10,000 metres at the Olympics

10,000 metres at the Olympic Games
The 2012 Olympic women's 10,000 m final
Overview
Sport	Athletics
Gender	Men and women
Years held	Men: 1912 – 2020 Women: 1988 – 2020
Olympic record
Men	27:01.17 Kenenisa Bekele (2008)
Women	29:17.45 Almaz Ayana (2016)
Reigning champion
Men	Selemon Barega (ETH)
Women	Sifan Hassan (NED)

The 10,000 metres at the Summer Olympics is the longest track running event held at the multi-sport event. The men's 10,000 m has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since 1912. The women's event was added to the programme over seventy years later, at the 1988 Olympics. It is the most prestigious 10,000 m race at elite level. The competition format is a straight final between around 30 athletes, although prior to 2004 a qualifying round was held.

The Olympic records for the event were both set by Ethiopians at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2016 Rio Olympics: Kenenisa Bekele set the men's record at 27:01.17 minutes, while Almaz Ayana set the women's mark at 29:17.45 minutes. The 10,000 metres world record has been broken at the Olympics on two occasions; Lasse Virén's winning time of 27:38.35 minutes in 1972 stood as the record for less than a year, and Almaz Ayana knocked 14 seconds off the women's record in 2016.^[1]

Six men have won the Olympic title twice: Paavo Nurmi became the first in 1928 and he was followed by Emil Zátopek, Lasse Virén, Haile Gebrselassie, Kenenisa Bekele and Mo Farah. Two women have achieved the feat: Derartu Tulu won her second title in 2004 and Tirunesh Dibaba had back-to-back wins in 2008 and 2012. Derartu Tulu is the only athlete to have reached the podium on three occasions. Historically, athletes in this event have also had success in the 5000 metres at the Olympics. The winner of the men's Olympic 10,000 m has completed a long-distance track double on nine occasions, the most recent being Farah at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Tirunesh Dibaba and Sifan Hassan are the only woman to complete this double (at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics). At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Almaz Ayana smashed the world record in a time of 29:17.45. It was the first time four women broke 30 minutes in a single race.

Ethiopia is the most successful nation in the event, with ten gold medals among its total of 24. Finland is the next most successful, with six gold medals and thirteen overall. Finland's period of great success in early 20th century led to wide usage of the nickname the Flying Finns; Kaarlo Maaninka was the last Finnish athlete to medal over 10,000 m, in 1980. Kenya has won eleven medals, although Naftali Temu is the only Kenyan to have won Olympic gold.

It was not the first long-distance track event to feature at an Olympic competition: 5-mile (8 km) races featured at the 1906 Intercalated Games and the 1908 Summer Olympics before the metric 5000 metres and 10,000 m events were initiated.

Medal summary[]

Men[]

