2004 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 5000 m (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	5000 meter run
gender	Men
Attendees	36 athletes from 22 countries
Competition location	Athens Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	August 25, 2004 (preliminary round) ; August 28, 2004 (final)
	Medalist
	Hicham El Guerrouj ( MAR )
	Kenenisa Bekele ( ETH )
	Eliud Kipchoge ( KEN )

The men's 5000-meter race at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens was held on August 25 and 28, 2004 in the Athens Olympic Stadium. 36 athletes took part.

The Olympic champion was the Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj . He won ahead of the Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele and the Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge .

The Swiss Christian Belz and the Austrian Günther Weidlinger were eliminated in the preliminary round.
Athletes from Germany and Liechtenstein did not take part.

Current title holders

Olympic Champion 2000	Million Wolde ( Ethiopia ) Ethiopia 1996	13: 35.49 min	Sydney 2000
World Champion 2003	Eliud Kipchoge ( Kenya ) Kenya	12: 52.79 min	Paris 2003
European Champion 2002	Alberto García ( Spain ) Spain	13: 38.18 min	Munich 2002
Pan American Champion 2003	Hudson de Souza ( Brazil ) Brazil	13: 50.71 min	Santo Domingo 2003
Central America and Caribbean champions 2003	5000 meter run not held as a championship competition		St. George’s 2003
South American Champion 2003	Marílson dos Santos ( Brazil ) Brazil	13: 52.15 min	Barquisimeto 2003
Asian champion 2003	Abdulaziz Al-Ameeri ( Qatar ) Qatar	13: 58.89 min	Manila 2003
African champion 2004	Zwedo Marengo ( Ethiopia ) Ethiopia 1996	13: 47.77 min	Brazzaville 2004
Oceania Champion 2002	Ben Ruthe ( New Zealand ) New Zealand	15:05:27 min	Christchurch 2002

Existing records

World record	12: 37.35 min	Kenenisa Bekele ( Ethiopia ) Ethiopia 1996	Hengelo , Netherlands	May 31, 2004
Olympic record	13:05:59 min	Saïd Aouita ( Morocco ) Morocco	Los Angeles final , USA	August 11, 1984

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

Start of the first heat: Hicham El Guerrouj (l.), Carlos García (r.)

August 25, 2004, 7:50 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	Kenenisa Bekele	Ethiopia 1996 Ethiopia	13: 21.16
2	Gebregziabher Gebremariam	Ethiopia 1996 Ethiopia	13: 21.20
3	Hicham El Guerrouj	Morocco Morocco	13: 21.87
4th	Craig Mottram	Australia Australia	13: 21.88
5	Abraham Chebii	Kenya Kenya	13: 22.30
6th	Hicham Bellani	Morocco Morocco	13: 22.64
7th	Alistair Ian Cragg	Ireland Ireland	13: 23.01
8th	Samir Moussaoui	Algeria Algeria	13: 24.98
9	Sultan Khamis Zaman	Qatar Qatar	13: 26.52	until 2000 starting for Burundi under his birth name Onèsphore Nkunzimana
10	John Mayock	United Kingdom Great Britain	13: 26.81
11	Günther Weidlinger	Austria Austria	13: 29.32
12	Christian Belz	Switzerland Switzerland	13: 29.59
13	Alejandro Suarez	Mexico Mexico	13: 35.32
14th	Jonathon Riley	United States United States	13: 38.79
15th	Abdelhak Zakaria	Bahrain Bahrain	13: 42.04
16	Moon Rizki	Belgium Belgium	14: 03.58
17th	Serhiy Lebid	Ukraine Ukraine	14: 10.23
DNF	Carlos García	Spain Spain

Forward 2

August 25, 2004, 8:10 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	Ali Saïdi-Sief	Algeria Algeria	13: 18.94
2	Eliud Kipchoge	Kenya Kenya	13: 19.01
3	Dejene Berhanu	Ethiopia 1996 Ethiopia	13: 19.42
4th	John Kemboi Kibowen	Kenya Kenya	13: 19.65
5	Abderrahim Goumri	Morocco Morocco	13: 20.03
6th	Tim Broe	United States United States	13: 20.29
7th	Zersenay Tadese	Eritrea Eritrea	13: 22.17
8th	Samson Kiflemariam	Eritrea Eritrea	13: 26.97
9	Roberto García	Spain Spain	13: 27.71
10	Khoudir Aggoune	Algeria Algeria	13: 29.37
11	Fabiano Joseph	Tanzania Tanzania	13: 31.89
12	Marius Bakken	Norway Norway	13: 36.38
13	Freddy González	Venezuela 1954 Venezuela	13: 42.44
14th	Tom Compernolle	Belgium Belgium	13: 43.44
15th	Mark Carroll	Ireland Ireland	13: 46.81
16	Carles Castillejo	Spain Spain	13: 49.16
17th	Michael Aish	New Zealand New Zealand	13: 50.00
18th	Rajendra Bahadur Bhandari	Nepal Nepal	14: 04.89	NO

