The men's 800 metres at the 2004 Summer Olympics as part of the athletics program was held at the Athens Olympic Stadium from August 25 to 28. Seventy-two athletes from 58 nations competed. The event was won by Yuriy Borzakovskiy of Russia, the first medal for the nation in the event. Wilson Kipketer of Denmark became the 10th man to win a second medal in the 800 metres.
The women's 800 metres at the 2004 Summer Olympics as part of the athletics program were held at the Athens Olympic Stadium from August 20 to 23.
The men's 1500 metres at the 2004 Summer Olympics as part of the athletics program were held at the Athens Olympic Stadium from August 20 to 24. Thirty-eight athletes from 26 nations competed. The event was won by Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco, the nation's first title in the event after coming second twice ; El Guerrouj was the fifth man to win a second medal in the event. Bernard Lagat's silver put Kenya on the podium in the event for the third straight year; the United States and Great Britain were the only other nations to have accomplished that. It also made Lagat the sixth man to win two medals in the event, just behind El Guerrouj in both 2000 and 2004. Rui Silva's bronze was Portugal's first medal in the event.
Maryam Yusuf Jamal is an Ethiopian-born Bahraini middle-distance runner. She is the first Bahraini athlete to win an Olympic medal, a gold in the 1500m women's race, in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. This was also the first Olympic medal won by a woman representing a Gulf state. Born in Ethiopia, 2005 was her first full season. She gained the national record and ran the fastest 3000 m of the year, with a time of 8:28.87 at a race in Oslo. Jamal is a two-time world champion in the 1500 m, having won at the 2007 and 2009 World Championships in Athletics.
Yuliya Nikolaevna Chizhenko-Fomenko is a Russian middle-distance runner who specializes in the 1500 metres.
The Russian Federation competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics, held in Beijing, China, represented by the Russian Olympic Committee. Russia competed in all sports except baseball, field hockey, football, softball, and taekwondo. They ranked third in the medal table by golds (24) and overall (60). Russia also had 14 medals stripped for doping violations, the most of any nation at the 2008 Olympics.
The women's 4 × 100 metres relay event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 21 and 22 August at the Beijing Olympic Stadium.
The women's 1500 metres at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place from 21–23 August at the Beijing National Stadium.
The Women's 3,000 metres Steeplechase event at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Olympic Stadium on August 15 and August 17. The Russian steeplechase team entered for the event was particularly strong, featuring world record holder and Olympic champion Gulnara Galkina, defending world champion Yekaterina Volkova, and third fastest of the year Yuliya Zarudneva. Other possible medallists included Marta Domínguez, who had the world-leading time prior to the competition, American record holder Jenny Barringer, and world junior record holder Ruth Bisibori.
The women's 800 metres at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Olympic Stadium on 16, 17 and 19 August. Prior to the championships, there was no clear favourite for the race – the twenty fastest times of the season had been run by seventeen different athletes. The reigning World and Olympic champions, Janeth Jepkosgei and Pamela Jelimo, had not shown the dominance of previous seasons. The two fastest runners of the season, Caster Semenya and Maggie Vessey, had recently set personal bests but lacked any major championships experience, while third best Anna Alminova was a 1500 metres specialist. European Indoor Champion Mariya Savinova and Svetlana Klyuka, fourth at the Olympics, were other strong competitors. The 2007 World medallists Hasna Benhassi and Mayte Martínez, and Olympic finalist Yuliya Krevsun were also predicted as medal possibilities.
The women's 1500 metres at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Olympic Stadium between 18–23 August. It was originally won by Natalia Rodríguez of Spain, but she was disqualified for tripping Gelete Burka of Ethiopia. Burka had been in the lead for the majority of the race, but Rodríguez had caught up and tripped Burka. Burka ended up finishing last and was visibly upset of what had happened. Rodríguez was disqualified. Defending champion Maryam Yusuf Jamal of Bahrain received the gold, Lisa Dobriskey of Great Britain received the silver, and Shannon Rowbury of the United States received the bronze. In addition, Mariem Alaoui Selsouli of Morocco was disqualified before the final for testing positive for Erythropoietin. She was not replaced.
The men's 100 metres at the 2002 European Athletics Championships were held at the Olympic Stadium on August 6 and August 7.
The men's 1500 metres at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Nagai Stadium on 25, 27 and 29 August.
The women's 1500 metres at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics was held on August 12 and 14 at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium.
The Women's 800 metres at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Daegu Stadium on September 1, 2 and 4.
The Women's 1500 metres at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Daegu Stadium on August 28 & 30, and September 1.
The men's 100 metres at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Luzhniki Stadium on 10 and 11 August.
The women's 1500 metres event at the 2015 Summer Universiade was held on 10 and 12 July at the Gwangju Universiade Main Stadium.
The 1500 metres at the World Championships in Athletics has been contested by both men and women since the inaugural edition in 1983. It is the second most prestigious title in the discipline after the 1500 metres at the Olympics. The competition format typically has two qualifying rounds leading to a final between twelve athletes. It is one of two middle-distance running events on the programme, alongside the World Championship 800 metres.
The men's 1500 metres event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place between 3 and 7 August 2021 at the Japan National Stadium. Approximately fifty athletes were expected to compete; the exact number depended on how many nations used universality places to enter athletes in addition to the 45 qualifying through time or ranking. 47 competitors from 27 nations competed. Jakob Ingebrigtsen set a new Olympic record on his way to the gold medal, Norway's first medal in the men's 1500 metres. Timothy Cheruiyot of Kenya took silver, returning that nation to the podium for the first time since a four-Games medal streak ended in 2008. Josh Kerr earned bronze, Great Britain's first medal in the event since 1988.
