| | Event type

5,000 metres, Men

Date	8 – 10 July 1924
Status	Olympic
Location	Stade Olympique de Colombes, Colombes
Participants	39 from 22 countries

The two favorites were Finland’s Paavo Nurmi and Ville Ritola. The big question concerned Nurmi, who was attempting a 1,500/5K double with both finals being run on the same afternoon. Ritola had already won the 10K in Paris. The runners tried to set a fast pace, hoping that Nurmi would be tired from having won the 1,500 gold medal only 42 minutes before the start of this race. Edvin Wide (SWE) started quickly and only Ritola followed him, but Nurmi caught the leaders at 2K. By 3,000 metres Ritola and Nurmi had dropped Wide and it became a two-man race. Nurmi took the lead by 4K and continued to push the pace, but could not drop Ritola. Ritola kept pushing but could never get to the lead and Nurmi held off all attacks on him over the last lap.

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	R1	Final
1	–	Paavo Nurmi	FIN	15:28.6 (1 h2)	14:31.2 (1)	Gold	OR
2	–	Ville Ritola	FIN	15:32.1 (3 h3)	14:31.4 (2)	Silver
3	–	Edvin Wide	SWE	15:24.0 (2 h3)	15:01.8 (3)	Bronze
4	–	John Romig	USA	15:14.6 (1 h3)	15:12.4 (4)
5	–	Eino Seppälä	FIN	15:34.6 (3 h2)	15:18.4 (5)
6	–	Charles Clibbon	GBR	15:35.6 (4 h3)	15:29.0 (6)
7	–	Lucien Dolquès	FRA	15:29.4 (2 h2)	15:33.0 (7)
8	–	Axel Eriksson	SWE	15:23.6 (3 h1)	15:38.0 (8)
9	–	Léon Mascaux	FRA	15:26.4 (4 h1)	15:39.0 (9)
10	–	Frank Saunders	GBR	15:37.0 (4 h2)	15:54.0 (10)
11	–	Eino Rastas	FIN	15:22.2 (1 h1)	– (11)
12	–	Katsuo Okazaki	JPN	15:22.2 (2 h1)	– (12)
5 h1 r1/2	–	Charles Johnston	GBR	15:27.4 (5 h1)	–
5 h2 r1/2	–	Maurice Norland	FRA	15:41.4 (5 h2)	–
5 h3 r1/2	–	Lucien Duquesne	FRA	16:03.0 (5 h3)	–
6 h1 r1/2	–	Ralph Starr	GBR	– (6 h1)	–
6 h2 r1/2	–	Pete Phelps	USA	– (6 h2)	–
6 h3 r1/2	–	Jan Zeegers	NED	– (6 h3)	–
7 h1 r1/2	–	Eastman Doolittle	USA	– (7 h1)	–
7 h2 r1/2	–	David McGill	CAN	– (7 h2)	–
7 h3 r1/2	–	Alexandros Kranis	GRE	16:45.8 (7 h3)	–
8 h1 r1/2	–	Camiel Vandevelde	BEL	– (8 h1)	–
8 h2 r1/2	–	István Kultsár	HUN	– (8 h2)	–
8 h3 r1/2	–	George Lermond	USA	– (8 h3)	–
9 h1 r1/2	–	Alfredo Gomes	BRA	– (9 h1)	–
9 h2 r1/2	–	Stefan Szelestowski	POL	16:11.0 (9 h2)	–
9 h3 r1/2	–	Malcolm Boyd	AUS	– (9 h3)	–
10 h1 r1/2	–	Mohamed El-Sayed	EGY	– (10 h1)	–
10 h2 r1/2	–	Pala Singh	IND	– (10 h2)	–
10 h3 r1/2	–	Hans Kantor	AUT	– (10 h3)	–
11 h1 r1/2	–	Joaquín Miquel	ESP	– (11 h1)	–
11 h2 r1/2	–	Karel Nedobitý	TCH	16:59.0 (11 h2)	–
11 h3 r1/2	–	Miguel Palau	ESP	– (11 h3)	–
12 h1 r1/2	–	Vilis Cimmermanis	LAT	– (12 h1)	–
12 h3 r1/2	–	Pedro Curiel	MEX	– (12 h3)	–
13 h1 r1/2	–	Daniel Eslava	MEX	– (13 h1)	–
13 h3 r1/2	–	Artūrs Motmillers	LAT	– (13 h3)	–
14 h1 r1/2	–	Stanisław Ziffer	POL	16:36.0 (14 h1)	–
AC h2 r1/2	–	William Marthe	SUI	– (DNF h2)	–
DNS	–	Rudolf Heidegger	AUT	–	–
DNS	–	Enrico Garlaschelli	ITA	–	–
DNS	–	V. N. Venkataramanaswamy	IND	–	–
DNS	–	István Grósz	HUN	–	–
DNS	–	Vasil Venkov	BUL	–	–
DNS	–	Manuel Plaza	CHI	–	–
DNS	–	Alberto Jarrín	ECU	–	–
DNS	–	Jesús Diéguez	ESP	–	–
DNS	–	J. J. Ryan	IRL	–	–
DNS	–	Kikunosuke Tashiro	JPN	–	–
DNS	–	Vilém Šindler	TCH	–	–

