Charles Grethen in the Tokyo Olympic Games' 1500m final; Credit: COSL

On Saturday 7 August 2021, Luxembourg's Charles Grethen ran in the men's 1,500m Final on the penultimate day of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, finishing 12th in a time of 3 minutes 36.80 seconds.

He had qualified as 6th fastest in his semi-final in which he set a new national record over the distance, 3 minutes 32.86 seconds.

In the final, he could not stay with the pace which was won from the front by Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway won set a new Olympic record of 3 minutes 28.32 seconds, with Timothy Cheruiyot of Kenya second and Josh Kerr of Great Britain in third place. Ingebrigtsen was fastest at the start and led for the first lap, but was passed by Cheruiyot on the second lap; he stayed just off the Kenyan's shoulder until he passed him and was not troubled for the last lap of the race which he won by 0.7 of a second.

Luxembourg's national football stadium - which is about to be replaced by the Stade de Luxembourg - is named after Joseph (Josy) Barthel who won the Men's 1,500m at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland, and remains the only Luxembourgish athlete to have won a gold medal at the Olympics.

Luxembourg had 12 athletes representing the Grand duchy in the 2020 Olympic Games, in athletics (Bob Bertemes (shot putt), Charles Grethen (1,500m)), table tennis (Sarah De Nutte, Lian Ni Xia), cycling (Kevin Geniets, Christine Majerus, Michel Ries), archery (Jeff Henckels), equestrian (Nicolas Wagner Ehlinger), triatlon (Stefan Zachaus) and swimming (Julie Meynen, Raphael Stacchiotti).