The women's

5000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a sta ...

at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

took place on 19–22 August at the

Beijing National Stadium The National Stadium (), the Bird's Nest (), is a stadium at Olympic Green in Chaoyang, Beijing, Chaoyang, Beijing, China. The National Stadium, covering an area of 204,000 square meters with an 80,000 person capacity (91,000 with temporary ...

. The qualifying standards were 15:09.00 (A standard) and 15:24.00 (B standard). While the race was strategically different, the results were much the same as the 10,000m final a week earlier.

Elvan Abeylegesse Elvan Abeylegesse (also formerly: Hewan Abeye (አልቫን አበይለገሠ, Amharic) and Elvan Can ( Turkish); born 11 September 1982) is an Ethiopian-born Turkish middle and long-distance running athlete who competed over distances from 150 ...

took the lead early, but the field did not dissipate behind her. Instead, Ethiopians, Kenyans and newly-crowned steeplechase world record holder,

Gulnara Samitova-Galkina Gulnara Iskanderovna Samitova-Galkina (, ) (born 9 July 1978 in Naberezhnye Chelny, Tatarstan) is a Russian distance runner. In July 2004 she ran 3000 metres steeplechase in a new world record of 9:01.59 minutes. Early that year she won a bronze m ...

, countered each attempt to pull away. Going into the last lap, Abeylegesse of Turkey and three Ethiopians were at the front, with the Kenyan team and Russian

Liliya Shobukhova Liliya Bulatovna Shobukhova, née Shagbalova, Divorced name Volkova, (; born 13 November 1977) is a Russian long-distance runner who competed in marathon races. She previously specialized in the 3000 and 5000 metres track events. She served a d ...

trailing.

Tirunesh Dibaba Tirunesh Dibaba (, Amharic: ጥሩነሽ ዲባባ ቀነኒ; born 1 October 1985) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner athlete who competes in long-distance track events and international road races. She has won three Olympic track gold meda ...

jumped into the lead with the expected chase coming from

Meseret Defar Meseret Defar Tola (Amharic: መሠረት ደፋር; born 19 November 1983) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who competes chiefly in the 3,000 metres and 5,000 metres events. She has won medals at top-tier international competitions includ ...

, in one of the few head-to-head battles between these two stars. But Abeylegesse refused to get out of the picture. Through the final turn she caught Defar and swung wide into lane 2 as if to speed past Dibaba. She was able to match Dibaba's speed down the final straight but couldn't make up the ground she had lost, with Dibaba taking her second gold medal and Defar holding off the rest of the field to take bronze. On 29 March 2017, IAAF confirmed that Abeylegesse had tested positive for a banned substance at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics and that her results from 2007 to 2009, including her Olympic silvers, had been expunged.IAAF March 2017 Newsletter
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Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world record, Olympic record, and world leading time were as follows: No new world or Olympic records were set for this event.

Results

Round 1

Qualification: First 6 in each heat(Q) and the next 3 fastest(q) advance to the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

Final

Splits

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics - Women's 5000 metres Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics 5000 metres at the Olympics 2008 in women's athletics Women's events at the 2008 Summer Olympics