| | Event type

5,000 metres, Men

Date	28 July – 1 August 1980
Status	Olympic
Location	Bolshaya arena, Tsentralny stadion imeni V.I. Lenina, Moskva
Participants	35 from 22 countries

Two-time defending champion Lasse Virén was in Moskva but ran only the 10K and marathon. The favorite was Ethiopia’s Miruts Yifter who had known only Olympic heartbreak prior to 1980. He was expected to contend in this event in both 1972 and 1976. But in 1972 he had missed his heat when he could not get into the stadium in time, choosing the wrong entry gate. In 1976 he was pulled out by the ridiculous African boycott, costing him a chance to compete. But in Moskva, he had already won the 10,000 metres gold medal. Three Ethiopians qualified for the final – Yifter, Mohamed Kedir and Yohannes Mohamed. Yifter noted that they ran a team race in the final, setting it up for him to win. On the final lap, Ireland’s Eamonn Coghlan took the lead and his great mile speed made him a formidable challenger. But Yifter, also known for his kick, moved past on the inside of the backstretch and pulled away for a comfortable win.

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	R1	SF	Final
1	191	Miruts Yifter	ETH	13:44.4 (1 h1)	13:40.0 (2 h1)	13:21.0 (1)	Gold
2	649	Suleiman Nyambui	TAN	13:45.4 (2 h3)	13:30.2 (5 h2)	13:21.6 (2)	Silver
3	208	Kaarlo Maaninka	FIN	13:45.8 (6 h3)	13:40.2 (3 h1)	13:22.0 (3)	Bronze
4	403	Eamonn Coghlan	IRL	13:45.4 (3 h3)	13:28.8 (2 h2)	13:22.8 (4)
5	618	Markus Ryffel	SUI	13:45.0 (1 h3)	13:29.3 (3 h2)	13:23.1 (5)
6	28	Dietmar Millonig	AUT	13:45.7 (4 h3)	13:29.4 (4 h2)	13:23.3 (6)
7	409	John Treacy	IRL	13:44.8 (4 h1)	13:40.3 (4 h1)	13:23.7 (7)
8	701	Aleksandr Fedotkin	URS	13:45.6 (6 h1)	13:31.9 (8 h2)	13:24.1 (8)
9	665	Jiří Sýkora	TCH	13:43.1 (6 h2)	13:31.0 (7 h2)	13:25.0 (9)
10	182	Yohannes Mohamed	ETH	13:45.8 (5 h3)	13:39.4 (1 h1)	13:28.4 (10)
11	222	Martti Vainio	FIN	13:45.2 (8 h2)	13:30.4 (6 h2)	13:32.1 (11)
12	178	Mohamed Kedir	ETH	13:42.7 (2 h2)	13:28.6 (1 h2)	13:34.2 (12)
5 h1 r2/3	282	Nick Rose	GBR	13:44.7 (3 h1)	13:40.6 (5 h1)	–
6 h1 r2/3	685	Valery Abramov	URS	13:42.9 (3 h2)	13:40.7 (6 h1)	–
7 h1 r2/3	641	Zakariah Barie	TAN	13:49.9 (9 h2)	13:44.9 (7 h1)	–
8 h1 r2/3	46	Miel Puttemans	BEL	13:43.0 (4 h2)	13:50.2 (8 h1)	–
9 h1 r2/3	275	Dave Moorcroft	GBR	13:43.0 (5 h2)	13:58.2 (9 h1)	–
9 h2 r2/3	284	Barry Smith	GBR	13:46.3 (7 h3)	13:36.7 (9 h2)	–
10 h1 r2/3	18	Dave Fitzsimons	AUS	13:46.4 (7 h1)	13:58.3 (10 h1)	–
10 h2 r2/3	42	Alex Hagelsteens	BEL	13:44.9 (5 h1)	13:46.7 (10 h2)	–
11 h1 r2/3	313	Hansjörg Kunze	GDR	13:44.4 (2 h1)	14:00.3 (11 h1)	–
11 h2 r2/3	13	Steve Austin	AUS	13:43.2 (7 h2)	13:47.6 (11 h2)	–
12 h1 r2/3	487	Enrique Aquino	MEX	13:48.9 (8 h1)	14:01.4 (12 h1)	–
12 h2 r2/3	1	Abdenouz El-Hachemi	ALG	13:42.1 (1 h2)	14:15.9 (12 h2)	–
8 h3 r1/3	732	Enn Sellik	URS	13:52.4 (8 h3)	–	–
9 h1 r1/3	399	Gopal Saini	IND	14:06.6 (9 h1)	–	–
9 h3 r1/3	5	Rachid Habchaoui	ALG	13:59.9 (9 h3)	–	–
10 h1 r1/3	66	Robert Chideka	BOT	14:47.2 (10 h1)	–	–
10 h2 r1/3	408	Mick O'Shea	IRL	14:03.0 (10 h2)	–	–
10 h3 r1/3	780	Zephaniah Ncube	ZIM	14:06.7 (10 h3)	–	–
11 h1 r1/3	505	Laxman Basnet	NEP	16:11.7 (11 h1)	–	–
11 h2 r1/3	12	Bernardo Manuel	ANG	14:51.4 (11 h2)	–	–
11 h3 r1/3	501	Pedro Mulomo	MOZ	15:11.9 (11 h3)	–	–
12 h2 r1/3	632	Saleh El-Ali	SYR	15:08.2 (12 h2)	–	–
12 h3 r1/3	56	Amadou Alimi	BEN	15:44.0 (12 h3)	–	–
DNS	223	Lasse Virén	FIN	– (DNS h1)	–	–
DNS	567	Ilie Floroiu	ROU	– (DNS h2)	–	–

