Athletics at the 1920 Summer Olympics – Men's 5000 metres

Men's 5000 metres at the Games of the VII Olympiad
Venue	Olympisch Stadion
Dates	August 16–17
Competitors	38 from 16 nations
Medalists
Joseph Guillemot   France   Paavo Nurmi   Finland   Eric Backman   Sweden

Athletics at the 1920 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
400 m hurdles		men
3000 m steeplechase		men
4×100 m relay		men
4×400 m relay		men
3000 m team race		men
3 km walk		men
10 km walk		men
Road events
Marathon	men
Field events
Long jump	men
Triple jump	men
High jump	men
Pole vault	men
Shot put	men
Discus throw	men
Hammer throw	men
Javelin throw	men
56 lb weight throw	men
Combined events
Pentathlon	men
Decathlon	men
Cross-country events
Individual	men
Team	men

The men's 5000 metres event was part of the track and field athletics programme at the 1920 Summer Olympics. The competition was held on Monday, August 16, 1920, and on Tuesday, August 17, 1920.

Thirty-eight runners from 16 nations competed.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1920 Summer Olympics.

World Record	14:36.6	Hannes Kolehmainen	Stockholm (SWE)	July 10, 1912
Olympic Record	14:36.6	Hannes Kolehmainen	Stockholm (SWE)	July 10, 1912

Results

Semifinals

All semi-finals were held on Monday, August 16, 1920.

Semifinal 1

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Rudolf Falk (SWE)	15:17.8	Q
2	Herbert Irwin (GBR)	15:17.8	Q
3	Teodor Koskenniemi (FIN)	15:22.0	Q
4	Clifford Furnas (USA)	15:23.8	Q
5	Alfred Gaschen (SUI)	16:03.0
6	Augusto Maccario (ITA)
7	Jean-Baptiste Manhès (FRA)	16:07.8
—	Pierre Trullemans (BEL)	DNF
	Panagiotis Retelas (GRE)	DNF
	Tommy Town (CAN)	DNF

Semifinal 2

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Joe Blewitt (GBR)	15:19.8	Q
2	Julien Van Campenhout (BEL)	15:22.6	Q
3	Horace Brown (USA)	15:31.8	Q
4	Nils Bergström (SWE)	15:39.4	Q
5	Lucien Duquesne (FRA)	16:08.2
6	Juan Muguerza (ESP)
7	Konosuke Sano (JPN)
—	Artur Nielsen (DEN)	DNF
	Teodoro Pons (ESP)	DNF
	Carlo Martinenghi (ITA)	DNF

Semifinal 3

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Carlo Speroni (ITA)	15:27.6	Q
2	Paavo Nurmi (FIN)	15:33.0	Q
3	William Seagrove (GBR)	15:53.6	Q
4	Emanuel Lundström (SWE)	16:04.2	Q
5	Charles Hunter (USA)
6	Alexandros Kranis (GRE)
7	François Vyncke (BEL)
8	Karel Pacák (TCH)
9	Abdel Ali Maghoub (EGY)

Semifinal 4

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Joseph Guillemot (FRA)	15:33.0	Q
2	Eric Backman (SWE)	15:34.0	Q
3	Ivan Dresser (USA)	15:41.8	Q
4	Alfred Nichols (GBR)	15:54.0	Q
5	Ilmari Vesamaa (FIN)	15:54.4
6	Tomeichi Oura (JPN)
7	Jón Jónsen (DEN)
8	Henri Smets (BEL)
9	Gerardus van der Wel (NED)

Final

The final was held on Tuesday, August 17, 1920.

Place	Athlete	Time
1	Joseph Guillemot (FRA)	14:55.6
2	Paavo Nurmi (FIN)	15:00.0
3	Eric Backman (SWE)	15:13.0
4	Teodor Koskenniemi (FIN)	15:17.0
5	Joe Blewitt (GBR)	15:19.0
6	William Seagrove (GBR)	15:21.0
7	Carlo Speroni (ITA)
8	Alfred Nichols (GBR)
9	Julien Van Campenhout (BEL)
10	Nils Bergström (SWE)
11	Rudolf Falk (SWE)
12	Herbert Irwin (GBR)
13	Emanuel Lundström (SWE)
—	Clifford Furnas (USA)	DNF
	Horace Brown (USA)	DNF
	Ivan Dresser (USA)	DNF

References

• sports-reference.com
• Belgium Olympic Committee (1957). Olympic Games Antwerp 1920: Official Report (in French).
• Wudarski, Pawel (1999). "Wyniki Igrzysk Olimpijskich" (in Polish). Retrieved 12 August 2007.