Athletics at the 1924 Summer Olympics – Men's 5000 metres

Men's 5000 metres at the Games of the VIII Olympiad
Venue	Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir
Dates	July 8 (semifinals) July 10 (final)
Competitors	38 from 21 nations
Medalists
Paavo Nurmi  Finland Ville Ritola  Finland Edvin Wide  Sweden

Athletics at the 1924 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m		men
200 m		men
400 m		men
800 m		men
1500 m		men
5000 m		men
10,000 m		men
110 m hurdles		men
400 m hurdles		men
3000 m steeplechase		men
4×100 m relay		men
4×400 m relay		men
3000 m team race		men
10 km walk		men
Road events
Marathon	men
Field events
Long jump	men
Triple jump	men
High jump	men
Pole vault	men
Shot put	men
Discus throw	men
Hammer throw	men
Javelin throw	men
Combined events
Pentathlon	men
Decathlon	men
Cross-country events
Individual	men
Team	men

The men's 5000 metres event was part of the track and field athletics programme at the 1924 Summer Olympics. The competition was held on July 8, 1924, and on July 10, 1924.

38 long-distance runners from 21 nations competed.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1924 Summer Olympics.

World Record	14:28.2	Paavo Nurmi	Helsinki (FIN)	June 19, 1924
Olympic Record	14:36.6	Hannes Kolehmainen	Stockholm (SWE)	July 10, 1912

In the final Paavo Nurmi set a new Olympic record with 14:31.2 minutes.

Results

Semifinals

All semi-finals were held on Tuesday, July 8, 1924.

The best four finishers of every heat qualified for the final.

Semifinal 1

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Eino Rastas (FIN)	15:22.2	Q
2	Katsuo Okazaki (JPN)	15:22.2	Q
3	Axel Eriksson (SWE)	15:23.6	Q
4	Léonard Mascaux (FRA)	15:26.4	Q
5	Charles Johnstone (GBR)	15:27.4
6	Ralph Starr (GBR)
7	Eastman Doolittle (USA)
8	Camille Van de Velde (BEL)
9	Alfredo Gomes (BRA)
10	22x20px Mohamed El-Sayed (EGY)
11	22x20px Joaquín Miquel (ESP)
12	Vilis Cimmermans (LAT)
13	22x20px José Eslava (MEX)
14	Stanisław Ziffer (POL)	16:36.0

Semifinal 2

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Paavo Nurmi (FIN)	15:28.6	Q
2	Lucien Dolques (FRA)	15:29.4	Q
3	Eino Seppälä (FIN)	15:34.6	Q
4	Frank Saunders (GBR)	15:37.0	Q
5	Maurice Norland (FRA)	15:41.4
6	Harold Phelps (USA)
7	22x20px David McGill (CAN)
8	István Kultsár (HUN)
9	Stefan Szelestowski (POL)
10	Pala Singh (IND)
11	Karel Nedobitý (TCH)
-	William Marthé (SUI)	DNF

Semifinal 3

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	John Romig (USA)	15:14.6	Q
2	Edvin Wide (SWE)	15:24.0	Q
3	Ville Ritola (FIN)	15:32.1	Q
4	Charles Clibbon (GBR)	15:35.6	Q
5	Lucien Duquesne (FRA)	16:03.0
6	Jan Zeegers (NED)
7	Alexandros Kranis (GRE)
8	George Lermond (USA)
9	Malcolm Boyd (AUS)
10	Hans Kantor (AUT)
11	22x20px Miguel Palau (ESP)
12	22x20px Pedro Curiel (MEX)
13	Artūrs Motmillers (LAT)

Final

The final was held on Thursday, July 10, 1924.

Nurmi had to improve the standing Olympic record to win the gold medal with Ritola only two tenths behind.

Place	Athlete	Time
1	Paavo Nurmi (FIN)	14:31.2 OR
2	Ville Ritola (FIN)	14:31.4
3	Edvin Wide (SWE)	15:01.8
4	John Romig (USA)	15:12.4
5	Eino Seppälä (FIN)	15:18.4
6	Charles Clibbon (GBR)	15:29.0
7	Lucien Dolques (FRA)	15:32.6
8	Axel Eriksson (SWE)	15:38.0
9	Léonard Mascaux (FRA)	15:39.0
10	Frank Saunders (GBR)	15:54.0
11	Eino Rastas (FIN)
12	Katsuo Okazaki (JPN)

References

• Official Report