2016 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 5000 m (women)

sport	athletics
discipline	5000 meter run
gender	Women
Attendees	33 athletes from 18 countries
Competition location	Estádio Nilton Santos
Competition phase	August 16, 2016 (preliminary) ; August 19, 2016 (final)
	Medalists
	Vivian Cheruiyot ( KEN )
	Hellen Obiri ( KEN )
	Almaz Ayana ( ETH )

The women's 5000-meter run at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro was held on August 16 and 19, 2016 at the Estádio Nilton Santos . 33 athletes took part.

The Olympic champion was the Kenyan Vivian Cheruiyot , who won before her compatriot Hellen Obiri . Bronze went to the Ethiopian Almaz Ayana .

The Austrian Jennifer Wenth qualified for the final and came in sixteenth.
Athletes from Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein did not take part.

Current titleholders

Olympic Champion	Meseret Defar ( Ethiopia ) Ethiopia	15:04:25 min	London 2012
world champion	Almaz Ayana ( Ethiopia ) Ethiopia	14: 26.83 min	Beijing 2015
European champion	Yasemin Can ( Turkey ) Turkey	15:18.15 min	Amsterdam 2016
North / Central America / Caribbean Champion	Kellyn Taylor ( USA ) United States	16: 24.86 min	San José 2015
South America Champion	María Pastuña ( Ecuador ) Ecuador	15: 49.33 min	Lima 2015
Asian champion	Alia Saeed Mohammed ( United Arab Emirates ) United Arab Emirates	15: 25.15 min	Wuhan 2015
African champion	Sheila Chepkirui ( Kenya ) Kenya	15: 05.45 min	Durban 2016
Oceania champion	Sharon Firisua ( Solomon Islands ) Solomon Islands	18: 35.51 min	Cairns 2015

Existing records

World record	Tirunesh Dibaba ( Ethiopia ) Ethiopia	14: 11.15 min	Oslo , Norway	June 6, 2008
Olympic record	Gabriela Szabo ( Romania ) Romania	14: 40.79 min	Sydney final , Australia	September 25, 2000

Note: All times are based on Rio local time ( UTC-3 ).

Preliminary round

The preliminary round was held in two runs. The first five athletes of each run qualified for the final. Furthermore, the five fastest drivers, the so-called lucky losers , advanced. The directly qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue, the lucky losers in light green.

Run 1

August 16, 2016, 9:30 a.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	Bright Obiri	Kenya Kenya	15: 19.48
2	Yasemin Can	Turkey Turkey	15: 19.50
3	Mercy Cherono	Kenya Kenya	15: 19.56
4th	Shelby Houlihan	United States United States	15: 19.76
5	Susan Kuijken	Netherlands Netherlands	15: 19.96
6th	Madeline Heiner-Hills	Australia Australia	15: 21.33
7th	Miyuki Uehara	Japan Japan	15: 23.41
8th	Ababel Yeshaneh	Ethiopia Ethiopia	15: 24.38
9	Juliet Chekwel	Uganda Uganda	15: 29.07
10	Laura Whittle	United Kingdom Great Britain	15: 31.30
11	Louise Carton	Belgium Belgium	15: 34.39
12	Kim Conley	United States United States	15: 34.39
13	Jessica O'Connell	Canada Canada	15: 51.18
14th	Lucy Oliver	New Zealand New Zealand	15:53, 77
15th	Sharon Firisua	Solomon Islands Solomon Islands	18: 01.62	NO
16	Beatrice Alice	Congo Democratic Republic Democratic Republic of Congo	19: 29.47
DNS	Dalila Abdulkadir	Bahrain Bahrain

Just before the start of the first run
Scene from the race: in
front Houlihan and Conley followed by O'Connell, behind them Heiner Hills, Whittle, Oliver, Can, Obiri, Chekwel, Kuijken, Yeshaneh and Carton
Scene from the rest of the race:
Can and Obiri in front of Cherono and O'Connell, behind them Yeshaneh and Chekwel, Conley, Whittle, Kuijken and Heiner Hills
after approx. 3500 meters:
Can and Obiri in front of Cherono and Uehara, behind Yeshaneh and Kuijken

Run 2

August 16, 2016, 9:55 a.m.

An incident occurred during the race in which New Zealander Nikki Hamblin tripped and fell. The US athlete Abbey D'Agostino, who ran behind Hamblin, also fell. Austrian Jennifer Wenth stumbled but was able to continue the race. Hamblin stayed on the track, whereupon D'Agostino helped her competitor up. Both got back into the race and reached the finish line to the applause of the audience. However, D'Agostino injured his knee when she fell over Hamblin. As the race continued, the pain obviously got so severe that she had to sit on the track for a while. Hamblin helped her up and convinced the American to finish the race. The referees rewarded the sporting spirit and fair play by wildcarding both of them for the final with Wenth . Hamblin and D'Agostino also received the IOC's Fair Play Award from the International Fair Play Committee .

