Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's 5000 metres


The Men's 5000 metres at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany took place on 7 and 10 September 1972.
Having won the 10,000 metres a week earlier, Lasse Virén controlled the pace through the first 2000 metres in 5:32.61. David Bedford, tired of the slow pace, passing Viren and leading a crowd to go around to a faster pace. As the pace accelerated, Javier Álvarez came from the rear around the field to take the point for the next kilometre. At 3200 metres, Nikolay Sviridov challenged for the lead.
Steve Prefontaine took the lead at 3400 metres. Over the next lap, Viren came from sixth place in line to mark Prefontaine. Viren was in turn marked by Emiel Puttemans. A five-man breakaway formed. With 850 metres to go, Viren passed Prefontaine. Down the back stretch, Prefontaine strained back into the lead. 50 metres before the bell, Viren took the lead again, with Mohammed Gammoudi breaking off the remaining group to mark the leaders.
Down the final backstretch, Gammoudi eased around Viren while Prefontaine hit almost a full sprint to get on Gammoudi's shoulder. With 200 to go, Prefontaine relaxed and Viren moved ahead of him. Prefontaine surged again to keep pace. In the middle of the final turn, Virén changed gears into his full sprint, taking the lead. Gammoudi couldn't keep pace and began to watch Prefontaine while trying to hold on to the silver medal. Mid-straightaway all three checked the position of their rivals as Prefontaine took one more surge after Gammoudi. As it was quickly clear he couldn't make enough progress, Prefontaine strained. Ian Stewart came from the chasing group in full sprint gaining rapidly. As Stewart caught him from behind, Prefontaine fell apart, struggling the final steps.
Virén successfully defended both titles in 1976.

Results

Heats

Qualification rule: First 2 in each heat and the next 4 fastest advance to the Final.
RankHeatNameNationalityTimeNotes
12Emiel Puttemans13:31.8Q
22Steve Prefontaine13:32.6Q
34Juha Väätäinen13:32.8Q
44Ian Stewart13:33.0Q
52Harald Norpoth13:33.4Q
64Mariano Haro13:35.4Q
72Javier Álvarez13:36.6Q
83Ian McCafferty13:38.2Q
93Frank Eisenberg13:38.4Q
95Lasse Virén13:38.4Q
95Nikolay Sviridov13:38.4Q
123Per Halle13:38.6Q
135Josef Jánský13:39.8
143Dušan Moravčík13:40.4
155George Young13:41.2
163Paul Mose13:41.4
173Tapio Kantanen13:42.0
183Tony Benson13:42.8
195Edmundo Warnke13:43.6
202Grant McLaren13:43.8
215Bob Finlay13:44.0
225Keisuke Sawaki13:44.8
233Boualem Rahoui13:45.0
242Pedro Miranda13:45.2
254Tolossa Kotu13:46.2
265Bronisław Malinowski13:48.2
271Mohamed Gammoudi13:49.8Q
281David Bedford13:49.8Q
293Tekle Fitinsa13:50.4
304Willy Polleunis13:52.6
313Richard Tayler13:56.2
321Ben Jipcho13:56.8
331Anders Gärderud13:57.2
344Nikolay Puklakov13:57.6
351Michael Keogh13:57.8
361René Goris13:57.8
374Mario Pérez13:58.2
383Edward Sequeira14:01.4
391Arne Risa14:01.6
405Jürgen May14:06.6
414Leonard Hilton14:07.2
422Vladimir Afonin14:08.6
435Gavin Thorley14:11.6
441Takaharu Koyama14:12.6
454Wolfgang Riesinger14:15.2
464Knut Børø14:15.8
474Jørn Lauenbourg14:18.8
485Hikmet Şen14:26.0
491Carlos Lopes14:29.6
502Raymond Zembri14:34.4
513John Hartnett14:34.6
522Dick Quax14:35.2
534Evans Mogaka14:37.2
544Ngwila Musonda14:37.4
552Gert Kærlin14:39.2
565Fritz Rüegsegger14:54.4
571Nji Esau Ade15:19.6
585Usaia Sotutu15:24.2
591P. C. Suppiah15:36.6
603Abdullah Al-Mabrouk15:51.0
612Carlos Cuque15:53.4
1Jadour Haddou
1Siatka Badji
1Dane Korica
2Mikhail Jelev
2Ánge Pérez Jaime
2Kerry O'Brian
3Jos Hermens
4Ardelham Khamis
5Merus Yifter
5Crispín Quispe

Final