1924 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 5000 m (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	5000 meter run
gender	Men
Attendees	38 athletes from 21 countries
Competition location	Stade de Colombes
Competition phase	July 8, 1924 (preliminary round) July 10, 1924 (final)
Medalist Paavo Nurmi ( FIN )   Ville Ritola ( FIN )   Edvin Wide ( SWE )

The men's 5000 meter run at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris was held on July 8 and 10, 1924 in the Stade de Colombes . 38 athletes took part.

The Olympic champion was Paavo Nurmi from Finland, ahead of his compatriot Ville Ritola . Bronze went to Edvin Wide from Sweden .

A special feature of this race was that the stadium circuit in Colombes was 500 meters long.

Existing records

• World record : 14: 28.2 min - Paavo Nurmi ( Finland ), Helsinki , June 19, 1924
• Olympic record : 14: 36.6 min - Hannes Kolehmainen ( Finland ), Stockholm final , July 10, 1912

Conducting the competition

The athletes competed in a total of three heats on July 8th. The four best runners in each case qualified for the final, which was contested on July 10th.

Note: The qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue.

Prelims

Date: July 8, 1924

Not all times have been passed down.

Forward 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	One of the Rastas	Finland	15: 22.2 min
2	Katsuo Okazaki	Japan	15: 22.2 min
3	Axel Eriksson	Sweden	15: 23.6 min
4th	Léonard Mascaux	France	15: 26.4 min
5	Charles Johnstone	Great Britain	15: 27.4 min
6th	Ralph Starr	Great Britain	k. A.
7th	Rilus Doolittle	United States	k. A.
8th	Camiel Van de Velde	Belgium	k. A.
9	Alfredo Gomes	Brazil	k. A.
10	Mohamed El-Sayed	Egypt	k. A.
11	Joaquín Miquel	Spain	k. A.
12	Vilis Cimmermanis	Latvia	k. A.
13	José Eslava	Mexico	k. A.
14th	Stanislaw paragraph	Poland	16: 36.0 min

Forward 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Paavo Nurmi	Finland	15: 28.6 min
2	Lucien Dolquès	France	15: 29.4 min
3	Eino Seppälä	Finland	15: 34.6 min
4th	Frank Saunders	Great Britain	15: 37.0 min
5	Maurice Norland	France	15: 41.4 min
6th	Harold Phelps	United States	k. A.
7th	David McGill	Canada	k. A.
8th	István Kultsár	Hungary	k. A.
9	Stefan Szelestowski	Poland	k. A.
10	Pala Singh	British India	k. A.
11	Karel Nedobitý	Czechoslovakia	k. A.
DNF	William Marthé	Switzerland

Forward 3

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	John Romig	United States	15: 14.6 min
2	Edvin Wide	Sweden	15: 24.0 min
3	Ville Ritola	Finland	15: 32.1 min
4th	Charles Clibbon	Great Britain	15: 35.6 min
5	Lucien Duquesne	France	16: 03.0 min
6th	Jan Zeegers	Netherlands	k. A.
7th	Alexandros Kranis	Greece	k. A.
8th	George Lermond	United States	k. A.
9	Malcolm Boyd	Australia	k. A.
10	Hans Kantor	Austria	k. A.
11	Miguel Palau	Spain	k. A.
12	Pedro Curiel	Mexico	k. A.
13	Artūrs Motmillers	Latvia	k. A.

final

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Paavo Nurmi	Finland	14: 31.2 min	OR
2	Ville Ritola	Finland	14: 31.4 min
3	Edvin Wide	Sweden	15:01.8 min
4th	John Romig	United States	15: 12.3 min
5	Eino Seppälä	Finland	15: 18.3 min
6th	Charles Clibbon	Great Britain	15: 28.9 min
7th	Lucien Dolquès	France	15: 33.0 min
8th	Axel Eriksson	Sweden	15: 38.0 min
9	Léonard Mascaux	France	15.39.0 min
10	Frank Saunders	Great Britain	15: 54.0 min
11	One of the Rastas	Finland	k. A.
12	Katsuo Okazaki	Japan	k. A.

Date: July 10, 1924

Only 26 minutes after crossing the finish line in his victory over 1500 meters , Paavo Nurmi's endurance test went into his second phase. He and his compatriot Ville Ritola, who had won the 10,000 meters four days earlier , were considered the favorites for this distance. The pace was high at the start of the race. Ritola and the Swede Edvin Wide led the field in the hope that Nurmi was tired. But they did not succeed in leaving Nurmi behind. After 3000 meters, Wide could no longer follow the two Finns. At 4000 meters Nurmi took the lead and increased the pace. But Ritola was able to follow and kept attacking. But Nurmi was the better in the sprint and was able to successfully implement his endeavor to win gold over 1500 meters and 5000 meters . Both Nurmi and Ritola undercut the current Olympic record of their compatriot Hannes Kolehmainen from 1912 .

For Nurmi it was the fifth of nine gold medals in his career. Three more - 3000 meters team run, cross-country run individual and team competition - should follow.

Picture gallery

• 

  Olympic champion Paavo Nurmi (FIN)

• 

  Ville Ritola (FIN), silver medal winner

• 

  Edvin Wide (SWE), bronze medal winner

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 1: 1896-1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, pp. 161f

Video

• Paavo Nurmi 1924 Olympics, Paris 5 Gold Medals , published August 2, 2016 on youtube.com, accessed September 5, 2017

Web links

• SportsReference 5000 m , accessed September 5, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 1: 1896–1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, p. 161
2. ↑ Official report, pages 114 - 116 (French) ( Memento of the original from April 10, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ↑ SportsReference (Eng.)