| Date | 12 – 13 July 1912 | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Olympic | |
| Location | Stockholms Olympiastadion, Stockholm | |
| Participants | 24 from 5 countries | |
| Format | Five men ran for each team with 3 to count. Point-for-place scoring. | |
A team race had been contested at the 1900 Olympics over 5,000 metres. A 3,000 metre team race was held at the Olympics in 1912, 1920, and 1924. In 1912, the event was decided by teams of five runners each, with the places of the best three runners constituting the team score.
In a major upset in heat one of the first round, the United States defeated Finland, which was led by the redoubtable Hannes Kolehmainen. In the final, the United States won the gold medal, with Sweden second and Britain third. Great Britain’s bronze medal was earned despite the fact that they did not defeat a single team in the event - in round one they received a walkover, and in the final they finished last.
| Pos | Competitors | NOC | R1 | Final | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States |  USA | 9 (1 h1) | 9 (1) | Gold | |||||
| Tell Berna • Norm Taber • George Bonhag • Abel Kiviat • Louis Scott | ||||||||||
| 2 | Sweden |  SWE | 9 (1 h2) | 13 (2) | Silver | |||||
| Thorild Olsson • Ernst Wide • Bror Fock • John Zander • Nils Frykberg | ||||||||||
| 3 | Great Britain |  GBR | 6 (1 h3) | 23 (3) | Bronze | |||||
| Billy Cottrill • George Hutson • Cyril Porter • Eddie Owen • William Moore | ||||||||||
| 2 h1 r1/2 | Finland |  FIN | 12 (2 h1) | – | ||||||
| Hannes Kolehmainen • Albin Stenroos • Viljam Johansson • Aarne Lindholm • Efraim Harju | ||||||||||
| 2 h2 r1/2 | Germany |  GER | 12 (2 h2) | – | ||||||
| Erwin von Sigel • Georg Amberger • Gregor Vietz • Georg Mickler | ||||||||||
| Russia |  RUS | – | – | |||||||
| Grigory Voronkov • Aleksandr Yelizarov • Dmitry Nazarov • Mikhail Nikolsky • Nikolay Kharkov | ||||||||||
| France |  FRA | – | – | |||||||
| Marcel Dudant • Georges Dumonteil • Henri Arnaud • Jean Bouin • Paul Lizandier | ||||||||||
| Italy |  ITA | – | – | |||||||
| Guglielmo Becattini • Guido Calvi • Emilio Lunghi • Alfonso Orlando • Carlo Speroni | ||||||||||
| South Africa |  RSA | – | – | |||||||
| Chris Gitsham • Ken McArthur • Len Richardson • Arthur St. Norman • John Victor | ||||||||||
| Date | 12 July 1912 — 15:00 |
|---|---|
| Format | Winning team in each heat advanced to the final round. |
| Pos | Competitors | NOC | Points | Time | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | USA | 9 | – | |||||
| Abel Kiviat • Tell Berna • Norm Taber • George Bonhag • Louis Scott | |||||||||
| 2 | Finland | FIN | 12 | – | |||||
| Hannes Kolehmainen • Albin Stenroos • Viljam Johansson • Aarne Lindholm • Efraim Harju | |||||||||
| Pos | Competitors | NOC | Points | Time | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sweden | SWE | 9 | – | 1 | ||||
| Bror Fock • Nils Frykberg • Ernst Wide • Thorild Olsson • John Zander | |||||||||
| 2 | Germany | GER | 12 | – | |||||
| Erwin von Sigel • Georg Amberger • Gregor Vietz • Georg Mickler | |||||||||
| Pos | Competitors | NOC | Points | Time | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Great Britain | GBR | 6 | – | 2 | ||||
| Billy Cottrill • George Hutson • Cyril Porter • Eddie Owen • William Moore | |||||||||
| Date | 13 July 1912 — 15:30 |
|---|
| Pos | Competitors | NOC | Points | Time | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | USA | 9 | – | |||||
| Tell Berna • Norm Taber • George Bonhag • Abel Kiviat • Louis Scott | |||||||||
| 2 | Sweden | SWE | 13 | – | |||||
| Thorild Olsson • Ernst Wide • Bror Fock • John Zander • Nils Frykberg | |||||||||
| 3 | Great Britain | GBR | 23 | – | |||||
| Billy Cottrill • George Hutson • Cyril Porter • Eddie Owen • William Moore | |||||||||
