10,000 metres, Men

The three greatest distance runners of the 1920 were Paavo Nurmi, Ville Ritola, and Edvin Wide – in that order. In this race, they pulled into the lead early and had 100 metres on the field at the halfway point. Wide was dropped by the Finns at 8K. Ritola was the official leader at every kilometer checkpoint from 2K to 9K. On the final lap, Nurmi pulled ahead with less than 100 metres remaining and won by three metres. This was his ninth and final gold medal. This was the third Olympic distance running event in which Nurmi, Ritola, and Wide had been the medalists, including the 5K in 1924 and 1928.