The event was won by 0.87 seconds by Sebastian Coe of Great Britain, the first man to successfully defend an Olympic 1500 metres title.

500 metres into the race, Steve Scott ran around the leaders to take the point, Coe and José Manuel Abascal stringing out the field.

Midway through the penultimate turn, suddenly the world record holder Ovett stepped inside of the curb and stopped.

With 300 to go in an even faster 2:53.21, Abascal, Coe and Cram had three metres on Cheshire who accelerated around Scott and Jim Spivey as Ovett dropped out.

Coe turned back toward the press area and angrily showed them his index finger on both hands, indicating he was number one again.

Still fresh after running less than 2 seconds off the world record, Coe jogged back still looking at that area of the stands and again showing his number one finger.

Coe and Ovett had been favorites then, with Cram not considered quite so highly; by 1984, however, they were a true triumvirate (with Cram winning the 1982 Commonwealth and European Championships and the inaugural 1983 World Championship; Ovett had set the world record in 1983; Coe was the defending Olympic champion) and a threat to sweep the podium.

[2] Antigua and Barbuda, Equatorial Guinea, the Gambia, Guyana, Jordan, Niger, Oman, Rwanda, the Seychelles, Suriname, the United Arab Emirates, and Zimbabwe each made their first appearance in the event.