The Men's 10,000 metres competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The event was held at the

Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words ''Olympic Stadium'' as ...

on 4 August. The race was won by

Mo Farah Sir Mohamed Muktar Jama Farah (born Hussein Abdi Kahin; 23 March 1983) is a British long-distance runner. His ten global championship gold medals (four Olympic and six World titles) make him the most successful male track distance runner ever ...

, the reigning 5000 metres World Champion, in a time of 27:30.42.

Summary

From the beginning Farah stayed close to the race leaders, who on the first lap were the defending champion

Kenenisa Bekele Kenenisa Bekele ( om, Qananiisaa baqqalaa; am, ቀነኒሳ በቀለ; born 13 June 1982) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner. He was the world record holder in both the 5000-metre and 10000-metre from 2004 (5,000m) and 2005 (10,000m) unti ...

and his brother Tariku. After six laps, the half marathon world record holder

Zersenay Tadese Zersenay Tadese (Tigrinya: ዘርእሰናይ ታደሰ; born 8 February 1982) is an Eritrean long-distance track and road running athlete. He held the men's half marathon world record from 2010 to 2018. His bronze medal in the 10,000 metres ...

and his Eritrean teammates began to push the pace. At the same time,

Moses Kipsiro Moses Ndiema Kipsiro (born 2 September 1986 in Singare) is a Ugandan long-distance runner who specialises in the 5000 metres. He was the bronze medallist in the event at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics. He represented Uganda at the 2 ...

went down, causing the field to scatter and Farah to fall back in the field with his American training partner

Galen Rupp Galen Rupp (born May 8, 1986) is an American long-distance runner. He competed in the Summer Olympics in 2008 in Beijing, 2012 in London, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro and 2021 in Tokyo. He won the silver medal in the men's 10,000-meter run in London ...

. When Tariku Bekele came up behind Tadese, his attempt to force the pace slowed. The 5000 metre mark was reached in 14:05.79, with Tadese in front, though Bedan Karoki Muchiri took the lead soon after. Thirteen runners remained in the lead pack including three Ethiopians, three Eritreans, two Kenyans, Kipsiro, Kenyan born Polat Kemboi Arikan running for Turkey, Canadian

Cameron Levins Cameron Levins (born March 28, 1989) is a Canadian long-distance runner. He won the bronze medal in the 10,000 meters at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Levins had the best-Canadian finish ever of fourth in the marathon at the 2022 World Champ ...

, Farah and Rupp. Strategic play continued as Tariku elbowed Farah, causing him to step to the outside ready to cover a move. Then the third Ethiopian

Gebregziabher Gebremariam Gebregziabher Gebremariam (born September 10, 1984 in Tigray) is a retired Ethiopian long-distance runner. He established himself at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, winning the junior title in 2002 and two silver medals in the senio ...

, ran to the front, but rather than forcing the pace, he seemed to slow it down. With two laps to go, Tariku Bekele regained the lead, with Farah on his shoulder and

Moses Ndiema Masai Moses Ndiema Masai (born 1 June 1986 in Kapsogom, Mount Elgon District) is a Kenyan runner who specializes in the 10,000 metres. Masai is from Bugaa village, four kilometres from Kapsokwony town. Born to John Barasa Masai and Leonida Cher ...

, Rupp and Michuri following in close formation. At the start of the final lap, Farah made his move into the lead. For most of the last lap, Tariku Bekele, Muchuri, Rupp, and Kenenisa Bekele respectively remained in tow until the final turn at which point Farah pulled away for the win with a final lap of 53.48 seconds. With 60m left, Rupp went outside and outsprinted Tariku Bekele to take the silver medal. Tariku Bekele held on for third place just ahead of his older brother and world record holder Kenenisa Bekele.

'Super Saturday'

Farah's gold medal was the final of three gold medals in one evening for the host country, their most successful day in Olympic history.World Sports News: Today at the Olympics – Day 9
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Competition format

Only a final, without preliminary heats, was held.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows:

Schedule

All times are British Summer Time (

UTC+1 UTC+01:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +01:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2019-02-07T23:28:34+01:00. This time is used in: *Central European Time *West Africa Time *Western European Summer Time **B ...

)

Results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics - Men's 10, 000 metres Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics 10,000 metres at the Olympics Men's events at the 2012 Summer Olympics