Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's 10,000 metres


The women's 10,000 metres competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom was held at Olympic Stadium on 3 August.
The race started off conservatively, led by the three Japanese runners, trailed by Britton who broke away to a 15-meter lead 800 metres into the race, though the peloton reeled that in. After the first 8 laps, the Kenyan and Ethiopian runners moved to the front as other runners dropped off the back, one by one. The field whittled itself down to just the three Kenyan and Ethiopian athletes, trailed by Eshete. Eshete would set the Bahrain national record in this race. With 7 laps to go, Chepkirui dropped out. In that same move Oljira and Eshete lost a step of contact and were separated from the field. Led by Kidane pushing the pace, it turned into a dual meet. With three laps to go, Kipyego edged into the lead with her move covered by the defending champion Dibaba. World champion Cheruiyot trailed but didn't look like she had the power to push ahead. In the turn with under 600 metres to go, Dibaba put the hammer down, passing Kipyego decisively and charging away. The last lap was a victory sprint for Dibaba with no challenger in sight.

Competition format

Only a final, without preliminary heats, was held.

Schedule

All times are British Summer Time
DateTimeRound
Friday, 3 August 201221:25Finals

Records

, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

Results

RankNameNationalityTimeNotes
Tirunesh Dibaba30:20.75WL
Sally Kipyego30:26.37PB
Vivian Cheruiyot30:30.44PB
Werknesh Kidane30:39.38SB
Beleynesh Oljira30:45.56
Shitaye Eshete30:47.25NR
Joanne Pavey30:53.20PB
Julia Bleasdale30:55.63PB
Hitomi Niiya30:59.19PB
10Kayoko Fukushi31:10.35SB
11Amy Hastings31:10.69PB
12Janet Cherobon-Bawcom31:12.68PB
13Lisa Uhl31:12.80PB
14Sara Moreira31:16.44PB
15Fionnuala Britton31:46.71
16Mika Yoshikawa31:47.67
17Sabrina Mockenhaupt31:50.35
18Nadia Ejjafini31:57.03
19Elizaveta Grechishnikova32:11.32
20Olha Skrypak32:14.59
21Eloise Wellings32:25.43
Joyce Chepkirui