1968 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 5000 m (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	5000 meter run
gender	Men
Attendees	39 athletes from 25 countries
Competition location	Estadio Olímpico Universitario
Competition phase	October 15, 1968 (preliminary) October 17, 1968 (final)
Medalist Mohamed Gammoudi ( DO )   Kipchoge Keino ( KEN )   Naftali Temu ( KEN )

The men's 5000-meter run at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City was held on October 15 and 17, 1968 at the Estadio Olímpico Universitario . 39 athletes took part.

The Olympic champion was the Tunisian Mohamed Gammoudi . He won ahead of the Kenyans Kipchoge Keino and Naftali Temu .

Werner Girke and Harald Norpoth started for the Federal Republic of Germany - officially Germany - who qualified for the final but had to give up the race there. Girke, like the only starter from the GDR - officially East Germany - Bernd Dießner , and the Swiss Werner Schneiter were eliminated in the preliminary run. Runners from Austria and Liechtenstein did not take part.

Existing records

World record	13: 16.6 min	Ron Clarke ( Australia )	Stockholm , Sweden	5th July 1968
Olympic record	13: 39.6 min	Volodymyr Kuz ( Soviet Union )	Melbourne finals , Australia	November 28, 1956

Conducting the competition

The athletes competed in the three preliminary runs on October 15th. The five best runners qualified for the final on October 17th.

Time schedule

October 15, 4.10 p.m .: preliminary runs

October 17, 5:20 p.m .: Final

Note: All times are Mexico City local time ( UTC −6)

The qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue.

Preliminary round

Date: October 15, 1968, from 4:10 p.m.

Forward 1

Gabriel M'Boa was the first participant from the Central African Republic to take part in the Olympic Games.

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Kipchoge Keino	Kenya	14: 28.4 min	14: 28.40 min
2	Mohamed Gammoudi	Tunisia	14: 29.0 min	14: 29.06 min
3	Mamo Wolde	Ethiopia	14: 29.8 min	14: 29.85 min
4th	Bob Finlay	Canada	14: 31.8 min	14: 31.81 min
5	Emiel Puttemans	Belgium	14: 34.6 min	14: 34.58 min
6th	Bernd Dießner	GDR	14: 41.0 min	14: 41.03 min
7th	Raschid Sharafetdinov	Soviet Union	14: 44.0 min	14: 44.41 min
8th	Dick Taylor	Great Britain	14: 46.6 min	14: 46.52 min
9	Keisuke Sawaki	Japan	15: 00.8 min	15: 00.86 min
10	György Kiss	Hungary	15: 13.0 min	15: 13.07 min
11	Lou Scott	United States	15: 13.6 min	15: 13.69 min
12	Esau Adenji	Cameroon	15: 46.2 min	15: 46.21 min
13	Gabriel M'Boa	Central African Republic	17: 33.0 min	17: 32.95 min
14th	Juan Valladares	Honduras	18: 21.6 min	18: 21.52 min

Forward 2

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Naftali Temu	Kenya	14: 20.4 min	14: 20.38 min
2	Ron Clarke	Australia	14: 20.8 min	14: 20.78 min
3	Wohib Masresha	Ethiopia	14: 27.0 min	14: 26.99 min
4th	Jack Bacheler	United States	14: 31.0 min	14: 31.00 min
5	Nikolai Sviridov	Soviet Union	14: 38.8 min	14: 38.70 min
6th	Ahmed Zammel	Tunisia	14: 54.0 min	14: 54.02 min
7th	Alan Blinston	Great Britain	15: 06.2 min	15: 06.28 min
8th	Werner Schneiter	Switzerland	15: 08.2 min	15:08:24 min
9	Mustafa Musa	Uganda	15: 10.2 min	15: 10.24 min
10	Edward Stawiarz	Poland	15: 13.8 min	15: 13.87 min
11	Werner Girke	BR Germany	15: 20.8 min	15: 20.85 min
12	Rafael Perez	Costa Rica	15: 41.4 min	15: 41.37 min
13	Benjamin Silva-Netto	Philippines	17: 10.2 min	17: 10.15 min
14th	Clovis Morales	Honduras	18: 40.2 min	18: 40.13 min

Forward 3

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Jean Wadoux	France	14: 19.8 min	14: 19.80 min
2	Juan Martínez	Mexico	14: 20.0 min	14: 20.06 min
3	Harald Norpoth	BR Germany	14: 20.6 min	14: 20.59 min
4th	Rex Maddaford	New Zealand	14: 20.8 min	14: 20.82 min
5	Fikru Deguefu	Ethiopia	14: 21.6 min	14: 21.66 min
6th	Bob Day	United States	14: 23.2 min	14: 23.23 min
7th	Leonid Mikitenko	Soviet Union	14: 44.0 min	14: 44.35 min
8th	Allan Rushmer	Great Britain	15:05.2 min	15:05.17 min
9	Julio Quevedo	Guatemala	15: 23.0 min	15: 23.03 min
DNF	Roland Brehmer	Poland
	Dave Ellis	Canada

final

Date: October 15, 1968, 5:20 p.m.

