10,000 metres, Men

Two of the three heats were won by Finland’s Kolehmainen brothers - Hannes and Tatu. The final was held on a very hot day, and four of the 15 qualifiers did not start. Hannes Kolehmainen took the lead on the second lap and eventually dropped the field by the sixth lap. He eventually ran uncontested to win by over 45 seconds. The silver medal went to Lewis Tewanima, a Hopi Indian and Jim Thorpe’s teammate at the Carlisle Indian School.

Hannes Kolehmainen’s winning time was “somewhat” of a world record. At the beginning of 1912, there was no official world record, as the IAAF did not start recognizing marks until 1913. Until 1911, the best mark on record by an amateur was 31:40.0, by Walter George (GBR), set in London, on 28 July 1884, during a 12-mile handicap race. The professional best had been set by Alfred Shrubb (GBR) in Glasgow, on 5 November 1904, during a one-hour race. But on 16 November 1911, Jean Bouin ran 30:58.8 at Colombes, France. Bouin did not run the 10K at Stockholm, but finished a very close second to Hannes Kolehmainen in the 5,000 metres.

When the IAAF began to recognize world records, they thought that Bouin had run his mark in 1913. They recognized only Kolehmainen’s winning Stockholm time as the initial IAAF-approved world record. Bouin’s mark did not receive official recognition until 1926.