Olympic Games - Athletics Women's Distance Races
The women's distance races comprise the disciplines which take place on the track above 800 metres, plus the marathon and walks.
The 800m is the longer established of these. It made its debut in 1928 but was then dispensed with, organisers believing that the experiment had failed and women were barred from competiting beyond 200m until the 800 returned in 1960. It has been a part of the schedule ever since.
The 1,500m was introduced in 1972, a 3,000m event appeared from 1984-1992 before being replaced by the 5,000m and the 10,000m was first held in 1988; the initial Olympic women's Marathon was staged four year earlier.
In 1992 Barcelona saw the first women's walking event (over the 10km distance) and since 2000 this has been doiubled in length.
The most recent addition to the Olympic athletics roster has been the women's 3,000m Steeplechase, first run in 2008.
The venues for these events since 1972 have been as follows - the road events started and finished in the stadium listed unless otherwise stated:
1972: Olympic Stadium, Munich, West Germany
1976: Olympic Stadium, Montreal, Canada
1980: Lenin Stadium, Moscow, Soviet Union
1984: Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, United States
1988: Olympic Stadium, Seoul, South Korea
1992: Montjuic Olympic Stadium, Barcelona, Spain
1996: Centennial Olympic Stadium, Atlanta, United States
2000: Olympic Stadium, Sydney, Australia
2004: Olympic Stadium, Athens, Greece (Marathon raced from Marathonas to the Kallimarmaro Stadium)
2008: National Stadium, Beijing, China (Marathon started in Tiananmen Square, Beijing)
Medallists: Since 1972
| 1972 | GOLD | SILVER | BRONZE |
| 800m | HILDEGARD FALCK (Frg) | Nijole Sabaite (Urs) | G Hoffmeister (Gdr) |
| 1500m | LUDMILA BRAGINA (Urs) | G Hoffmeister (Gdr) | Paola Pigni (Ita) |
| 1976 | GOLD | SILVER | BRONZE |
| 800m | TATYANA KAZANKINA (Urs) | N'na Shtereva (Bul) | Elfi Zinn (Gdr) |
| 1500m | TATYANA KAZANKINA (Urs) | G Hoffmeister (Gdr) | U Klapezynski (Gdr) |
| 1980 | GOLD | SILVER | BRONZE |
| 800m | NADEZHDA OLIZARENKO (Urs) | Olga Mineeva (Urs) | T Providokhina (Urs) |
| 1500m | TATYANA KAZANKINA (Urs) | C Wartenburg (Gdr) | N'a Olizarenko (Urs) |
| 1984 | GOLD | SILVER | BRONZE |
| 800m | DOINA MELINTE (Rom) | Kim Gallagher (Usa) | Fita Lovin (Rom) |
| 1500m | GABRIELLA DORIO (Ita) | Doina Melinte (Rom) | M'cica Puica (Rom) |
| 3000m | MARICICA PUICA (Rom) | Wendy Sly (Gbr) | Lynn Williams (Can) |
| Marathon | JOAN BENOIT (Usa) | Grete Waitz (Nor) | Rosa Mota (Prt) |
| 1988 | GOLD | SILVER | BRONZE |
| 800m | SIGRUN WODARS (Gdr) | C'tine Wachtel (Gdr) | Kim Gallagher (Usa) |
| 1500m | PAULA IVAN (Rom) | L Baikauskaite (Urs) | T'na Samolenko (Urs) |
| 3000m | TETYANA SAMOLENKO (Urs) | Paula Ivan (Rom) | Yvonne Murray (Gbr) |
