5,000 metres, Men

The defending champion was Lasse Virén but he had not done much since München, other than breaking the world record the week after the 1972 Olympics at an International in Helsinki. He placed third at the 1974 Europeans, behind Britain’s Brendan Foster. Virén was known, however, as a master at peaking. Some thought he was too much of a master at that, and rumors abounded that he one of the first to use blood doping to increase his endurance for the Olympics. This was never proven. In Montréal he had already defended his 10K gold medal. In the 5K final, Foster led for the first 2,000 metres when Virén went to the front. A pack of seven runners was together at the bell, with New Zealanders Rod Dixon and Dick Quax known for their finishing speed. But Virén held them off, winning the gold over Quax in second. Virén became the only man to win the 5K/10K double twice at the Olympics. Dick Quax had only recently recovered from a dose of the flu, during which he had lost 10 lbs in weight.

Both bronze medal winner Klaus-Peter Hildenbrand and 6th place finisher Willy Polleunis had difficult passages to the final. Both men were initially disqualified for impeding home favourite Grant McLaren in their heat but were reinstated after appeal. Foster broke the Olympic record in a very fast heat which saw Lasse Orimus and Marc Smet run within the previous record but fail to qualify for the final