The Olympic records for men and women were set by Kenya 's Noah Ngeny in 2000 ( 3 minutes , 32.07 seconds ) and Romania 's Paula Ivan in 1988 ( 3 minutes , 53.96 seconds ) ; Olympic gold medalist Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco and silver medalist Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia set the world records in 1998 ( 3 minutes , 26 seconds ) and 2015 ( 3 minutes , 50.07 seconds ) respectively .