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	Almaz Ayana	Ethiopia Ethiopia	15: 04.35
2	Senbere Teferi	Ethiopia Ethiopia	15: 17.43
3	Vivian Cheruiyot	Kenya Kenya	15: 17.74
4th	Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal	Norway Norway	15: 17.83
5	Eilish McColgan	United Kingdom Great Britain	15: 18.20
6th	Eloise Wellings	Australia Australia	15: 19.02
7th	Genevieve LaCaze	Australia Australia	15: 20.45
8th	Stephanie Twell	United Kingdom Great Britain	15: 25.90
9	Misaki Onishi	Japan Japan	15: 29.17
10	Mimi Belete	Bahrain Bahrain	15: 29.72
11	Andrea Seccafien	Canada Canada	15: 30.32
12	Ayuko Suzuki	Japan Japan	15: 41.81
13	Stella Chesang	Uganda Uganda	15: 49.18
14th	Jennifer Wenth	Austria Austria	16: 07.02	admitted to the final by wildcard
15th	Nikki Hamblin	New Zealand New Zealand	16: 43.61
16	Abbey D'Agostino	United States United States	17: 10.02
DNF	Bibiro Ali Taher	Chad Chad

Shortly before the start of the second run
Scene from the race:
Suzuki in front followed by Twell, Belete and Chesang, behind Onishi, Wellings, Seccafien, LaCaze, Hamblin, Ayana, Cheruiyot, D'Agostino, Teferi, Wenth and McColgan
Scene from further progress:
Teferi in front of Cheruiyot and LaCaze, with Wellings and Grøvdal behind
after approx. 3500 meters:
Can and Obiri in front of Cherono and Uehara, behind Yeshaneh and Kuijken

final

Race scene shortly after the start: Uehara in front, Ayana behind

The chasing group with the three Kenyans Cheruiyot, Obiri and Cherono as well as the Turkish Can (white jersey) are clearly behind Ayana, followed by Teferi with the number 649 in front of the rest of the runners

August 19, 2016, 9:40 pm

All three Kenyans, Ethiopians and Australians qualified for the final. The field was completed by one starter each from Great Britain, Japan, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Turkey and the USA.

The US athlete Abbey D'Agostino, who was subsequently admitted to the final by wildcard, could not start due to her knee injury suffered in the run-up.

A duel between the 2012 Kenyan silver medalist Vivian Cheruiyot and the Ethiopian world champion Almaz Ayana was expected to win the Olympic gold . Ayana had already won the 10,000 meters in world record time before Cheruiyot a week earlier . The other medal candidates also came from Africa. Primarily, these were the Kenyan Mercy Cherono, Vice World Champion in 2013 and World Cup -Fünfte of 2015, her compatriot Hellen Obiri and the Ethiopian Vice World Champion Senbere Teferi.

Immediately after the start, the Japanese Miyuki Uehara took the lead, followed by Ayana. The two quickly gained a lead, which was gradually made up on the next lap. Uehara stayed in the lead for the next four laps, the pace was significantly faster than in the race four years ago, but by no means set a record in this phase. So the field stayed together at first.

After two kilometers Ayana increased the pace and the field tore more and more apart. Ayana set herself apart from her competitors alone. The Kenyans Hellen Obiri, Cheruiyot and Cherono and the Turkish Yasemin Can came together in a chasing group. Ayana soon had a lead of around 25 meters on her pursuers. Behind the second group, the Ethiopian Teferi tried to catch up. Can had to let go in the next two rounds, the three Kenyans kept the gap on Ayana constant. With 1000 meters to go, Cherono also fell behind, while Cheruiyot and Obiri increased the pace.

Ayana's lead got smaller and smaller, and the two Kenyans were able to provide the Ethiopian before the last lap. Ayana was now no longer able to follow the pace set by Cheruiyot and Obiri. On the penultimate lap Vivian Cheruiyot pushed again and got a lead of twenty meters over Hellen Obiri, who in turn crossed the finish line almost thirty meters ahead of Almaz Ayana. Mercy Cherono was fourth, more than nine seconds behind, just ahead of Senbere Teferi. The European champion Yasemin Can, who runs for Turkey , came in sixth as the best non-African runner, ahead of the Norwegian Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal and the Dutch Susan Kuijken.

After Ayana stepped up the pace over the last three kilometers, the race had become so fast that Cheruiyot, Obiri and Ayana under Gabriela Szabo's previous Olympic record from 2000 remained. Vivian Cheruiyot's new Olympic record was more than fourteen seconds better than the previous time.

Split times
Intermediate mark	Meanwhile	Leading	1000 m time
1000 m	2: 59.86 min	Miyuki Uehara and Almaz Ayana	2: 59.86 min
2000 m	6: 00.36 min	Almaz Ayana	3: 00.50 min
3000 m	8: 47.80 min	Almaz Ayana	2: 47.44 min
4000 m	11: 39.75 min	Almaz Ayana	2: 51.95 min
5000 m	14: 26.17 min	Vivian Cheruiyot	2: 46.42 min

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	Vivian Cheruiyot	Kenya Kenya	14: 26.17	OR
2	Bright Obiri	Kenya Kenya	14: 29.77
3	Almaz Ayana	Ethiopia Ethiopia	14: 33.59
4th	Mercy Cherono	Kenya Kenya	14: 42.89
5	Senbere Teferi	Ethiopia Ethiopia	14: 43.75
6th	Yasemin Can	Turkey Turkey	14: 56.96
7th	Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal	Norway Norway	14: 57.53
8th	Susan Kuijken	Netherlands Netherlands	15: 00.69
9	Eloise Wellings	Australia Australia	15: 01.59
10	Madeline Heiner-Hills	Australia Australia	15: 04.05
11	Shelby Houlihan	United States United States	15: 08.89
12	Genevieve LaCaze	Australia Australia	15: 10.35
13	Eilish McColgan	United Kingdom Great Britain	15: 12.09
14th	Ababel Yeshaneh	Ethiopia Ethiopia	15: 18.26
15th	Miyuki Uehara	Japan Japan	15: 34.97
16	Jennifer Wenth	Austria Austria	15: 56.11
17th	Nikki Hamblin	New Zealand New Zealand	16: 14.24

Olympic Champion:
Vivian Cheruiyot, Kenya
Silver medal:
Hellen Obiri from Kenya
Bronze medal:
Almaz Ayana, Ethiopia