Faster, Higher, Stronger

Stories of the Olympic Games: 1500 Metres (1x3)

Uitzenddatum: Jul 11, 2012

The series telling the history of the Olympics reveals the story of the blue riband event of any Games - the 1500 metres, or metric mile. This was the race that gave Britain its finest Olympic hour in Los Angeles in 1984 when three British world champions competed for gold - Sebastian Coe, Steve Ovett and Steve Cram. Travelling to the varied environments that have helped shape the greatest 1500m runners - from the forests of Finland to the beaches of Australia, from the city streets and country lanes of Britain, to the high altitude terrains of Kenya and Morocco - it reveals that although the race is run on a track, it is ultimately won on punishing training runs in natural landscapes. With contributions from some of the greatest Olympians ever to run the 1500m and the current world record holder Hicham El Guerrouj - the programme shows that to win 1500m gold, athletes need the stamina of marathon runners, the speed of the best sprinters and the tactical brains of chess masters.