| | Event type

5,000 metres, Men

Date	31 July – 3 August 1928
Status	Olympic
Location	Olympisch Stadion, Amsterdam
Participants	38 from 18 countries
Olympic Record	14:31.2 / Paavo Nurmi FIN / 10 July 1924 / Details

The favorites were the three medalists from 1924 – Finland’s Paavo Nurmi and Ville Ritola, and Edvin Wide (SWE) –, with Nurmi a slight favorite over Ritola.

In the final, the three of them broke away from the field by 3,000 metres. Ritola and Nurmi dropped Wide with 600 metres remaining, and ran together on the final lap until the last curve, when Ritola pulled away and won by 15 metres, Nurmi slowing in the straight.

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	R1	Final
1	800	Ville Ritola	FIN	15:10.8 (2 h2)	14:38.0 (1)	Gold
2	797	Paavo Nurmi	FIN	15:08.0 (4 h3)	14:40.0 (2)	Silver
3	866	Edvin Wide	SWE	15:05.0 (2 h3)	14:41.2 (3)	Bronze
4	545	Leo Lermond	USA	15:02.6 (1 h1)	14:50.0 (4)
5	857	Ragnar Magnusson	SWE	15:03.8 (4 h1)	14:59.6 (5)
6	780	Armas Kinnunen	FIN	15:10.8 (3 h2)	15:02.0 (6)
7	150	Staņislavs Petkevičs	LAT	15:03.0 (2 h1)	– (7)
8	465	Bert Johnston	GBR	15:06.3 (3 h3)	– (8)
9	476	Brian Oddie	GBR	15:16.0 (4 h2)	– (9)
10	562	Macauley Smith	USA	15:04.0 (1 h3)	– (10)
AC	799	Eino Purje	FIN	15:03.6 (3 h1)	– (DNF)
AC	844	Nils Eklöf	SWE	15:07.4 (1 h2)	– (DNF)
5 h1 r1/2	439	Wally Beavers	GBR	– (5 h1)	–
5 h2 r1/2	376	Jesús Oyarbide	ESP	15:22.0 (5 h2)	–
5 h3 r1/2	720	Otto Kohn	GER	– (5 h3)	–
6 h1 r1/2	701	Carl Axel Holger Petersen	DEN	15:13.0 (6 h1)	–
6 h2 r1/2	97	Roger Pelé	FRA	– (6 h2)	–
6 h3 r1/2	311	Arie Klaase	NED	– (6 h3)	–
7 h1 r1/2	467	Fred Light	GBR	– (7 h1)	–
7 h2 r1/2	704	Willi Boltze	GER	15:33.0 (7 h2)	–
7 h3 r1/2	377	Arturo Peña	ESP	15:45.0 (7 h3)	–
8 h1 r1/2	60	Lucien Duquesne	FRA	– (8 h1)	–
8 h2 r1/2	386	Jozef Koščak	TCH	15:42.0 (8 h2)	–
8 h3 r1/2	648	Vincent Callard	CAN	– (8 h3)	–
9 h1 r1/2	53	Seghir Beddari	FRA	– (9 h1)	–
9 h2 r1/2	142	Andreas Paouris	GRE	– (9 h2)	–
10 h2 r1/2	156	Julius Petraitis	LTU	– (10 h2)	–
11 h2 r1/2	494	Dave Abbott	USA	– (11 h2)	–
AC h1 r1/2	656	Billy Kibblewhite	CAN	– (DNF h1)	–
AC h1 r1/2	168	Ciro Chapa	MEX	– (DNF h1)	–
AC h1 r1/2	335	Nol Wolf	NED	– (DNF h1)	–
AC h1 r1/2	388	Karel Nedobitý	TCH	– (DNF h1)	–
AC h1 r1/2	539	Charles Haworth	USA	– (DNF h1)	–
AC h1 r1/2	626	Julien Serwy	BEL	– (DNF h1)	–
AC h2 r1/2	599	George Hyde	AUS	– (DNF h2)	–
AC h2 r1/2	657	Art Keay	CAN	– (DNF h2)	–
AC h2 r1/2	303	Pieter Gerbrands	NED	– (DNF h2)	–
AC h3 r1/2	209	Gurbachan Singh	IND	– (DNF h3)	–
DNS	254	Juichi Nagatani	JPN	– (DNS h1)	–
DNS	205	D. B. Chavan	IND	– (DNS h1)	–
DNS	833	Jozé Slapnicar	YUG	– (DNS h1)	–
DNS	194	Erling Pedersen	NOR	– (DNS h1)	–
DNS	37	Elek Szerb	HUN	– (DNS h2)	–
DNS	260	Seiichiro Tsuda	JPN	– (DNS h2)	–
DNS	300	Frédéric du Hen	NED	– (DNS h2)	–
DNS	185	Hans Gundhus	NOR	– (DNS h2)	–
DNS	432	António de Almeida	POR	– (DNS h2)	–
DNS	91	Jules Ladoumègue	FRA	– (DNS h3)	–
DNS	401	Ch. B. Mehmed Bey	TUR	– (DNS h3)	–
DNS	285	Danie Jacobs	RSA	– (DNS h3)	–
DNS	179	Robert Masino	MON	– (DNS h3)	–
DNS	595	José Ribas	ARG	– (DNS h3)	–
DNS	127	Athanassios Bekiaris	GRE	– (DNS h3)	–
DNS	851	Jean-Gunnar Lindgren	SWE	– (DNS h3)	–
DNS	653	David Griffin	CAN	– (DNS h3)	–
DNS	221	Luigi Boero	ITA	– (DNS h3)	–
DNS	814	Felix Beldsinsky	EST	– (DNS h3)	–