Sultan Khamis Zaman from Qatar was eliminated in ninth place in his preliminary run
The Austrian Günther Weidlinger was eleventh in his preliminary run and did not reach the final
The Ukrainian Serhij Lebid finished eleventh in his preliminary run and was eliminated
The Belgian Tom Compernolle did not make it into the final as fourteenth of his preliminary run

final

August 28, 2004, 9:05 pm

Three Ethiopians, three Kenyans, Moroccans, two Algerians and one participant each from Australia, Eritrea, Ireland and the USA had qualified for the final.

A three-way battle was expected between the Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj, four days earlier already Olympic champion over 1500 meters and vice world champion 2003 , the Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele as the current holder of the world record , one week earlier Olympic champion over 10,000 meters and third in the 2003 World Cup , and the reigning champion World champion Eliud Kipchoge from Kenya. Other promising candidates for top positions were above all the runners from Africa. These included the 2003 World Cup fourth John Kemboi Kibowen from Kenya and the 2003 World Cup sixth Gebregziabher Gebremariam from Ethiopia.

The finale began at a very slow pace, the first kilometer took almost three minutes. But then Bekele and Kipchoge pushed very hard and took over the top positions. Despite this increased tempo, a large group of leaders remained in front for a long time. Only gradually did runners fall behind from this group and lose contact. With three laps to go, there were still eight runners together, and all favorites were in this leading group. One and a half laps before the finish line, the leading group still consisted of six runners. Kipchoge led before Bekele, El Guerrouj, Gebremariam, the Ethiopian Dejene Berhanu and Kibowen. This was the order in which the last lap started. Shortly before the finish curve, Bekele took the lead, El Guerrouj took second place at his heels. Kipchoge was also not yet beaten, it was very close between these three runners, while there was now a gap between them and the three athletes behind them. Hicham El Guerrouj had the greatest reserves in the finish sprint and won his second gold medal here in Athens . Kenenisa Bekele crossed the finish line two tenths of a second behind, ahead of Eliud Kipchoge. Fourth place went to Gebregziabher Gebremariam, who came close to the declining Kipchoge on the home straight. Dejene Berhanu came in fifth, ahead of John Kemboi Kibowen and Zersenay Tadese from Eritrea. The Australian Craig Mottram, who had kept up with the leading group up to two laps before the finish, came in eighth as the first non-African to cross the finish line.

Split times
Intermediate mark	Meanwhile	Leading	1000 m time
1000 m	2: 58.46 min	Gebregziabher Gebremariam in front of the closed field	2: 58.46 min
2000 m	5: 35.99 min	Eliud Kipchoge in front of a large leading group	2: 37.53 min
3000 m	8: 10.89 min	Kenenisa Bekele in front of a large leading group	2: 34.90 min
4000 m	10: 48.62 min	Eliud Kipchoge in front of a leading group of eight	2: 37.73 min
5000 m	13: 14.39 min	Hicham El Guerrouj	2: 25.77 min

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Hicham El Guerrouj	Morocco Morocco	13: 14.39
2	Kenenisa Bekele	Ethiopia 1996 Ethiopia	13: 14.59
3	Eliud Kipchoge	Kenya Kenya	13: 15.10
4th	Gebregziabher Gebremariam	Ethiopia 1996 Ethiopia	13: 15.35
5	Dejene Berhanu	Ethiopia 1996 Ethiopia	13: 16.92
6th	John Kemboi Kibowen	Kenya Kenya	13: 18.24
7th	Zersenay Tadese	Eritrea Eritrea	13: 24.31
8th	Craig Mottram	Australia Australia	13: 25.70
9	Hicham Bellani	Morocco Morocco	13: 31.81
10	Ali Saïdi-Sief	Algeria Algeria	13: 32.57
11	Tim Broe	United States United States	13: 33.06
12	Alistair Ian Cragg	Ireland Ireland	13: 43.06
13	Abderrahim Goumri	Morocco Morocco	13: 47.27
14th	Samir Moussaoui	Algeria Algeria	14: 02.01
DNF	Abraham Chebii	Kenya Kenya