2004 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 5000 m (women)

sport	athletics
discipline	5000 meter run
gender	Women
Attendees	41 athletes from 28 countries
Competition location	Athens Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	August 20, 2004 (preliminary round) ; August 23, 2004 (final)
	Medalists
	Meseret Defar ( ETH )
	Isabella Ochichi ( KEN )
	Tirunesh Dibaba ( ETH )

The 5000-meter run for women at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens was held on August 20 and 23, 2004 in the Athens Olympic Stadium. 41 athletes took part.

The Ethiopian Meseret Defar became Olympic champion . She won ahead of the Kenyan Isabella Ochichi and the Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba .

Irina Mikitenko took part for Germany . She reached the final and was seventh.
Athletes from Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein did not take part.

Current titleholders

Olympic champion 2000	Gabriela Szabo ( Romania ) Romania	14: 40.79 min	Sydney 2000
World Champion 2003	Tirunesh Dibaba ( Ethiopia ) Ethiopia 1996	14: 51.72 min	Paris 2003
European Champion 2002	Marta Domínguez ( Spain ) Spain	15: 14.76 min	Munich 2002
Pan American Champion 2003	Adriana Fernández ( Mexico ) Mexico	15: 30.65 min	Santo Domingo 2003
Central America and Caribbean Champion 2003	Competition not in the championship program		St. George’s 2003
South American Champion 2003	Maria Rodrigues ( Brazil ) Brazil	16: 11.70 min	Barquisimeto 2003
Asian Champion 2003	Sun Yingjie ( People's Republic of China ) China People's Republic	15: 48.42 min	Manila 2003
African champion 2004	Etalemahu Kidane ( Ethiopia ) Ethiopia 1996	16: 25.83 min	Brazzaville 2004
Oceania Champion 2002	Brooke Eddy ( New Zealand ) New Zealand	16: 58.72 min	Christchurch 2002

Existing records

World record	14: 24.68 min	Elvan Abeylegesse ( Turkey ) Turkey	Bergen , Norway	June 11, 2004
Olympic record	14: 40.79 min	Gabriela Szabo ( Romania ) Romania	Sydney final , Australia	September 25, 2000

Note: All times are based on Athens local time ( UTC + 2 ).

Preliminary round

A total of two preliminary runs were completed. The first five athletes of each run qualified for the final. In addition, the five fastest times, the so-called lucky losers , made it through. The directly qualified runners are highlighted in light blue, the lucky losers in light green.

Forward 1

August 20, 2004, 11:20 pm

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Tirunesh Dibaba	Ethiopia 1996 Ethiopia	15: 00.66
2	Sentayehu Ejigu	Ethiopia 1996 Ethiopia	15: 01.31
3	Jelena Sadorozhnaya	Russia Russia	15: 01.77
4th	Lilia Shobuchova	Russia Russia	15: 01.86
5	Edith Masai	Kenya Kenya	15: 01.92
6th	Irina Mikitenko	Germany Germany	15: 02.16
7th	Sun Yingjie	China People's Republic People's Republic of China	15: 03.00
8th	Émilie Mondor	Canada Canada	15: 20.15
9	Marla Runyan	United States United States	15: 24.88
10	Tezeta Surekli	Turkey Turkey	15: 26.64
11	Kimberley Smith	New Zealand New Zealand	15: 31.80
12	Dorcus Inzikuru	Uganda Uganda	15: 38.59
13	Shayne Culpepper	United States United States	15: 40.02
14th	Ebru Kavaklıoğlu	Turkey Turkey	15: 52.39
15th	Maria McCambridge	Ireland Ireland	15: 57.42
16	Souad Ait Salem	Algeria Algeria	16: 02.10
17th	Dulce María Rodríguez	Mexico Mexico	16:08.07
18th	Zainab Bakkour	Syria Syria	17: 18.66
19th	Francine Niyonizigiye	Burundi Burundi	17: 21.27
DNF	Elizabeth Zaragoza	El Salvador El Salvador

Forward 2

August 20, 2004, 11:45 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Meseret Defar	Ethiopia 1996 Ethiopia	14: 52.39
2	Elvan Abeylegesse	Turkey Turkey	14: 54.80
3	Joanne Pavey	United Kingdom Great Britain	14: 55.45
4th	Isabella Ochichi	Kenya Kenya	14: 55.69
5	Xing Huina	China People's Republic People's Republic of China	14: 56.01
6th	Margaret Maury	France France	14: 56.79
7th	Sonia O'Sullivan	Ireland Ireland	14: 59.61
8th	Gulnara Samitova	Russia Russia	15: 05.78
9	Jane Wanjiku	Kenya Kenya	15: 14.57
10	Kirsi Valasti	Finland Finland	15: 33.78
11	Shalane Flanagan	United States United States	15: 34.63
12	Maria Protopappa	Greece Greece	15: 35.07
13	Volha Krauzova	Belarus 1995 Belarus	15: 44.01
14th	Restituta Joseph	Tanzania Tanzania	15: 45.11
15th	Catherine Chikwakwa	Malawi Malawi	15: 46.17
16	Courtney Babcock	Canada Canada	15: 47.35
17th	Krisztina Papp	Hungary Hungary	15: 58.44
18th	Inês Monteiro	Portugal Portugal	16: 03.75
19th	Supriani Sutono	Indonesia Indonesia	16: 34.14
20th	Nebiat Habtemariam	Eritrea Eritrea	16: 49.01
21st	Inés Melchor	Peru Peru	17: 08.07

