The Men's 3000 metres steeplechase at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 16–18 August at the Beijing Olympic Stadium. The winning margin was 0.15 seconds which as of 2024 remains the only time the men's steeplechase was won by less than 0.3 seconds at the Olympics.
The qualifying standards were 8:24.60 (A standard) and 8:32.00 (B standard).
Brimin Kipruto, who won the silver medal at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, became the seventh Kenyan runner in a row to win this event at the Olympics. In total Kenya won nine gold medals in the 3000m steeplechase since 1968, but none of those medalists was ever able to defend his title.
Records Prior to this competition, the existing world record, Olympic record, and world leading time were as follows:
No new world or Olympic records were set for this event.
Results
Round 1
HeatPositionAthleteCountryTimeNotes11 Bouabdellah Tahri 8:23.42Q12 Brimin Kiprop Kipruto 8:23.53Q13 Abdelkader Hachlaf 8:23.62Q14 Tareq Mubarak Taher 8:23.66Q15 Nahom Mesfin 8:23.82 16 Ildar Minshin 8:26.85 17 Tomasz Szymkowiak 8:29.37 18 Rabia Makhloufi 8:29.74 19 Yoshitaka Iwamizu 8:29.80 110 Valērijs Žolnerovičs 8:37.65 111 Alberto Paulo 8:39.11 112 Rubén Palomeque 8:58.50 1 Matteo Villani DNF21 Yacob Jarso 8:16.88Q, PB22 Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad 8:16.95Q, SB23 Anthony Famiglietti 8:17.34Q, PB24 Ezekiel Kemboi 8:17.55Q25 Mustafa Mohamed 8:17.80 q26 Youcef Abdi 8:17.97 q, PB27 Ion Luchianov 8:18.97 q, NR28 Boštjan Buc 8:21.24 29 Brahim Taleb 8:23.09 210 Andrew Lemoncello 8:36.06 211 William Nelson 8:36.66 212 José Luis Blanco 8:37.37 213 Ali Ahmed Al-Amri 9:09.73 2 Jukka Keskisalo DNS31 Ruben Ramolefi 8:19.86Q, PB32 Richard Kipkemboi Mateelong 8:19.87Q33 Benjamin Kiplagat 8:20.22Q34 Abubaker Ali Kamal 8:21.85Q35 Eliseo Martín 8:23.19 SB36 Hamid Ezzine 8:27.45 37 Vincent Zouaoui Dandrieaux 8:27.91 38 Roba Gary 8:28.27 39 Joshua McAdams 8:33.26 310 Pavel Potapovich 8:36.29 311 Pieter Desmet 8:37.99 312 Halil Akkaş 8:44.70 313 Itai Maggidi 9:05.02
Legend: Q=Qualified top 4 in heat; q=Qualified by time; DNF=Did not finish; DNS=Did not start; DQ=Disqualified; NR=National record; PB=Personal best; SB=Season best
Final
Rank Athlete Country Time Notes Brimin Kiprop Kipruto 8:10.34 SB Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad 8:10.49 PB Richard Kipkemboi Mateelong 8:11.01 4 Yacob Jarso 8:13.47 NR 5 Bouabdellah Tahri 8:14.79 6 Youcef Abdi 8:16.36 PB 7 Ezekiel Kemboi 8:16.38 8 Abubaker Ali Kamal 8:16.59 9 Benjamin Kiplagat 8:20.27 10 Mustafa Mohamed 8:20.69 11 Tareq Mubarak Taher 8:21.59 12 Ion Luchianov 8:27.82 13 Anthony Famiglietti 8:31.21 14 Ruben Ramolefi 8:34.58 15 Abdelkader Hachlaf 9:02.06
Splits Intermediate Athlete Country Mark 1000m Ruben Ramolefi 2:46.97 2000m Mustafa Mohamed 5:33.84
References