The 1500-metre run became a standard racing distance in Europe in the late 19th century, perhaps as a metric version of the mile, a popular running distance since at least the 1850s in English-speaking countries. [1]
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A distance of 1500 m sometimes is called the "metric mile". The French had the first important races over the distance, holding their initial championship in 1888.
When the Olympic Games were revived in 1896, metric distances were run, including the 1500; however, most of the best milers in the world were absent, and the winning time of 4:33 1/5 by Australian Edwin Flack was 17 4/5 seconds slower than the amateur mile record, despite the fact one mile is 109.344 metres longer than 1500 metres.
The 1900 Olympics and 1904 Olympics showed improvements in times run, but it was not until the 1908 Olympics that a meeting of the top milers over the distance took place, and not until the 1912 Olympics that a true world-class race over the distance was run. [2]
The distance has now almost completely replaced the mile in major track meets.