Dorcus Inzikuru from Uganda was eliminated in twelfth place in their preliminary round
The Irish Maria McCambridge was thirteenth in her preliminary and did not reach the final
The Algerian Souad Aït Salem came in sixteen in her preliminary run and was eliminated
The American Shalane Flanagan did not reach the final as eleventh of her preliminary run
Inês Monteiro from Portugal finished eighteen in their preliminary run and was eliminated

final

August 23, 2004, 10:00 p.m.

Three Ethiopians, three Russians, two Chinese and two Kenyans qualified for the final. The field was completed by one participant each from Germany, France, Great Britain, Ireland and Turkey.

The favorites were the Ethiopian world champion Tirunesh Dibaba and the world record holder Elvan Abeylegesse, also born in Ethiopia, who started for Turkey . Candidates for further top positions were Dibaba's compatriot Meseret Defar, the Kenyans Edith Masai as vice world champion and Isabella Ochichi as well as the Russian World Cup fourth and European third Jelena Sadoroschnaja. The Irish rider Sonia O'Sullivan, who was very successful in earlier years, also reached the final again. However, she was no longer in the shape of her success times and finished fourteen in the end.

The first rounds of the finals were led by the Chinese Sung Yingjie and Xing Huina. The race started slowly, the first thousand meters were run in 3: 12.26 minutes. But on the second kilometer it got considerably faster - 1000 meter section: 2: 53.31 min. Accordingly, the field stretched out more and more. Halfway through the course, Abeylegesse tightened again significantly and took the lead. Now the race got really fast - third kilometer: 2: 46.92 min - and a leading group of five runners formed. Abeylegesse led, followed by Ochichi, Defar, Dibaba and Yingjie. Then Abeylegesse and Defar left alone, but the Turkish woman couldn't quite keep her high pace so that Ochichi came up again. With four laps to go, Abeylegesse fell victim to her own strategy. She had overwhelmed herself and was falling back further and further. The decision about gold and silver had to be between the leading Ochichi and Defar. Although the pace had slowed down considerably, none of the pursuers could catch up with the two leaders. On the last lap, Defar pulled on her final sprint at the end of the back straight. Ochichi had nothing to counter this. Meseret Defar won by two and a half seconds over Isabella Ochichi. The bronze medal went to Tirunesh Dibaba three and a half seconds behind the Kenyan. Jelena Sadoroschnaja was fourth, ahead of British Jo Pavey and Russian Gulnara Samitowa. The German Irina Mikitenko came in seventh, one place ahead of Sun Yingjie.

Meseret Defar was the first Ethiopian Olympic champion in this discipline.

Split times
Intermediate mark	Meanwhile	Leading	1000 m time
1000 m	3: 12.26 min	Sun Yingjie with the closed field	3: 12.26 min
2000 m	6: 05.57 min	Sun Yingjie with a large group	2: 53.31 min
3000 m	8: 52.23 min	Elvan Abeylegesse before Isabella Ochichi	2: 46.92 min
4000 m	11: 47.76 min	Isabella Ochichi in front of Meseret Defar	2: 55.53 min
5000 m	14: 45.65 min	Meseret Defar	2: 57.89 min

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Meseret Defar	Ethiopia 1996 Ethiopia	14: 45.65
2	Isabella Ochichi	Kenya Kenya	14: 48.19
3	Tirunesh Dibaba	Ethiopia 1996 Ethiopia	14: 51.83
4th	Jelena Sadorozhnaya	Russia Russia	14: 55.52
5	Joanne Pavey	United Kingdom Great Britain	14: 57.87
6th	Gulnara Samitova	Russia Russia	15: 02.30
7th	Irina Mikitenko	Germany Germany	15: 03.36
8th	Sun Yingjie	China People's Republic People's Republic of China	15: 07.23
9	Xing Huina	China People's Republic People's Republic of China	15: 07.41
10	Sentayehu Ejigu	Ethiopia 1996 Ethiopia	15: 09.55
11	Margaret Maury	France France	15: 09.77
12	Elvan Abeylegesse	Turkey Turkey	15: 12.64
13	Lilia Shobuchova	Russia Russia	15: 15.64
14th	Sonia O'Sullivan	Ireland Ireland	16: 20.90
DNF	Edith Masai	Kenya Kenya

Olympic champion Meseret Defar from Ethiopia
Bronze medalist Tirunesh Dibaba, Ethiopia
The British Joanne Pavey finished fifth in the final
The German Irina Mikitenko was Olympic seventh
The Ethiopian Sentayehu Ejigu came in tenth in the final
The Turkish Elvan Abeylegesse had to pay tribute to her high pace and finished twelfth in the Olympic Games
The Russian Lilija Schobuchowa came thirteenth in the final
The Irish Sonia O'Sullivan was fourteenth