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1912 Stockholm details	Hannes Kolehmainen  Finland	Lewis Tewanima  United States	Albin Stenroos  Finland
1920 Antwerp details	Paavo Nurmi  Finland	Joseph Guillemot  France	James Wilson  Great Britain
1924 Paris details	Ville Ritola  Finland	Edvin Wide  Sweden	Eero Berg  Finland
1928 Amsterdam details	Paavo Nurmi  Finland	Ville Ritola  Finland	Edvin Wide  Sweden
1932 Los Angeles details	Janusz Kusociński  Poland	Volmari Iso-Hollo  Finland	Lasse Virtanen  Finland
1936 Berlin details	Ilmari Salminen  Finland	Arvo Askola  Finland	Volmari Iso-Hollo  Finland
1948 London details	Emil Zátopek  Czechoslovakia	Alain Mimoun  France	Bertil Albertsson  Sweden
1952 Helsinki details	Emil Zátopek  Czechoslovakia	Alain Mimoun  France	Aleksandr Anufriyev  Soviet Union
1956 Melbourne details	Vladimir Kuts  Soviet Union	József Kovács  Hungary	Al Lawrence  Australia
1960 Rome details	Pyotr Bolotnikov  Soviet Union	Hans Grodotzki  United Team of Germany	Dave Power  Australia
1964 Tokyo details	Billy Mills  United States	Mohammed Gammoudi  Tunisia	Ron Clarke  Australia
1968 Mexico City details	Naftali Temu  Kenya	Mamo Wolde  Ethiopia	Mohammed Gammoudi  Tunisia
1972 Munich details	Lasse Virén  Finland	Emiel Puttemans  Belgium	Miruts Yifter  Ethiopia
1976 Montreal details	Lasse Virén  Finland	Carlos Lopes  Portugal	Brendan Foster  Great Britain
1980 Moscow details	Miruts Yifter  Ethiopia	Kaarlo Maaninka  Finland	Mohamed Kedir  Ethiopia
1984 Los Angeles details	Alberto Cova  Italy	Mike McLeod  Great Britain	Michael Musyoki  Kenya
1988 Seoul details	Brahim Boutayeb  Morocco	Salvatore Antibo  Italy	Kipkemboi Kimeli  Kenya
1992 Barcelona details	Khalid Skah  Morocco	Richard Chelimo  Kenya	Addis Abebe  Ethiopia
1996 Atlanta details	Haile Gebrselassie  Ethiopia	Paul Tergat  Kenya	Saleh Hissou  Morocco
2000 Sydney details	Haile Gebrselassie  Ethiopia	Paul Tergat  Kenya	Assefa Mezgebu  Ethiopia
2004 Athens details	Kenenisa Bekele  Ethiopia	Sileshi Sihine  Ethiopia	Zersenay Tadese  Eritrea
2008 Beijing details	Kenenisa Bekele  Ethiopia	Sileshi Sihine  Ethiopia	Micah Kogo  Kenya
2012 London details	Mo Farah  Great Britain	Galen Rupp  United States	Tariku Bekele  Ethiopia
2016 Rio de Janeiro details	Mo Farah  Great Britain	Paul Tanui  Kenya	Tamirat Tola  Ethiopia
2020 Tokyo details	Selemon Barega  Ethiopia	Joshua Cheptegei  Uganda	Jacob Kiplimo  Uganda

Multiple medalists[]

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Olympics	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1=	Paavo Nurmi	Finland (FIN)	1920–1928	2	0	0	2
1=	Emil Zátopek	Czechoslovakia (TCH)	1948–1952	2	0	0	2
1=	Lasse Virén	Finland (FIN)	1972–1976	2	0	0	2
1=	Haile Gebrselassie	Ethiopia (ETH)	1996–2000	2	0	0	2
1=	Kenenisa Bekele	Ethiopia (ETH)	2004–2008	2	0	0	2
1=	Mo Farah	Great Britain (GBR)	2012–2016	2	0	0	2
7	Ville Ritola	Finland (FIN)	1924–1928	1	1	0	2
8	Miruts Yifter	Ethiopia (ETH)	1972–1980	1	0	1	2
9=	Alain Mimoun	France (FRA)	1948–1952	0	2	0	2
9=	Paul Tergat	Kenya (KEN)	1996–2000	0	2	0	2
9=	Sileshi Sihine	Ethiopia (ETH)	2004–2008	0	2	0	2
12=	Edvin Wide	Sweden (SWE)	1924–1928	0	1	1	2
12=	Volmari Iso-Hollo	Finland (FIN)	1932–1936	0	1	1	2
12=	Mohammed Gammoudi	Tunisia (TUN)	1968–1972	0	1	1	2

Medals by country[]

Map of countries' best results - Men's 10,000 metres

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Finland (FIN)	7	4	4	15
2	Ethiopia (ETH)	6	3	6	15
3	Great Britain (GBR)	2	1	2	5
4=	Soviet Union (URS)	2	0	1	3
4=	Morocco (MAR)	2	0	1	3
6	Czechoslovakia (TCH)	2	0	0	2
7	Kenya (KEN)	1	4	3	8
8	United States (USA)	1	2	0	3
9	Italy (ITA)	1	1	0	2
10	Poland (POL)	1	0	0	1
11	France (FRA)	0	3	0	3
12	Sweden (SWE)	0	1	2	3
13=	Tunisia (TUN)	0	1	1	2
13=	Uganda (UGA)	0	1	1	2
15=	Hungary (HUN)	0	1	0	1
15=	United Team of Germany (EUA)	0	1	0	1
15=	Belgium (BEL)	0	1	0	1
15=	Portugal (POR)	0	1	0	1
19	Australia (AUS)	0	0	3	3
20	Eritrea (ERI)	0	0	1	1

