOAT? Watch Hicham El Guerrouj

[@KryptonitetoallBS]

@@michaell8722 I'm talking about "clean" athletes, not those who improved their times so massively that they probably used EPO.

[@meisterlymanu5214]

@@KryptonitetoallBS did you even see the 2012 800m final. The greatest 100 seconds of running ever.

[@KryptonitetoallBS]

@@meisterlymanu5214 Yes I did and it was great. Did you see Rudisha hold the 800, 1000, 1500 and mile records all at the same time? Did you see Rudisha win consecutive 1500 metre Olympic Gold medals? Did Rudisha set middle distance athletics alight for an entire generation? When you can answer Yes to those questions, come back and see me 🤫

[@aidanross9489]

Why the Brit winner so angry? What's he unhappy with? He just won didn't he??

[@drrsc]

The British sporting press gave him a really hard time.

[@denisej4813]

He was haranguing the British press, some of whom had practically written him off in the previous 12 months, following a couple of significant battles with illness and injury. Some questioned his selection for the team, and you have to remember that GB had so many great middle-distance runners at the time that it was arguably more difficult to get picked for the team than it was to win a medal once you were selected! It all created a rather toxic atmosphere between him and the press, which exploded at the end of this race.

[@aidanross9489]

@@denisej4813 Thank you very much for the explanation. It does explain a lot for that reaction of his at the end of the race (!)

[@nicolrobertbaird]

the camera angle around 4:00 is great for showing his kick, or as the commentator says his explosion.....some finish!

[@APBCTechnique]

nclbrd 😉 Only man to have world records at 800m, 1000m, 1500m and mile + only man to retain 1500m Olympic title🥇 Poetry in motion, graceful runner 🏃‍♀️ 🏃 Fastest last 100m in a 800m race 11.3 and fastest 100m in 1500m Olympics 12.3. Simply amazing at his best 😉

[@nm-ix7dz]

Great trio of British athletes

[@andyallen4492]

3.32 and not out of breath.friggin hell

[@drrsc]

I read somewhere that he felt he was in shape to have done 3:27 or thereabouts even after all the rounds from the 800 and prior runs in the 1500

[@andyallen4492]

drrsc yes there was another 5 seconds there

[@APBCTechnique]

drrsc 😉 Only man to have world records at 800m, 1000m, 1500m and mile + only man to retain 1500m Olympic title🥇 Poetry in motion, graceful runner 🏃‍♀️ 🏃 Fastest last 100m in a 800m race 11.3 and fastest 100m in 1500m Olympics 12.3. Simply amazing at his best 😉

[@APBCTechnique]

Seb Coe used those 7 races in 9 days to get race fit ..... 😉

[@denisej4813]

Good point. He was no-where near as upset at coming second in the 800m as he had been in Moscow, which has made me think that he considered the 800m in LA as a stepping stone to the defence of his 1500m title.

[@terminallyinquisitive1731]

Coe made running look so easy - cruised and his change of pace kick was devastating - be it from the front or to take the lead and move away

[@agustinfernandezmesa6557]

Increíbles carreras de los 1500,mi carrera favorita en atletismo.

[@jondunmore4268]

3:58 -- Ohmigod! That last kick of Coe's - I just swore out loud for 10 seconds straight! What a machine!

[@kennethlandau5396]

The ONLY man in history to pull off the double

[@archlutesmith]

He never won the double.Took second in 800 twice

[@KryptonitetoallBS]

@@archlutesmith He won the Olympic 1500 meters Gold in 1980 and 1984. So YES he won the double! If selected in 88 he would probably have won that as well, but we'll never know!

[@deano27671]

Brilliant! To run a 3:32 with relative ease after 7 races in 9 days shows what a superb athlete he was. In that form he'd still be winning gold medals at global level today.

[@APBCTechnique]

deano27671 😉 Only man to have world records at 800m, 1000m, 1500m and mile + only man to retain 1500m Olympic title🥇 Poetry in motion, graceful runner 🏃‍♀️ 🏃 Fastest last 100m in a 800m race 11.3 and fastest 100m in 1500m Olympics 12.3. Simply amazing at his best 😉

[@elizabethtanner9050]

Deano your imagination is running wild

[@deano27671]

@@elizabethtanner9050 oh really? In what way?

[@elizabethtanner9050]

@@deano27671 coe was a superb runner, but the idea he would be winning global championships today is laughable.

[@deano27671]

