Contents
| Men's 3000 metres steeplechase at the Games of the XIX Olympiad | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Estadio Olímpico Universitario | |||||||||
| Dates | October 14, 1968 (heats) October 16, 1968 (final) | |||||||||
| Competitors | 40 from 22 nations | |||||||||
| Winning time | 8:51.02 | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Track events | ||
| 100 m | men | women |
| 200 m | men | women |
| 400 m | men | women |
| 800 m | men | women |
| 1500 m | men | |
| 5000 m | men | |
| 10,000 m | men | |
| 80 m hurdles | women | |
| 110 m hurdles | men | |
| 400 m hurdles | men | |
| 3000 m steeplechase | men | |
| 4 × 100 m relay | men | women |
| 4 × 400 m relay | men | |
| Road events | ||
| Marathon | men | |
| 20 km walk | men | |
| 50 km walk | men | |
| Field events | ||
| Long jump | men | women |
| Triple jump | men | |
| High jump | men | women |
| Pole vault | men | |
| Shot put | men | women |
| Discus throw | men | women |
| Javelin throw | men | women |
| Hammer throw | men | |
| Combined events | ||
| Pentathlon | women | |
| Decathlon | men | |
The men's 3000 metres steeplechase was the only steeplechase on the Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics program in Mexico City. It was held on 14 October and 16 October 1968. [1]
Four years earlier, Benjamin Kogo was the only Kenyan in the field, not making it out of the qualifying round. On the final lap, Kogo was in third place and his teammate was back in fifth behind Soviet Aleksandr Morozov with 200 metres to go. George Young had a few metres lead on Kerry O'Brien. In the 50 metres going into the water jump, Kogo passed O'Brien and pulled even with Young. Kogo took that water jump so much faster than Young, he gained a foot and had the momentum to carry him several metres into the lead. Young was straining to hold off O'Brien over the final barrier. O'Brien even checked over his left shoulder to make sure Morozov was not coming. Simultaneously Biwott was about to pass him on right. Biwott took the hurdle awkwardly, almost landing on both feet. But Biwott had more speed, leaving O'Brien and Young and then sprinting past Kogo on to a three-metre victory.
Since this 1-2 victory, Kenya has gone on to dominate the event in the Olympics. Except for the two boycott years of 1976 and 1980, Kenya has won more than 2/3 of all medals offered, usually going 1-2 and sweeping the event twice.