Round One (28 July 1980 — 17:35)

Top six in each heat and next six fastest advanced to the semi-finals.

Heat One

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)	Time (A)
1	191	Miruts Yifter	ETH	13:44.4	13:44.31	Q
2	313	Hansjörg Kunze	GDR	13:44.4	13:44.40	Q
3	282	Nick Rose	GBR	13:44.7	13:44.65	Q
4	409	John Treacy	IRL	13:44.8	13:44.74	Q
5	42	Alex Hagelsteens	BEL	13:44.9	13:44.82	Q
6	701	Aleksandr Fedotkin	URS	13:45.6	13:45.52	Q
7	18	Dave Fitzsimons	AUS	13:46.4	13:46.40	q
8	487	Enrique Aquino	MEX	13:48.9	13:48.83	q
9	399	Gopal Saini	IND	14:06.6	14:06.53
10	66	Robert Chideka	BOT	14:47.2	14:47.11
11	505	Laxman Basnet	NEP	16:11.7	–
DNS	223	Lasse Virén	FIN	–	–

Splits

1000 m	2:46.4	Aleksandr Fedotkin
2000 m	5:37.6	John Treacy
3000 m	8:24.5	John Treacy
4000 m	11:06.8	Aleksandr Fedotkin

Heat Two

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)	Time (A)
1	1	Abdenouz El-Hachemi	ALG	13:42.1	13:42.07	Q
2	178	Mohamed Kedir	ETH	13:42.7	13:42.62	Q
3	685	Valery Abramov	URS	13:42.9	13:42.86	Q
4	46	Miel Puttemans	BEL	13:43.0	13:43.91	Q
5	275	Dave Moorcroft	GBR	13:43.0	13:43.96	Q
6	665	Jiří Sýkora	TCH	13:43.1	13:43.04	Q
7	13	Steve Austin	AUS	13:43.2	13:43.15	q
8	222	Martti Vainio	FIN	13:45.2	13:45.20	q
9	641	Zakariah Barie	TAN	13:49.9	13:49.88	q
10	408	Mick O'Shea	IRL	14:03.0	14:02.97
11	12	Bernardo Manuel	ANG	14:51.4	14:51.34
12	632	Saleh El-Ali	SYR	15:08.2	15:08.19
DNS	567	Ilie Floroiu	ROU	–	–

Splits

1000 m	2:46.3	Steve Austin
2000 m	5:29.1	Steve Austin
3000 m	8:19.4	Steve Austin
4000 m	11:08.4	Steve Austin

Heat Three

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)	Time (A)
1	618	Markus Ryffel	SUI	13:45.0	13:44.95	Q
2	649	Suleiman Nyambui	TAN	13:45.4	13:45.37	Q
3	403	Eamonn Coghlan	IRL	13:45.4	13:45.39	Q
4	28	Dietmar Millonig	AUT	13:45.7	13:45.64	Q
5	182	Yohannes Mohamed	ETH	13:45.8	13:45.77	Q
6	208	Kaarlo Maaninka	FIN	13:45.8	13:45.78	Q
7	284	Barry Smith	GBR	13:46.3	13:46.28	q
8	732	Enn Sellik	URS	13:52.4	13:52.34
9	5	Rachid Habchaoui	ALG	13:59.9	13:59.85
10	780	Zephaniah Ncube	ZIM	14:06.7	14:06.70
11	501	Pedro Mulomo	MOZ	15:11.9	15:11.86
12	56	Amadou Alimi	BEN	15:44.0	15:43.92

