Why is athletics 1500 meters called the mile ?

For me, the question is why the race isn't over 1600 metres, given we have 200, 400 and 800.

Back in the day, we had the 880 yds and 1 mile.

i agree, thats what im trying to say, but you explained it better

Actually, you explained it well.  I misread your post.

For some reason, I thought you were just asking why do they call the 1500 the mile.

In American high schools, the mile run (which is 1609.344 metres in length) and the 1,600-metre run, also colloquially referred to as "metric mile", are more frequently run than the 1,500-metre run, since US customary units are better-known in America.

Which distance is used depends on which state the high school is in, and, for convenience, national rankings are standardized by converting all 1,600-metre run times to their mile run equivalents.

maybe starting at that point of the track allows the crowd in that area to see something happen?

does anybody know a good reason other than tradition and compromise to standardise word events for 1896 olympics?


1500 is an olympic event,less than 4 laps, mile is 4 laps and a bit of todays tracks.

the winner of olympic 400m is unlikely to run a full lap, its almost 1.01 that they dont.








bigger question i always had is why no 1k race




the athletes who ran a mile race probably grew up on 100 yard races, uk .usa etc

with 100 metres being about 109 yards



some tracks were 440yds,(4 laps = 1760 yds or 1 mile) so 100 yard runners competed in a 4 by 110 yd relay
and as individuals as 100 yard runners, world record was for 100 yards, and 4 x 110 yds.




the world record for 4 x 100m relay is held by jamaica at 37.1 seconds

the world record for 4 x 110 yard relay is 37.1 seconds held by university of oregon



marathon was about 40 k but got changed at 1908 olympics so royal family could see finish and distance stuck at 26.2 miles or 42.2km






still cant answer your question though




commonwealth games had these events up to 1966


100 yards   
220 yards   
440 yards   
880 yards
1 miles
3000 metres steeplechase   
3 miles   
6 miles   
Marathon
120 yards hurdles
440 yards hurdles
20 miles walk   
30 kilometres race walk                           
50 kilometres race walk   
4 × 440 yards relay


and from 1970

100 metres
200 metres
400 metres
800 metres
1500 metres   
5000 metres
10,000 metres
Marathon
110 metres hurdles
400 metres hurdles
3000 metres steeplechase
4 × 100 metres relay   
4 × 400 metres relay
20 kilometres race walk

the track used in 1896 was long with tight bends (its still there and saw finnish of 2004 marathon)

maybe 1500 metres took the start  past the bend and allowed runners the long straight to sort themselves
without having nuisance of tight bend at start of race?

What has the marathon never been renamed as the snickers

It looks like the correct answer is we don’t know!

I thought the 1500M was referred to as the Metric Mile.

I can only think of congruency. 1600 is an unbalanced metric Decimal number imho that is. Ok 4 laps is balanced but 13 laps of the track, 28 laps of the track? 1500M seems a good transition point to me from 100, 200, 400 and 800.

That’s all I git to say about that

Except 26 MILES 385 YARDS!

but 13 laps of the track, 28 laps of the track?

yeah they come from the 3 miles and 6 miles which were popular

popular ..and traditional.

looking around a bit ...


the 1500 world record pre dates the 1896 olympics by 4 years and was first set
by a frenchman, indeed the first 5 record holders were french, and of course
founder of the olympics was french.

so maybe it was just a french thing at the time that stuck because a frenchman stuck it in the olympics


wiki states ...

The French had the first important races over the distance, holding their initial championship in 1888.

this came about when my nieces boyfriend said hes running a 5 minute mile, and i said i did it in 4..40 , then just got me thinking , that my 1500 m time would have been arond, eg say 15 secs less then bringing it to 4.25.i definetly did mine as 16000 meters, coz i used lane 1 of a track  and went 3 times round and then finish line, but   say i had run in lane 8  without cutting in what distance would that have been?

Since the IAAF has standardized track lane widths at 1.22 meters

lane 2 as 407.67 meters,
lane 3 as 415.33 meters,
lane 4 as 423 meters,
lane 5 as 430.66 meters,
lane 6 as 433.38 meters,
lane 7 as 446 meters and
lane 8 as 453.66 meters.

thx , so just get this right, if you ran 4 laps in lane 8 without cutting in youd run about 1813 meters ?

yeah, if you can hug the inside line maybe a little less

assuming its a standard track

5000M and 10000M yhtl

yeah i know, they were 3 miles and 6 miles converted to metric.

Also my mistake 12 and a half and 25 laps of course!

I lost interest in athletics because of the drug cheats. I apologise. It’s been a long time!

Also my mistake 12 and a half and 25 laps of course!

I lost interest in athletics because of the drug cheats. I apologise. It’s been a long time!

No worries, I think I grasped your point sometime after I posted...

Don't watch much these days either,

nor me

Off on a tangent i know, but the summer nights when athletics used to be on terrestrial tv back in the eighties when they did the middle distance races, 800, 1500 and the metric mile were great memories, Ovett, Coe and Cram.

"We thought they'd never end"

and two miles

Just youtubed one for old times sake, the crowds are amazing like football stadiums, makes your hair stand on end. Not a huge athletics fan in general but didn't they swap w/r every week for a while or is that the old rose tinted spectacles scenario.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uzw9Sn8bzl4&list=PLjXjvN7oAKlsUnAvZ4-SpD-OEr3QFKZSQ&index=4