1912 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 5000 m (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	5000 meter run
gender	Men
Attendees	31 athletes from 11 countries
Competition location	Stockholm Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	July 9, 1912 (preliminary round) July 10, 1912 (final)
Medalist Hannes Kolehmainen ( FIN )   Jean Bouin ( FRA )   George Hutson ( GBR )

The men's 5000 meter run at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm was held on July 9 and 10, 1912 in the Stockholm Olympic Stadium. 31 athletes took part. This discipline was first performed at the Olympic Games. The 5000-meter run replaced the 5-mile run held in 1908 .

The first Olympic champion was the Finn Hannes Kolehmainen ahead of the French Jean Bouin and the British George Hutson .

The only German participant was Gregor Vietz , who had to give up his run. Austrians and Swiss were not at the start.

Existing records

World record	Alfred Shrubb ( Great Britain )	14: 59.0 min (unofficial)	Glasgow	June 13, 1904
Olympic record	Competition held for the first time	therefore no Olympic record yet	-	-

Conducting the competition

George Bonhag (USA) set the first Olympic record over 5000 meters

Ernest Glover (GBR)

Tell Berna (USA)

Olympic champion Hannes Kolehmainen (FIN) in a photo from 1920

Jean Bouin (FRA), silver medal winner

A total of five preliminary runs were carried out on July 9th. The athletes who finished in the first three places qualified for the final, which took place on the following day.

Note: The runners qualified for the next round are highlighted in light blue.

Prelims

Date: July 9, 1912

The first Olympic record was achieved in the first run. In the fifth and final run, the time was improved again. The first three runners qualified for the final.

Forward 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	George Bonhag	United States	15: 22.6 min	OR
2	Alexander Decoteau	Canada	15: 24.2 min
3	Frederick Hibbins	Great Britain	15: 27.6 min
4th	George Hill	Australasia	15: 56.8 min
DNF	Klas Lundström	Sweden

Forward 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Louis Scott	United States	15: 23.5 min
2	Joe Keeper	Canada	15: 28.9 min
3	George Hutson	Great Britain	15: 29.0 min
4th	Bror Modigh	Sweden	16:07.1 min
DNF	Eddie Fitzgerald	United States
	Martin Persson	Sweden
	Charles Ruffell	Great Britain

Forward 3

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Mauritz Carlsson	Sweden	15: 34.6 min
2	Ernest Glover	Great Britain	16:09.1 min
3	Cyril Porter	Great Britain	16: 23.4 min
4th	Mikhail Nikolsky	Russia	17: 21.7 min
DNF	Aarne Lindholm	Grand Duchy of Finland
	Garnett Wikoff	United States

Forward 4

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Hannes Kolehmainen	Grand Duchy of Finland	15: 38.9 min
2	Henrik Nordström	Sweden	15: 49.1 min
3	Tell Berna	United States	15: 53.3 min
4th	George Lee	Great Britain	k. A.
DNF	Gregor Vietz	German Empire

Forward 5

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Jean Bouin	France	15: 05.0 min	OR
2	Thorild Olsson	Sweden	15: 25.2 min
3	Viljam Johansson	Grand Duchy of Finland	15: 31.4 min
DNF	Gaston Hay	France
	Wallace McCurdy	United States
	Alfonso Orlando	Italy
	Alfonso Sánchez	Chile
	Arthur Treble	Great Britain

final

Date: July 10, 1912

The race turned into a duel between Hannes Kolehmainen and Jean Bouin. The Finn ensured a high pace from the start, only Bouin was able to follow him and now accelerated himself. But he couldn't shake Kolehmainen. At the beginning of the last lap, Bouin pushed again, but on the back straight Kolehmainen took the lead again. Only in the last twenty meters could the Finn narrowly prevail against the French. Both runners stayed almost half a minute below the previous world record .

After his victory over the 10,000 meters two days earlier, Hannes Kolehmainen celebrated his second of three Olympic victories at the Stockholm Games.

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Hannes Kolehmainen	Grand Duchy of Finland	14: 36.6 min	WR
2	Jean Bouin	France	14: 36.7 min
3	George Hutson	Great Britain	15: 07.6 min
4th	George Bonhag	United States	15: 09.8 min
5	Tell Berna	United States	15: 10.0 min
6th	Mauritz Carlsson	Sweden	15: 18.6 min
7th	Louis Scott	United States	k. A.
8th	Alexander Decoteau	Canada
9	Joe Keeper	Canada
10	Frederick Hibbins	Great Britain
11	Cyril Porter	Great Britain
DNS	Ernest Glover	Great Britain
	Viljam Johansson	Grand Duchy of Finland
	Henrik Nordström	Sweden
	Thorild Olsson	Sweden

Picture gallery

• 

  Start of the finals

• 

  Kolehmainen (left) and Bouin (2nd from left) lead the field

• 

  Last corner before the home straight: Bouin leads Kolehmainen

• 

  Finish

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 1: 1896-1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, p. 107f

Video

• Olympics 1912 5000m on YouTube , accessed February 18, 2019.

Web links

• SportsReference 5000 meters , accessed August 26, 2017
• Official report , English (PDF), accessed on August 26, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 1: 1896–1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, p. 107
2. ↑ Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 1: 1896-1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, p. 107f