Women[]

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1988 Seoul details	Olga Bondarenko  Soviet Union	Liz McColgan  Great Britain	Yelena Zhupiyeva-Vyazova  Soviet Union
1992 Barcelona details	Derartu Tulu  Ethiopia	Elana Meyer  South Africa	Lynn Jennings  United States
1996 Atlanta details	Fernanda Ribeiro  Portugal	Wang Junxia  China	Gete Wami  Ethiopia
2000 Sydney details	Derartu Tulu  Ethiopia	Gete Wami  Ethiopia	Fernanda Ribeiro  Portugal
2004 Athens details	Xing Huina  China	Ejagayehu Dibaba  Ethiopia	Derartu Tulu  Ethiopia
2008 Beijing details	Tirunesh Dibaba  Ethiopia	Shalane Flanagan  United States	Linet Chepkwemoi Masai  Kenya
2012 London details	Tirunesh Dibaba  Ethiopia	Sally Kipyego  Kenya	Vivian Cheruiyot  Kenya
2016 Rio de Janeiro details	Almaz Ayana  Ethiopia	Vivian Cheruiyot  Kenya	Tirunesh Dibaba  Ethiopia
2020 Tokyo details	Sifan Hassan  Netherlands	Kalkidan Gezahegne  Bahrain	Letesenbet Gidey  Ethiopia

Multiple medalists[]

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Olympics	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1=	Derartu Tulu	Ethiopia (ETH)	1992–2004	2	0	1	3
1=	Tirunesh Dibaba	Ethiopia (ETH)	2008–2016	2	0	1	3
3	Fernanda Ribeiro	Portugal (POR)	1996–2000	1	0	1	2
4=	Gete Wami	Ethiopia (ETH)	1996–2000	0	1	1	2
4=	Vivian Cheruiyot	Kenya (KEN)	2012–2016	0	1	1	2

Medalists by country[]

Map of countries' best results - Women's 10,000 metres

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Ethiopia (ETH)	5	2	4	11
2	China (CHN)	1	1	0	2
3=	Soviet Union (URS)	1	0	1	2
3=	Portugal (POR)	1	0	1	2
5	Netherlands (NED)	1	0	0	1
6	Kenya (KEN)	0	2	2	4
7	United States (USA)	0	1	1	2
8=	Great Britain (GBR)	0	1	0	1
8=	South Africa (RSA)	0	1	0	1
8=	Bahrain (BRN)	0	1	0	1

Five miles[]

Intercalated Games[]

The 1906 Intercalated Games were held in Athens and at the time were officially recognised as part of the Olympic Games series, with the intention being to hold a games in Greece in two-year intervals between the internationally held Olympics. However, this plan never came to fruition and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) later decided not to recognise these games as part of the official Olympic series. Some sports historians continue to treat the results of these games as part of the Olympic canon.^[2]

At this event a men's five-mile race was held – the first time a long-distance event featured at an Olympic competition. A British runner, Henry Hawtrey, won the event. Two 1908 Olympic participants for Sweden, John Svanberg and Edward Dahl, were the minor medalists.^[3]

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1906 Athens	Henry Hawtrey (GBR)	John Svanberg (SWE)	Edward Dahl (SWE)

1908 Olympics[]

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1908 London details	Emil Voigt (GBR)	Edward Owen (GBR)	John Svanberg (SWE)

References[]

Participation and athlete data

• Athletics Men's 10,000 metres Medalists. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-02-07.
• Athletics Women's 10,000 metres Medalists. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-02-07.
• Athletics Men's 5 mile Medalists. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-01-26.

Olympic record progressions

• Mallon, Bill (2012). TRACK & FIELD ATHLETICS - OLYMPIC RECORD PROGRESSIONS. Track and Field News. Retrieved on 2014-02-07.

Specific

External links[]

• IAAF 10,000 metres homepage
• Official Olympics website
• Olympic athletics records from Track & Field News