| 10,000m | OLGA BONDARENKO (Urs) | Liz McColgan (Gbr) | Yelena Vyazova (Urs) |
| Marathon | ROSA MOTA (Prt) | Lisa Ondieki (Aus) | Katrin Dorre (Gdr) |
| 1992 | GOLD | SILVER | BRONZE |
| 800m | ELLEN VAN LANGEN (Nld) | L Nurutdinova (Unf) | Ana Quirot (Cub) |
| 1500m | HASSIBA BOULMERKA (Mor) | L Rogachova (Unf) | Qu Yunxia (Chn) |
| 3000m | YELENA ROMANOVA (Unf) | T Dorovskikh (Unf) | A'gela Chalmers (Can) |
| 10000m | DERARTU TULU (Eth) | Elana Meyer (Rsa) | Lynn Jennings (Usa) |
| Marathon | VALENTINA YEGOROVA (Unf) | Yuko Arimori (Jap) | Lorraine Moller (Nzl) |
| 10km Wk | CHEN YUELING (Chn) | Y Nikolayeva (Unf) | Li Chunxiu (Chn) |
| 1996 | GOLD | SILVER | BRONZE |
| 800m | SVETLANA MASTERKOVA (Rus) | Ana Quirot (Cub) | Maria Mutola (Moz) |
| 1500m | SVETLANA MASTERKOVA (Rus) | G'riela Szabo (Rom) | Theresia Kiesl (Aut) |
| 5000m | WANG JUNXIA (Chn) | Pauline Konga (Ken) | Roberta Brunet (Ita) |
| 10000m | FERNANDA RIBEIRO (Prt) | Wang Junxia (Chn) | Gete Wami (Eth) |
| Marathon | FATUMA ROBA (Eth) | V'na Yegorova (Rus) | Yuko Arimori (Jap) |
| 10km Wk | YELENA NIKOLAYEVA (Rus) | El'betta Perrone (Ita) | Wang Yan (Chn) |
| 2000 | GOLD | SILVER | BRONZE |
| 800m | MARIA MUTOLA (Moz) | Stephanie Graf (Aut) | Kelly Holmes (Gbr) |
| 1500m | NOURIA MERAH-BENIDA (Alg) | V'leta Beclea (Rom) | G'riela Szabo (Rom) |
| 5000m | GABRIELA SZABO (Rom) | Sonia O'Sullivan (Irl) | Gete Wami (Eth) |
| 10000m | DERARTU TULU (Eth) | Gete Wami (Eth) | F'anda Ribeiro (Prt) |
| Marathon | NAOKO TAKAHASHI (Jap) | Lidia Simon (Rom) | J Chepchumba (Ken) |
| 20km Wk | LIPING WANG (Chn) | Kjersti Platzer (Nor) | Maria Vasco (Esp) |
| 2004 | GOLD | SILVER | BRONZE |
| 800m | KELLY HOLMES (Gbr) | H'na Benhassi (Mor) | Jolanda Ceplak (Svn) |
| 1500m | KELLY HOLMES (Gbr) | T Tomashova (Rus) | Maria Cioncan (Rom) |
| 5000m | MESERET DEFAR (Eth) | I'bella Ochichi (Ken) | Tirunesh Dibaba (Eth) |
| 10000m | XING HUINA (Chn) | E'yehu Dibaba (Eth) | Derartu Tula (Eth) |
| Marathon | MIZUKI NOGUCHI (Jap) | C'ine Ndereba (Ken) | Deena Kastor (Usa) |
| 20km Wk | ATHANASIA TSOUMELEKA (Grc) | Ol'da Ivanova (Rus) | Jane Saville (Aus) |
2008 | GOLD | SILVER | BRONZE |
| 800m | PAMELA JELIMO (Ken) | J Jepkosgei (Ken) | H'na Benhassi (Mor) |
| 1500m | NANCY LAGAT (Ken) | I Lishchynska (Ukr) | Nataliya Tobias (Ukr) |
| 3000m S | GULNARA GALKINA (Rus) | E'ice Jepkorir (Ken) | Y'rina Volkova (Rus) |
| 5000m | TIRUNESH DIBABA (Eth) | E Abeylegesse (Tur) | Meseret Defar (Eth) |
| 10000m | TIRUNESH DIBABA (Eth) | E Abeylegesse (Tur) | S'ne Flanagan (Usa) |
| Marathon | CONSTANTINA DITA (Rom) | C'ine Ndereba (Ken) | Zhou Chunxia (Chn) |
| 20km Wk | OLGA KANISKINA (Rus) | Kjersti Platzer (Nor) | Elisa Rigaudo (Ita) |
| S = Steeplechase Wk = Walk |
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