10,000 metres, Men

The favorites were Soviet Vladimir Kuts and Britain’s Gordon Pirie. Kuts had broken the world record in September 1956, but had been beaten by Pirie in July. Kuts set out in the Olympic race at a suicidal pace, passing 5,000 in 14:06.8, only 0.2 seconds off the Olympic record for that race. But he did not drop Pirie. Kuts then put on a series of surges followed by dramatic slowing of the pace, attempt to lose the Briton. Finally, Kuts almost came to a stop, forcing Pirie to take the lead. When he did so, he looked in Pirie’s face and realized he was almost ashen from the effort, and at 8 km. Kuts sprinted ahead, never again challenged by Pirie, who struggled home in 8th place. Hungary’s József Kovács ran a careful race, closing almost 60 metres in the last few laps.