Two participants qualified for the final did not start: Jack Bacheler, USA, and Mamo Wolde from Ethiopia, who wanted to concentrate fully on the marathon after winning the silver medal over 10,000 meters .

The runners from Africa, above all the Kenyan Kipchoge Keino, the winner of the Commonwealth Games in 1966, were considered favorites after their performance over 10,000 meters . But his compatriot Naftali Temu, gold over 10,000 m, and the Tunisian Mohamed Gammoudi, silver over 10,000 m four years ago and bronze over the same distance here in Mexico, were highly rated. The Australian world record holder Ron Clarke repeatedly had difficulties with his sprinting ability when it came to the really big races and was certainly disadvantaged compared to his African competitors in terms of the high altitude of Mexico. This also applied to the German Harald Norpoth, silver in Tokyo 1964 , who was one of the extended favorites.

As expected, the race was not particularly fast in view of the reduced atmospheric oxygen content, and the field remained together for a long time with changing leaders. Norpoth had to give up after almost 3000 meters with side stitches and stomach problems. With two laps to go, Gammoudi took the lead with a long sprint. The field quickly tore apart, only Temu, Keino, Clarke and the Mexican Juan Martínez, already surprisingly fourth over 10,000 meters, were initially able to follow. When it came to the final lap, Clarke and Martinez also fell behind. Gammoudi ran the race from the front, the two Kenyans stayed on his heels. In the final corner Temu let his compatriot Keino pass inside and on the home straight it initially seemed that Keino could overtake the Tunisian. But Mohamed Gammoudi fended off the attack and became Olympic champion ahead of Kipchoge Keino and Naftali Temu. Juan Martínez took fourth place, Ron Clarke was fifth.

Mohamed Gammoudi was the first Olympic champion in Tunisia.

Kipchoge Keino and Naftali Temu won the first Kenyan medals in this discipline.

Split times
Intermediate mark	Meanwhile	Leading	1000 m time
1000 m	2: 53.5 min	Ron Clarke	2: 53.5 min
2000 m	5: 44.0 min	Kipchoge Keino	2: 51.5 min
3000 m	8: 38.8 min	Nikolai Sviridov	2: 54.8 min
4000 m	11: 30.8 min	Ron Clarke	2: 52.0 min
5000 m	14: 05.0 min	Mohamed Gammoudi	2: 34.2 min

On the back straight before the start of the penultimate lap: Mohamed Gammoudi (right) in front of Kipchoge Keino (2nd from right) , behind him Ron Clarke in third place in front of Juan Martínez, followed by Naftali Temu (far left)

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Mohamed Gammoudi	Tunisia	14: 05.0 min	14:05.01 min
2	Kipchoge Keino	Kenya	14: 05.2 min	14:05:16 min
3	Naftali Temu	Kenya	14: 06.4 min	14: 06.41 min
4th	Juan Martínez	Mexico	14: 10.8 min	14: 10.76 min
5	Ron Clarke	Australia	14: 12.4 min	14: 12.45 min
6th	Wohib Masresha	Ethiopia	14: 17.6 min	14: 17.70 min
7th	Nikolai Sviridov	Soviet Union	14: 18.4 min	14: 18.40 min
8th	Fikru Deguefu	Ethiopia	14: 19.0 min	14: 18.98 min
9	Jean Wadoux	France	14: 20.8 min	14: 20.73 min
10	Rex Maddaford	New Zealand	14: 39.8 min	14: 39.72 min
11	Bob Finlay	Canada	14: 45.0 min	14: 44.92 min
12	Emiel Puttemans	Belgium	14: 59.6 min	14: 59.56 min
DNF	Harald Norpoth	BR Germany
DNS	Mamo Wolde	Ethiopia
	Jack Bacheler	United States

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, pp. 344–346

Video

• Médaille d'or pour Gammoudi aux Jeux olympiques d'été de 1968 à Mexico , published on March 12, 2014 on youtube.com, accessed on November 5, 2017

Web links

• SportsReference 5000 m , accessed November 5, 2017
• Official report - summary p. 66f., English / French. (PDF), accessed on November 5, 2017
• Official report of the Olympic Games 1968 p. 523, English / French. (PDF), accessed on November 5, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009 Page 551 (Engl.) ( Memento of 29 June 2011 at the Internet Archive ), accessed on November 5, 2017
2. ↑ Official report of the 1968 Olympic Games ( Memento of the original from September 17, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. P. 10, English / French (PDF), accessed on November 5, 2017 
3. ↑ ^{a b} Official Report of the 1968 Olympic Games ( Memento of the original from September 17, 2018 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. P. 523, engl./frz. (PDF), accessed on November 5, 2017 
4. ↑ SportsReference , accessed November 5, 2017