@@elizabethtanner9050 you clearly don’t follow the sport and are unaware of who has won global titles and what sort of split times have been achieved in these championship races. The current Olympic champion, Centrowitz, has a 1500 pb of 3:30.4, slower than Coe’s pb set 34 years ago on a slower track and less advanced spikes. Centrowitz’s run was also on the notoriously fast Monaco track. Both the last 2 World Champions, Cheruiyot and Manangoi have pbs approximately 1 sec faster than Coe’s, and both of those performances were again run on the Monaco track, which has enabled most athletes to run approximately 2 secs faster there than on any other track. Coe’s 800 pb is considerably faster than those of Centrowitz, Manangoi or Cheruiyot, which is a significant factor when competing in a 1500 championship scenario when the pace is rarely at WR level. Now let’s look at the closing splits between Coe’s 84 Olympic win (3:32.53) and compare with Managoi’s 2017 World Champs win in a slower 3:33.61. I’ve chosen that one because it is closest to the time Coe ran and therefore more relevant for comparison. Coe’s last 800m in that 3:32 was 1:49.8, Managoi’s 1:50.0; Coe’s last 400m was 53.2, Manangoi’s a slower 53.7; Coe’s last 300m was 39.2, compared to Manangoi’s 39.8. Coe’s last 200m was 25.7, a second faster than Manangoi’s corresponding split of 26.7, and Coe’s last 100m was 12.6, to Manangoi’s 13.3. So, Coe was faster in every comparable split over the last 800, 400, 300, 200 and 100m in a faster overall time and had already run the 800m prior to the rounds of the 1500m. In terms of 800m, the sentiment is even more true. In the last 20 years only 1 winner of an Olympic or World title has run faster than Coe did, almost 40 years ago, on an inferior track. That man is Rudisha, who hasn’t competed at the highest level over the past 4 seasons. Despite superior spikes and faster tracks today, the likes of Brazier, Bosse, Aman, etc, have all failed to run as fast as Coe achieved. In addition, a fact probably not known to you, Coe’s combined best times over 800m and 1500m, converted into IAAF event point scores is still, 30+ years after he achieved them, is still the best of any athlete over the 2 distances. So the only laughable thing is your total ignorance in light of the overwhelming factual evidence to the contrary! The bottom line is that the likes of Coe, Ovett and Cram, in their best years from the 80’s, would still be amongst the favourites for medals over 1500m and (particularly in Coe’s case) 800m.

[@荒谷修二]

コーちゃんすげい。オベットどしたん？この時期英国人つえい

[@Ruda-n4h]

Can't help thinking that if Aouita had run this instead of the 5000m he might have won. Against that if Ovett had been fit in this line up its 1-2-3 for Britain.

[@samhardy6319]

I doubt it. Coe ran the last 100m in 12.1. Aouita, although he had a good sprint, dropped out of the 1500 because Cram out kicked him in '83. While Cram was coming back from injury, and Coe illness, but Aouita probably felt the 5,000m was his best chance. It was a shame Ovett was ill on the day here.

[@simonhindley65]

Aouita ran the 5000m because he knew a fit and firing Coe would vanquish him. As was confirmed by Coe's awesomely dominant performance. Aouita would have been booked in for a bronze had he run in this.

[@GordHerrema-rs1rj]

Cram would have won a ton of races were it not for Ovett & Coe.

[@brianoidperson]

Did he look tired?

[@drrsc]

I think his father said words to this effect, '..he didn't even have a hair out of place..'

[@simonhindley65]

No, because he still had plenty enough energy to berate the British press in no uncertain terms!

[@rafaelvelazquezlopez9398]

Enorme Abascal eliminando a Owett con unos 600 metros asfixiantes para conseguir medalla

[@mariotijerina6822]

Spivey from Fenton h.s.

[@mikenealon4042]

LA'28!

[@chrisab66]

Incredible to think that Coe and Ovett, and Cram to an extent lost years of career due to illness and injury. Seb lost 1982 and 1983 especially so you have to wonder what he could achieved if he had remained fit. Same with Ovett.

[@drrsc]

Yes. I read an interview somewhere thatPeter Coe, Seb's father (and I seem to recall Seb agreeing) had mentioned the real possibility of Seb taking the 800m record below 1:40. If one keeps in mind that when the 1:41.73 mark was made it was not a record attempt, then it does lend credence to the possibility of going sub 1:40.

[@chrisab66]

@@drrsc Absolutely,. Coe's world record was 1:41.73 and Rushida ran 1:40.91 - 31 odd years later it doesn't take into account the possibility of quicker tracks, different training methods and more comfortable spikes etc. I know it's true for all sports but if you cloned a 23 year old Coe to run now it would be interesting op see how good he would be.

[@Daz555Daz]

They all suffered fairly bad luck when it came to injury and general health. Cram had a chronic condition that went undiagnosed until after he retired - compartment syndrome - and it meant from late '83 onwards he had to load manage his training fairly harshly. It was an easy surgical fix even in the 80s. Ovett seemed to get ill fairly often and had respiratory problems late in his career and Coe had glandular fever in 82 which can be fairly devastating with very long term effects.

[@benhabib2895]

This is not final of 1984, it was at Los Angeles, the winner was the morrocan: Said Aouita.

[@jerryoshea3116]

Incorrect ..The great Man won the 5000m Gold at this Competition in 1984 &Bronze at the 800m in Seoul,in 1988..

[@peterknox5561]

Its coe v el gerrouj for the ultimate

[@KryptonitetoallBS]

That's debatable. In the heyday of EPO Morceli used to destroy Elg. Then out of the blue Elg suddenly started to run 2, 3 and then 5 seconds quicker???? Questions have to be asked. No-one in history has improved so much in such a short time at that distance! We know Coe was clean and without illness and injuries we know he would have been miles ahead of anyone. But even with his illnesses and injures he still had the best kick in 1500 metre history. With faster tracks of today and better pace setters he would still have been the man to beat!

[@johnrogan9420]

Blood doper...like having pure oxygen without any lactic acid build up.