1500m Semi-Finals / Final, World Athletics Championships, Helsinki 1983

Semi-Finals & First Half of 1500m Final. Steve Cram, Steve Ovett and Graham Williamson competing in the World Athletics 1,500m at Helsinki in 1983.
BBC Coverage

[@redd605]

this is my favourite world championship 1983 you had great races ,athletics was in the overt ,coe cram .no boycott. the only disappointing thing was seb coe, was I'll or injured. in 83 and 87,so never raced in a world championship in the 80s

[@athleticscoach2012]

Ovett was not in shape you can see it in the semi. He would never normally be in anything other than pole position with 200m to go.All that looking around in the straight was to cover that, before his injury he would have never let Cram open a gap or be edging qualification

[@redd605]

I agree,h e would of barged his way in.would of beaten cram if he had been in the right place in the final maybe? but I was at Crystal palace,when he was in the right place on crams shoulder,and cram still won.with the same tactical run he did at the world championship,but ovett,closing speed was incredible,in the 83 finals,and would of out kicked,all to win in 83.

[@joemcm1]

i agree,if he had had had the 800 heats/semis/finals he would have run right into form for the 1500m final.as it was his 1500m is a complete mystery to me,it was like a sleepwalker that woke up 15 metres behind everyone when the medals were already won.his last lap is ridiculous,he burns past 5 or 6,slips off the track past another on the inside.doesnt lose anything in the last 100m and still only just loses the bronze to aquita.wtf

[@deano27671]

Cram showed what a great tactician he was at this stage of his career, while Ovett ran probably his worst tactical race ever!
Ironically, I'd say Cram wasn't in as good a shape here as he was a year later in LA, but he was still able to play to his strength here (a long run 300m from home) because it was so slow in the early stages, and Ovett wasn't in touch. 1:48.4 last 800m, 52.1 last 400m.

[@rianrawr]

I've never seen so many runners look around that much!

[@timrobinson100]

was willing ovett to win, not a great cram fan, glad he won though

[@ЭдгарГольцов]

Удивительно как провалился Мэйри? Ведь через несколько дней он установил мировой рекорд 331.24, да и испанец Гонсалес был в хорошей форме, но до финала не дошел