Splits

1000 m	2:50.5	Zephaniah Ncube
2000 m	5:38.0	Suleiman Nyambui
3000 m	8:28.0	Dietmar Millonig
3000 m	8:28.0	Yohannes Mohamed
4000 m	11:12.3	Barry Smith

Semi-Finals (30 July 1980 — 18:50)

Top four in each heat and next four fastest advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)	Time (A)
1	182	Yohannes Mohamed	ETH	13:39.4	13:39.40	Q
2	191	Miruts Yifter	ETH	13:40.0	13:39.93	Q
3	208	Kaarlo Maaninka	FIN	13:40.2	13:40.16	Q
4	409	John Treacy	IRL	13:40.3	13:40.29	Q
5	282	Nick Rose	GBR	13:40.6	13:40.55
6	685	Valery Abramov	URS	13:40.7	13:40.67
7	641	Zakariah Barie	TAN	13:44.9	13:44.83
8	46	Miel Puttemans	BEL	13:50.2	13:50.19
9	275	Dave Moorcroft	GBR	13:58.2	13:58.13
10	18	Dave Fitzsimons	AUS	13:58.3	13:58.22
11	313	Hansjörg Kunze	GDR	14:00.3	14:00.22
12	487	Enrique Aquino	MEX	14:01.4	14:01.33

Splits

1000 m	2:51.0	John Treacy
2000 m	4:33.4	Hansjörg Kunze
3000 m	8:20.5	John Treacy
4000 m	11:08.5	Zakariah Barie

Heat Two

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)	Time (A)
1	178	Mohamed Kedir	ETH	13:28.6	13:28.54	Q
2	403	Eamonn Coghlan	IRL	13:28.8	13:28.79	Q
3	618	Markus Ryffel	SUI	13:29.3	13:29.23	Q
4	28	Dietmar Millonig	AUT	13:29.4	13:29.35	Q
5	649	Suleiman Nyambui	TAN	13:30.2	13:30.12	q
6	222	Martti Vainio	FIN	13:30.4	13:30.38	q
7	665	Jiří Sýkora	TCH	13:31.0	13:30.97	q
8	701	Aleksandr Fedotkin	URS	13:31.9	13:31.87	q
9	284	Barry Smith	GBR	13:36.7	13:36.66
10	42	Alex Hagelsteens	BEL	13:46.7	13:46.64
11	13	Steve Austin	AUS	13:47.6	13:47.51
12	1	Abdenouz El-Hachemi	ALG	14:15.9	14:15.85

Splits

1000 m	2:44.8	Aleksandr Fedotkin
2000 m	5:30.4	Steve Austin
3000 m	8:12.2	Barry Smith
4000 m	10:54.5	Barry Smith

Final (1 August 1980 — 18:35)

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)	Time (A)
1	191	Miruts Yifter	ETH	13:21.0	13:20.91
2	649	Suleiman Nyambui	TAN	13:21.6	13:21.60
3	208	Kaarlo Maaninka	FIN	13:22.0	13:22.00
4	403	Eamonn Coghlan	IRL	13:22.8	13:22.74
5	618	Markus Ryffel	SUI	13:23.1	13:23.03
6	28	Dietmar Millonig	AUT	13:23.3	13:23.25
7	409	John Treacy	IRL	13:23.7	13:23.62
8	701	Aleksandr Fedotkin	URS	13:24.1	13:24.10
9	665	Jiří Sýkora	TCH	13:25.0	13:24.99
10	182	Yohannes Mohamed	ETH	13:28.4	13:28.34
11	222	Martti Vainio	FIN	13:32.1	13:32.05
12	178	Mohamed Kedir	ETH	13:34.2	13:34.17

Splits

1000 m	2:38.4	Aleksandr Fedotkin
2000 m	5:22.9	Mohamed Kedir
3000 m	8:08.1	Mohamed Kedir
4000 m	10:51.1	Kaarlo Maaninka