Round One (8 July 1924 — 16:00)

Top four in each heat advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time
1	–	Eino Rastas	FIN	15:22.2	Q
2	–	Katsuo Okazaki	JPN	15:22.2	Q
3	–	Axel Eriksson	SWE	15:23.6	Q
4	–	Léon Mascaux	FRA	15:26.4	Q
5	–	Charles Johnston	GBR	15:27.4
6	–	Ralph Starr	GBR	–
7	–	Eastman Doolittle	USA	–
8	–	Camiel Vandevelde	BEL	–
9	–	Alfredo Gomes	BRA	–
10	–	Mohamed El-Sayed	EGY	–
11	–	Joaquín Miquel	ESP	–
12	–	Vilis Cimmermanis	LAT	–
13	–	Daniel Eslava	MEX	–
14	–	Stanisław Ziffer	POL	16:36.0

Splits

1000 m	2:51.8	Léon Mascaux
1500 m	4:25.0	Eino Rastas
2000 m	5:59.4	Eino Rastas
3000 m	9:15.4	Léon Mascaux
4000 m	12:22.2	Léon Mascaux

Heat Two

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time
1	–	Paavo Nurmi	FIN	15:28.6	Q
2	–	Lucien Dolquès	FRA	15:29.4	Q
3	–	Eino Seppälä	FIN	15:34.6	Q
4	–	Frank Saunders	GBR	15:37.0	Q
5	–	Maurice Norland	FRA	15:41.4
6	–	Pete Phelps	USA	–
7	–	David McGill	CAN	–
8	–	István Kultsár	HUN	–
9	–	Stefan Szelestowski	POL	16:11.0
10	–	Pala Singh	IND	–
11	–	Karel Nedobitý	TCH	16:59.0
DNF	–	William Marthe	SUI	–

Splits

1000 m	2:57.2	Maurice Norland
1500 m	4:29.0	Paavo Nurmi
2000 m	6:00.8	Lucien Dolquès
3000 m	9:13.8	Lucien Dolquès
4000 m	12:26.4	Lucien Dolquès

Heat Three

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time
1	–	John Romig	USA	15:14.6	Q
2	–	Edvin Wide	SWE	15:24.0	Q
3	–	Ville Ritola	FIN	15:32.1	Q
4	–	Charles Clibbon	GBR	15:35.6	Q
5	–	Lucien Duquesne	FRA	16:03.0
6	–	Jan Zeegers	NED	–
7	–	Alexandros Kranis	GRE	16:45.8
8	–	George Lermond	USA	–
9	–	Malcolm Boyd	AUS	–
10	–	Hans Kantor	AUT	–
11	–	Miguel Palau	ESP	–
12	–	Pedro Curiel	MEX	–
13	–	Artūrs Motmillers	LAT	–

Splits

1000 m	2:54.6	Edvin Wide
1500 m	4:23.1	Edvin Wide
2000 m	5:53.0	Edvin Wide
3000 m	9:01.6	Edvin Wide
4000 m	12:11.6	Edvin Wide

Final (10 July 1924 — 15:15)

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time
1	–	Paavo Nurmi	FIN	14:31.2	OR
2	–	Ville Ritola	FIN	14:31.4
3	–	Edvin Wide	SWE	15:01.8
4	–	John Romig	USA	15:12.4
5	–	Eino Seppälä	FIN	15:18.4
6	–	Charles Clibbon	GBR	15:29.0
7	–	Lucien Dolquès	FRA	15:33.0
8	–	Axel Eriksson	SWE	15:38.0
9	–	Léon Mascaux	FRA	15:39.0
10	–	Frank Saunders	GBR	15:54.0
11	–	Eino Rastas	FIN	–
12	–	Katsuo Okazaki	JPN	–

Splits

500 m	1:19.8	Ville Ritola
1000 m	2:46.4	Edvin Wide
1500 m	4:14.0	Edvin Wide
2000 m	5:43.6	Edvin Wide
2500 m	7:14.6	Edvin Wide
3000 m	8:42.6	Paavo Nurmi
4000 m	11:38.8	Paavo Nurmi