Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics – Men's 5000 metres

Men's 5000 metres at the Games of the V Olympiad
200px The finish: Kolehmainen on the way to pass Bouin who is still in the lead.
Venue	Stockholm Olympic Stadium
Dates	July 9 (semifinals) July 10 (final)
Competitors	31 from 11 nations
Medalists
Hannes Kolehmainen  Finland Jean Bouin  France George Hutson  Great Britain

Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m		men
200 m		men
400 m		men
800 m		men
1500 m		men
5000 m		men
10,000 m		men
110 m hurdles		men
4×100 m relay		men
4×400 m relay		men
3000 m team race		men
10 km walk		men
Road events
Marathon	men
Field events
Long jump	men
Triple jump	men
High jump	men
Pole vault	men
Standing long jump	men
Standing high jump	men
Shot put	men
Discus throw	men
Hammer throw	men
Javelin throw	men
2-hand shot put	men
2-hand discus	men
2-hand javelin	men
Combined events
Pentathlon	men
Decathlon	men
Cross-country events
Individual	men
Team	men

The men's 5000 metres was a track and field athletics event held as part of the Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics programme. It was the debut of the event, which along with the 10000 metre event replaced the 5 mile race held at the 1908 Summer Olympics. The competition was held on Tuesday, July 9, 1912 and on Wednesday, July 10, 1912.

Thirty-one long distance runners from eleven nations competed.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1912 Summer Olympics.

World Record	14:59.0(*)	Alfred Shrubb	Glasgow (GBR)	June 13, 1904
Olympic Record	-	none	-	-

(*) unofficial

George Bonhag, in winning the first semifinal, set the Olympic record at 15:22.6. It lasted until the 5th and last semifinal, in which Jean Bouin broke it by finishing in 15:05.0. Unsurprisingly, that record stood only until the next race—Hannes Kolehmainen won the final at 14:36.6 as both he and Bouin (just behind Kolehmainen, at 14:36.7) surpassed the best time of the semifinals. This record became the first official world record for the 5000 metres.

Results

Semifinals

All semi-finals were held on Tuesday, July 9, 1912.

Semifinal 1

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	George Bonhag (USA)	15:22.6 OR	QF
2	22x20px Alex Decoteau (CAN)	15:24.2	QF
3	Frederick Hibbins (GBR)	15:27.6	QF
4	George Hill (ANZ)	15:56.8
—	Klas Lundström (SWE)	Did not finish

Semifinal 2

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Louis Scott (USA)	15:23.5	QF
2	22x20px Joe Keeper (CAN)	15:28.9	QF
3	George Hutson (GBR)	15:29.0	QF
4	Bror Modigh (SWE)	16:07.1
—	Eddie Fitzgerald (USA)	Did not finish
	Martin Persson (SWE)	Did not finish
	Charles Ruffell (GBR)	Did not finish

Semifinal 3

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Mauritz Carlsson (SWE)	15:34.6	QF
2	Ernest Glover (GBR)	16:09.1	QF
3	Cyril Porter (GBR)	16:23.4	QF
4	22x20px Mikhail Nikolsky (RUS)	17:21.7
—	Aarne Lindholm (FIN)	Did not finish
	Garnett Wikoff (USA)	Did not finish

Semifinal 4

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Hannes Kolehmainen (FIN)	15:38.9	QF
2	Henrik Nordström (SWE)	15:49.1	QF
3	Tell Berna (USA)	15:53.3	QF
4	George Lee (GBR)
—	Gregor Vietz (GER)	Did not finish

Semifinal 5

File:1912 Athletics men's 5000 metre final.JPG

The start of the final.

File:1912 Athletics men's 5000 metre final2.JPG

The upcoming winner Hannes Kolehmainen in the lead with Jean Bouin behind.

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Jean Bouin (FRA)	15:05.0 OR	QF
2	Thorild Olsson (SWE)	15:25.2	QF
3	Viljam Johansson (FIN)	15:31.4	QF
—	Gaston Heuet (FRA)	Did not finish
	Wallace McCurdy (USA)	Did not finish
	Alfonso Orlando (ITA)	Did not finish
	Alfonso Sánchez (CHI)	Did not finish
	Arnold Treble (GBR)	Did not finish

Final

The final was held on Wednesday, July 10, 1912.

Place	Athlete	Time
1	Hannes Kolehmainen (FIN)	14:36.6 WR
2	Jean Bouin (FRA)	14:36.7
3	George Hutson (GBR)	15:07.6
4	George Bonhag (USA)	15:09.8
5	Tell Berna (USA)	15:10.0
6	22x20px Alex Decoteau (CAN)
7	Mauritz Carlsson (SWE)	15:18.6
8-11	Frederick Hibbins (GBR)
	22x20px Joe Keeper (CAN)
	Cyril Porter (GBR)
	Louis Scott (USA)
—	Ernest Glover (GBR)	Did not start
	Viljam Johansson (FIN)	Did not start
	Henrik Nordström (SWE)	Did not start
	Thorild Olsson (SWE)	Did not start

Finish

References

• sports-reference.com