Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's 5000 metres
| Men's 5000 metres at the Games of the XX Olympiad | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Olympic Stadium | |||||||||
| Dates | September 10 | |||||||||
| Competitors | 61 from 35 nations | |||||||||
| Winning time | 13:26.4 | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Track events | ||
| 100 m | men | women |
| 200 m | men | women |
| 400 m | men | women |
| 800 m | men | women |
| 1500 m | men | women |
| 5000 m | men | |
| 10,000 m | men | |
| 100 m hurdles | women | |
| 110 m hurdles | men | |
| 400 m hurdles | men | |
| 3000 m steeplechase | men | |
| 4 × 100 m relay | men | women |
| 4 × 400 m relay | men | women |
| Road events | ||
| Marathon | men | |
| 20 km walk | men | |
| 50 km walk | men | |
| Field events | ||
| Long jump | men | women |
| Triple jump | men | |
| High jump | men | women |
| Pole vault | men | |
| Shot put | men | women |
| Discus throw | men | women |
| Javelin throw | men | women |
| Hammer throw | men | |
| Combined events | ||
| Pentathlon | women | |
| Decathlon | men | |
The Men's 5000 metres at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany took place on 7 and 10 September 1972.[1]
Steve Prefontaine[2] took the lead in the final during the last mile and ended the slow pace of the first two miles. In second place at the start of the bell lap, he fell back to third with 200 meters to go. Lasse Virén took the lead in the final turn over silver medalist Mohammed Gammoudi. Prefontaine ran out of gas with 30 meters to go as Britain's hard-charging Ian Stewart caught him from behind and moved into third place within ten meters of the finish, depriving Prefontaine of an Olympic bronze medal.[3][4]
Virén also won the 10,000 metres a week earlier, and successfully defended both titles in 1976.
Results
Heats
Qualification rule: First 2 in each heat (Q) and the next 4 fastest (q) advance to the Final.
Final
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Lasse Virén |  Finland
|
13:26.4 |
|
Mohamed Gammoudi |  Tunisia
|
13:27.4 |
|
Ian Stewart |  Great Britain
|
13:27.6 |
| 4 | Steve Prefontaine |  United States
|
13:28.4 |
| 5 | Emiel Puttemans |  Belgium
|
13:30.8 |
| 6 | Harald Norpoth |  West Germany
|
13:32.6 |
| 7 | Per Halle |  Norway
|
13:34.4 |
| 8 | Nikola Sviridov |  Soviet Union
|
13:39.4 |
| 9 | Frank Eisenberg |  East Germany
|
13:40.8 |
| 10 | Javier Álvarez |  Spain
|
13:41.8 |
| 11 | Ian McCafferty | Great Britain
|
13:43.2 |
| 12 | David Bedford | Great Britain
|
13:43.2 |
| 13 | Juha Väätäinen | Finland
|
13:53.8 |
| Mariano Haro | Spain
|
DNS |
References
- ^ "Athletics at the 1972 Munich Games: Men's 5000 metres". sports-reference.com. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
- ^ Newnham, Blaine (September 10, 1972). "It's Pre versus the Europeans". Eugene Register-Guard. p. 1C.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ Newnham, Blaine (September 11, 1972). "Pre's warning for 1976: 'He'd better watch out'". Eugene Register-Guard. p. 1B.
- ^ Newnham, Blaine (June 1, 1975). "Only first". Eugene Register-Guard. p. 1B.