| Date | 30 July 1948 — 18:00 | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Olympic | |
| Location | Empire Stadium, Wembley, London | |
| Participants | 27 from 15 countries | |
| Format | Final only. | |
| Olympic Record | 30:11.4 / Janusz Kusociński  POL / 31 July 1932 / Details | |
The favorite was Finland’s Viljo Heino, winner of the 1946 European Championship and the world record holder., but he was expected to be challenged by Czechoslovakia’s Emil Zátopek.
At the Olympics, Heino took the early pace, with Zátopek taking over at 3K. Heino briefly regained the lead, only to see Zátopek push ahead and break Heino’s spirit, as he dropped out on shortly after 6K. Zátopek eventually won by almost 48 seconds, lapping all but the silver (Alain Mimoun of France) and bronze (Bertil Albertsson of Sweden) medalists. Fourth-place finisher Martin Stokken (NOR) competed in the 1952 and 1956 Winter Olympics, in cross-country skiing.
| Pos | Number | Competitor | NOC | Time (Hand) | Time (Automatic) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 203 | Emil Zátopek |  TCH | 29:59.6 | 29:59.8 | Gold | ||
| 2 | 209 | Alain Mimoun |  FRA | 30:47.4 | – | Silver | ||
| 3 | 225 | Bertil Albertsson |  SWE | 30:53.6 | – | Bronze | ||
| 4 | 221 | Martin Stokken |  NOR | 30:58.6 | – | |||
| 5 | 247 | Severt Dennolf | SWE | 31:05.0 | – | |||
| 6 | 240 | Abdullah Ben Saïd | FRA | 31:07.8 | – | |||
| 7 | 243 | Stan Cox |  GBR | 31:08.0 | – | |||
| 8 | 244 | Jim Peters | GBR | 31:16.0 | – | |||
| 9 | 239 | Salomon Könönen |  FIN | – | – | |||
| 10 | 249 | Eddie O'Toole |  USA | – | – | |||
| 11 | 250 | Fred Wilt | USA | – | – | |||
| 200 | Ricardo Bralo |  ARG | – | – | ||||
| 234 | Eusebio Guiñez | ARG | – | – | ||||
| 220 | Jakob Kjersem | NOR | – | – | ||||
| 216 | Jef Lataster |  NED | – | – | ||||
| 202 | Lou Wenao |  CHN | – | – | ||||
| 242 | Steve McCooke | GBR | – | – | ||||
| 222 | Constantino Miranda Justo |  ESP | – | – | ||||
| 219 | Harry Nelson |  NZL | – | – | ||||
| 241 | André Paris | FRA | – | – | ||||
| 228 | Manny Ramjohn |  TTO | – | – | ||||
| 223 | Gregorio Rojo | ESP | – | – | ||||
| 236 | Paddy Fahey |  IRL | – | – | ||||
| 238 | Viljo Heino | FIN | – | – | ||||
| 237 | Evert Heinström | FIN | – | – | ||||
| 235 | Robert Everaert |  BEL | – | – | ||||
| 248 | Herman Goffberg | USA | – | – | ||||
| 246 | Ham Gi-Yong |  KOR | – | – | ||||
| 233 | Delfo Cabrera | ARG | – | – | ||||
| 215 | Vasilis Mavrapostolos |  GRE | – | – | ||||
| 245 | Jenő Szilágyi |  HUN | – | – | ||||
| 217 | Sim Bok-Seok | KOR | – | – |
| Time | Athlete(s) | NOC | Result | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1000 m | Viljo Heino | | 2:55.6 | ||
| 2000 m | Viljo Heino | | 5:52 | ||
| 3000 m | Viljo Heino | | 8:51 | ||
| 4000 m | Emil Zátopek | | 11:52 | ||
| 5000 m | Viljo Heino | | 14:57 | ||
| 6000 m | – | |
