Athletics at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Men's 3000 metres steeplechase

During the first lap of the race, a bandit rushed the track, joining the race over the first water jump. He managed to sprint past security over the next barrier and beyond before being tackled. On the second lap, he managed to get free again for a few moments before finally being dragged away.

"They've got all sorts of security at these games, designed to prevent anything from nuclear attack to germ warfare. But the odd idiot is a real problem."

— David Coleman, BBC Commentator^[2]

Shortly after the second lap began, Peter Renner assumed the lead, followed by Kenyan Julius duo of Julius Korir and Julius Kariuki. Henry Marsh was typically as much as 20 metres back off the pace. Renner opened up several metres on the Kenyans but with two laps to go, the field began bunching behind Renner with Brian Diemer, Joseph Mahmoud, Colin Reitz and Marsh back in the fold, all getting ready to pounce. Just before the bell, Renner started to fall back. Korir accelerated and Marsh was the first to follow, Diemer was next to catch up, followed by Mahmoud. Through the final turn, Marsh looked like the only one still with any shot at Korir, but he was still losing ground. Marsh was unable to make any headway as Mahmoud passed in on the outside, with Korir taking the final barrier as a hurdler and sprinting to victory. Mahmoud sprinted away to the silver medal while Diemer challenged Marsh on the outside. Diemer got the edge on Marsh with 10 metres to go, with the beaten Marsh just striding the final few steps over the line.

Prior to this competition, the existing world, and Olympic records were as follows.

The men's 3000 metres steeplechase took place over three separate days.

All times are Pacific Daylight Time (UTC-7)

Note: Top six in each heat (Q) and the next six fastest (q) advanced to the semi-finals.

Note: Top five in each heat (Q) and the next two fastest (q) advanced to the final.

• Event overview at Olympedia.org