The Men's 5000 metres at the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

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took place on 7 and 10 September 1972. Having won the

10,000 metres The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is common at championship level events. The race ...

a week earlier,

Lasse Virén Lasse Artturi Virén (born 22 July 1949) is a Finnish former long-distance runner, winner of four gold medals at the 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics. Virén recaptured the image of the "Flying Finns" promoted by runners like Hannes Kolehmainen, Paa ...

controlled the pace through the first 2000 metres in 5:32.61.

David Bedford David Vickerman Bedford (4 August 1937 – 1 October 2011) was an English composer and musician. He wrote and played both popular and classical music. He was the brother of the conductor Steuart Bedford, the grandson of the composer, painter ...

, tired of the slow pace, passing Viren and leading a crowd to go around to a faster pace. As the pace accelerated, Javier Álvarez came from the rear around the field to take the point for the next kilometre. At 3200 metres,

Nikolay Sviridov Nikolay Ivanovich Sviridov (russian: Николай Иванович Свиридов; 6 July 1938 – 14 June 2023)Steve Prefontaine Steve Roland "Pre" Prefontaine (January 25, 1951 – May 30, 1975) was an American long-distance runner who from 1973 to 1975 set American records at every distance from 2,000 to 10,000 meters. He competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics, and ...

took the lead at 3400 metres. Over the next lap, Viren came from sixth place in line to mark Prefontaine. Viren was in turn marked by

Emiel Puttemans Emiel Adrien "Miel" Puttemans (born 8 October 1947) is a retired middle- and long-distance runner, who set world records for 3000 metres (7 minutes 37.6 seconds) in 1972, for 2 miles (8 minutes 17.8 seconds) in 1971, and for 5000 metres (13 ...

. A five-man breakaway formed. With 850 metres to go, Viren passed Prefontaine. Down the back stretch, Prefontaine strained back into the lead. 50 metres before the bell, Viren took the lead again, with

Mohammed Gammoudi Mohammed Tlili ben Abdallah ( ar, محمد التليلي بن عبدالله), also known as Moham(m)ed Gammoudi, (born February 11, 1938) is a Tunisian athlete who competed as a long distance runner in international track and field competitions ...

breaking off the remaining group to mark the leaders. Down the final backstretch, Gammoudi eased around Viren while Prefontaine hit almost a full sprint to get on Gammoudi's shoulder. With 200 to go, Prefontaine relaxed and Viren moved ahead of him. Prefontaine surged again to keep pace. In the middle of the final turn, Virén changed gears into his full sprint, taking the lead. Gammoudi couldn't keep pace and began to watch Prefontaine while trying to hold on to the silver medal. Mid-straightaway all three checked the position of their rivals as Prefontaine took one more surge after Gammoudi. As it was quickly clear he couldn't make enough progress, Prefontaine strained. Ian Stewart came from the chasing group in full sprint gaining rapidly. As Stewart caught him from behind, Prefontaine fell apart, struggling the final steps. Virén successfully defended both titles in

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

Results

Heats

Qualification rule: First 2 in each heat (Q) and the next 4 fastest (q) advance to the Final.

Final

Sources

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics - Men's 5000 metres 1 5000 metres at the Olympics Men's events at the 1972 Summer Olympics