Round One

Date	31 July 1928 — 17:10
Format	Top 4 in each heat advanced to the final round.

Heat #1

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	545	Leo Lermond	USA	15:02.6	Q
2	150	Staņislavs Petkevičs	LAT	15:03.0	Q
3	799	Eino Purje	FIN	15:03.6	Q
4	857	Ragnar Magnusson	SWE	15:03.8	Q
5	439	Wally Beavers	GBR	–
6	701	Carl Axel Holger Petersen	DEN	15:13.0
7	467	Fred Light	GBR	–
8	60	Lucien Duquesne	FRA	–
9	53	Seghir Beddari	FRA	–
DNF	168	Ciro Chapa	MEX	–
DNF	539	Charles Haworth	USA	–
DNF	388	Karel Nedobitý	TCH	–
DNF	656	Billy Kibblewhite	CAN	–
DNF	335	Nol Wolf	NED	–
DNF	626	Julien Serwy	BEL	–
DNS	254	Juichi Nagatani	JPN	–
DNS	205	D. B. Chavan	IND	–
DNS	833	Jozé Slapnicar	YUG	–
DNS	194	Erling Pedersen	NOR	–

Heat #2

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	844	Nils Eklöf	SWE	15:07.4	Q
2	800	Ville Ritola	FIN	15:10.8	Q
3	780	Armas Kinnunen	FIN	15:10.8	Q
4	476	Brian Oddie	GBR	15:16.0	Q
5	376	Jesús Oyarbide	ESP	15:22.0
6	97	Roger Pelé	FRA	–
7	704	Willi Boltze	GER	15:33.0
8	386	Jozef Koščak	TCH	15:42.0
9	142	Andreas Paouris	GRE	–
10	156	Julius Petraitis	LTU	–
11	494	Dave Abbott	USA	–
DNF	657	Art Keay	CAN	–
DNF	599	George Hyde	AUS	–
DNF	303	Pieter Gerbrands	NED	–
DNS	37	Elek Szerb	HUN	–
DNS	260	Seiichiro Tsuda	JPN	–
DNS	300	Frédéric du Hen	NED	–
DNS	185	Hans Gundhus	NOR	–
DNS	432	António de Almeida	POR	–

Heat #3

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	562	Macauley Smith	USA	15:04.0	Q
2	866	Edvin Wide	SWE	15:05.0	Q
3	465	Bert Johnston	GBR	15:06.3	Q
4	797	Paavo Nurmi	FIN	15:08.0	Q
5	720	Otto Kohn	GER	–
6	311	Arie Klaase	NED	–
7	377	Arturo Peña	ESP	15:45.0
8	648	Vincent Callard	CAN	–
DNF	209	Gurbachan Singh	IND	–
DNS	91	Jules Ladoumègue	FRA	–
DNS	401	Ch. B. Mehmed Bey	TUR	–
DNS	285	Danie Jacobs	RSA	–
DNS	179	Robert Masino	MON	–
DNS	595	José Ribas	ARG	–
DNS	127	Athanassios Bekiaris	GRE	–
DNS	851	Jean-Gunnar Lindgren	SWE	–
DNS	653	David Griffin	CAN	–
DNS	221	Luigi Boero	ITA	–
DNS	814	Felix Beldsinsky	EST	–

Final Round

Date	3 August 1928 — 14:30

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	800	Ville Ritola	FIN	14:38.0
2	797	Paavo Nurmi	FIN	14:40.0
3	866	Edvin Wide	SWE	14:41.2
4	545	Leo Lermond	USA	14:50.0
5	857	Ragnar Magnusson	SWE	14:59.6
6	780	Armas Kinnunen	FIN	15:02.0
7	150	Staņislavs Petkevičs	LAT	–
8	465	Bert Johnston	GBR	–
9	476	Brian Oddie	GBR	–
10	562	Macauley Smith	USA	–
DNF	844	Nils Eklöf	SWE	–
DNF	799	Eino Purje	FIN	–