Athletics at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's 3000 metres steeplechase

These are the official results of the Men's 3000 metres Steeplechase event at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. There were a total number of 35 participating athletes, with two semi-finals and three qualifying heats.[1]

Men's 3000 metres steeplechase at the Games of the XXVI Olympiad
Venue	Centennial Olympic Stadium
Dates	29 July 1996 (heats) 31 July 1996 (semi-finals) 2 August 1996 (final)
Competitors	35 from 22 nations
Winning time	8:07.12
Medalists
Joseph Keter  Kenya Moses Kiptanui  Kenya Alessandro Lambruschini  Italy

Athletics at the 1996 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m	men	women
200 m	men	women
400 m	men	women
800 m	men	women
1500 m	men	women
5000 m	men	women
10,000 m	men	women
100 m hurdles		women
110 m hurdles	men
400 m hurdles	men	women
3000 m steeplechase	men
4×100 m relay	men	women
4×400 m relay	men	women
Road events
Marathon	men	women
10 km walk		women
20 km walk	men
50 km walk	men
Field events
Long jump	men	women
Triple jump	men	women
High jump	men	women
Pole vault	men
Shot put	men	women
Discus throw	men	women
Javelin throw	men	women
Hammer throw	men
Combined events
Heptathlon		women
Decathlon	men
Wheelchair races

Perhaps after watching the slow start four years earlier, this time Kenyans wanted less drama than their casual sweep of 1992. From the gun, Joseph Keter took the lead. Moses Kiptanui got a poorer start but simply ran around the outside of the pack and joined Keter from barely 150 metres into the race and that was it. The two never relinquished the lead. Defending champion Matthew Birir made it a touch more dramatic by being last off the line and took all of an additional 50 metres to join the pack at the front. The closest trailing athletes were the two Italians Angelo Carosi and Alessandro Lambruschini and Moroccan Brahim Boulami. With three laps to go, Alessandro Lambruschini passed Boulami and Carosi to become the only one to challenge the 10 metre lead the Kenyans had built. Little by little over the next lap, Lambruschini was able to bridge the gap, with Mark Croghan running hard from a few places back to get up to fifth. With two laps to go, Birir started to lose contact with his teammates. Lambruschini passed him and set off in chase of the other two. With just over a lap to go, Keter looked over his shoulder to see who was behind him, it wasn't Birir, all three accelerated. With Kiptanui leading Keter and Lambruschini, the group left Birir and the rest of the field behind. Just before the water jump Keter went wide as both Kenyans hurdled the water. Lambruschini lost a few meters and Keter was sprinting around Kiptanui. Both men sprinted to the final barrier, with Keter taking it first and fastest. He pulled away to victory. 10 metres later Lambruschini crossed the line with a bronze medal reward for improving over finishing fourth the previous two Olympics. 25 metres back, Birir held off the rest of the field.