Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Men's 3000 metres steeplechase


The men's 3000 metres steeplechase was the only steeplechase on the Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics program in Mexico City. It was held on 14 October and 16 October 1968.
Four years earlier, Benjamin Kogo was the only Kenyan in the field, not making it out of the qualifying round. On the final lap, Kogo was in third place and his teammate was back in fifth behind Soviet Aleksandr Morozov with 200 metres to go. George Young had a few metres lead on Kerry O'Brien. In the 50 metres going into the water jump, Kogo passed O'Brien and pulled even with Young. Kogo took that water jump so much faster than Young, he gained a foot and had the momentum to carry him several metres into the lead. Young was straining to hold off O'Brien over the final barrier. O'Brien even checked over his left shoulder to make sure Morozov was not coming. Simultaneously Biwott was about to pass him on right. Biwott took the hurdle awkwardly, almost landing on both feet. But Biwott had more speed, leaving O'Brien and Young then sprinting past Kogo on to a three-metre victory.
Since this 1-2 victory, Kenya has gone on to dominate the event in the Olympics. Except for the two boycott years of 1976 and 1980, Kenya has won more than 2/3 of all medals offered, usually going 1-2 and sweeping the event twice.

Results

Round One

The first rounds were held on October 14. The fastest four athletes in each of the three heats advanced to the Final Round.
Heat One
RankNameNationalityTimeNotes
1Benjamin Kogo8:57.80Q
2Javier Álvarez9:03.74Q
3Bengt Persson9:06.43Q
4Arne Risa9:07.31Q
5John Jackson9:11.33
6Conrad Nightingale9:13.23
7Tadesse Wolde-Medhin9:13.24
8Manuel de Oliveira9:19.22
9Klaus-Ludwig Brosius9:23.98
10János Szabó9:25.82
11Pedro Miranda9:25.95
12Domingo Amaizón9:43.06
Larbi OukadaDNF

Heat Two
RankNameNationalityTimeNotes
1Jean-Paul Villain9:01.12Q
2George Young9:01.49Q
3Kerry O'Brien9:02.31Q
4Viktor Kudinskiy9:05.25Q
5Willi Wagner9:24.49
6Labidi Ayachi9:24.62
7Nobuyoshi Miura9:32.95
8Maurice Herriott9:34.68
9Albertino Etchechury9:35.61
10Eddy Van Butsele9:38.79
11Jan Cych9:50.78
12Hans Menet10:02.06
13Efraín Cordero11:19.23
ACMariano HaroDQ

Heat Three
RankNameNationalityTimeNotes
1Amos Biwott8:49.39Q
2Mikhail Zhelev9:01.96Q
3Gaston Roelants9:08.29Q
4Aleksandr Morozov9:08.45Q
5Bill Reilly9:10.35
6Peter Welsh9:13.80
7Gareth Bryan-Jones9:16.86
8Jan-Erik Karlsson9:19.64
9Taketsugu Saruwatari9:26.30
10Heinz-Gerd Mölders9:32.22
11Umberto Risi9:43.97
12Julio Quevedo9:48.37
ACGuy TexereauDNF

Final

The final was held on October 16. Biwott amazed the crowd leaping over the water jump using long jump-type technique, completely clearing the water. His barrier technique was also unique and he jumped with both feet together rather than in a hurdling technique. Benjamin Kogo led the final thru the kilometer but at the bell George Young joined him. Young took the lead with 300 to go, but Biwott ran down everybody in the final straight to win the gold medal. This began the Kenyan dominance of the steeplechase event.
RankNameNationalityTimeNotes
Amos Biwott8:51.02
Benjamin Kogo8:51.56
George Young8:51.86
4Kerry O'Brien8:52.08
5Aleksandr Morozov8:55.61
6Mikhail Zhelev8:58.41
7Gaston Roelants8:59.50
8Arne Risa9:08.98
9Jean-Paul Villain9:16.27
10Bengt Persson9:20.61
11Javier Álvarez9:24.51
Viktor KudinskiyDNF