| | Event type

10,000 metres, Men

Date	26 – 29 July 1996
Status	Olympic
Location	Centennial Olympic Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia
Participants	46 from 29 countries

Haile Gebrselassie was an overwhelming favorite. He was the world record holder and had won the 1993 and 1995 World Championships. His biggest rival was expected to be Kenyan Paul Tergat, twice International Cross-Country champion. The pace was taken for the first half of the race by Burundian Aloÿs Nizigama. The Kenyans then took up the pace, dropping all but six runners. At 8,000 metres, Tergat ran two laps in just over two minutes, and only Gebrselassie could stay with him. At the bell, he moved to Tergat’s shoulder and sprinted by him almost disdainfully. Tergat closed slightly in the stretch but it was an easy victory for Geb on the final lap.

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	R1	Final
1	1391	Haile Gebrselassie	ETH	28:14.20 (1 h2)	27:07.34 (1)	Gold	OR
2	1818	Paul Tergat	KEN	27:50.66 (2 h1)	27:08.17 (2)	Silver
3	1908	Salah Hissou	MAR	27:53.32 (5 h1)	27:24.67 (3)	Bronze
4	1103	Aloÿs Nizigama	BDI	27:53.21 (4 h1)	27:33.79 (4)
5	1809	Josephat Machuka	KEN	28:14.27 (2 h2)	27:35.08 (5)
6	1806	Paul Koech	KEN	28:17.48 (3 h2)	27:35.19 (6)
7	1914	Khalid Skah	MAR	28:23.21 (6 h2)	27:46.98 (7)
8	2173	Mathias Ntawulikura	RWA	27:51.69 (3 h1)	27:50.73 (8)
9	1544	Stéphane Franke	GER	28:24.30 (7 h2)	27:59.08 (9)
10	1472	Jon Brown	GBR	28:19.85 (4 h2)	27:59.72 (10)
11	1934	Armando Quintanilla	MEX	28:27.28 (8 h2)	28:09.46 (11)
12	2265	Marko Hhawu	TAN	28:14.08 (10 h1)	28:20.58 (12)
13	1329	Abel Antón	ESP	27:56.26 (7 h1)	28:29.37 (13)
14	1338	Carlos de la Torre	ESP	28:04.14 (8 h1)	28:32.11 (14)
15	1350	Alejandro Gómez	ESP	28:28.16 (9 h2)	28:39.11 (15)
16	1648	Zoltán Káldy	HUN	28:13.49 (9 h1)	28:45.48 (16)
17	1389	Worku Bikila	ETH	27:50.57 (1 h1)	28:59.15 (17)
18	1693	Stefano Baldini	ITA	27:55.79 (6 h1)	29:07.77 (18)
AC r2/2	1484	Paul Evans	GBR	28:24.39 (11 h1)	– (DNF)
AC r2/2	1842	Alyan Al-Qahtani	KSA	28:22.35 (5 h2)	– (DNF)
10 h2 r1/2	1325	Silvio Guerra	ECU	28:30.15 (10 h2)	–
11 h2 r1/2	1387	Abraham Assefa	ETH	28:32.24 (11 h2)	–
12 h1 r1/2	2018	Robbie Johnston	NZL	28:40.60 (12 h1)	–
12 h2 r1/2	1771	Toshinari Takaoka	JPN	28:38.18 (12 h2)	–
13 h1 r1/2	1756	Katsuhiko Hanada	JPN	28:52.22 (13 h1)	–
13 h2 r1/2	1040	Shaun Creighton	AUS	28:44.29 (13 h2)	–
14 h1 r1/2	2241	Róbert Štefko	SVK	29:03.80 (14 h1)	–
14 h2 r1/2	2060	Alfredo Brás	POR	28:50.28 (14 h2)	–
15 h1 r1/2	2075	Carlos Patrício	POR	29:15.41 (15 h1)	–
15 h2 r1/2	2120	Hendrick Ramaala	RSA	29:07.81 (15 h2)	–
16 h1 r1/2	1153	Ronaldo da Costa	BRA	29:26.58 (16 h1)	–
16 h2 r1/2	2330	Brad Barquist	USA	29:11.20 (16 h2)	–
17 h1 r1/2	2379	Dan Middleman	USA	29:50.72 (17 h1)	–
17 h2 r1/2	2449	Charles Mulinga	ZAM	29:14.99 (17 h2)	–
18 h1 r1/2	1435	Mohamed Ezzher	FRA	29:55.34 (18 h1)	–
18 h2 r1/2	2244	Miroslav Vanko	SVK	29:17.53 (18 h2)	–
19 h1 r1/2	1933	Martín Pitayo	MEX	30:32.20 (19 h1)	–
19 h2 r1/2	1667	Sean Dollman	IRL	29:19.03 (19 h2)	–
20 h1 r1/2	1254	Herder Vásquez	COL	33:26.15 (20 h1)	–
20 h2 r1/2	1664	Sayed Hamid Sajjadi	IRI	29:22.65 (20 h2)	–
21 h1 r1/2	2036	Majed Abu Maraheel	PLE	34:40.50 (21 h1)	–
21 h2 r1/2	1209	Jeff Schiebler	CAN	29:47.79 (21 h2)	–
AC h1 r1/2	1915	Larbi Zéroual	MAR	– (DNF h1)	–
AC h2 r1/2	1425	Abdellah Béhar	FRA	– (DNF h2)	–
AC h2 r1/2	2068	Paulo Guerra	POR	– (DNF h2)	–
AC h2 r1/2	2406	Todd Williams	USA	– (DNF h2)	–
DNS	1774	Yasuyuki Watanabe	JPN	– (DNS h1)	–
DNS	1057	Julian Paynter	AUS	– (DNS h1)	–

Round One (26 July 1996)

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

Heat One (21:15)

Pos	Ord	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	18	Worku Bikila	ETH	27:50.57	Q
2	21	Paul Tergat	KEN	27:50.66	Q
3	24	Mathias Ntawulikura	RWA	27:51.69	Q
4	4	Aloÿs Nizigama	BDI	27:53.21	Q
5	23	Salah Hissou	MAR	27:53.32	Q
6	15	Stefano Baldini	ITA	27:55.79	Q
7	7	Abel Antón	ESP	27:56.26	Q
8	2	Carlos de la Torre	ESP	28:04.14	Q
9	22	Zoltán Káldy	HUN	28:13.49	q
10	13	Marko Hhawu	TAN	28:14.08	q
11	6	Paul Evans	GBR	28:24.39	q
12	3	Robbie Johnston	NZL	28:40.60
13	14	Katsuhiko Hanada	JPN	28:52.22
14	10	Róbert Štefko	SVK	29:03.80
15	5	Carlos Patrício	POR	29:15.41
16	20	Ronaldo da Costa	BRA	29:26.58
17	8	Dan Middleman	USA	29:50.72
18	16	Mohamed Ezzher	FRA	29:55.34
19	19	Martín Pitayo	MEX	30:32.20
20	12	Herder Vásquez	COL	33:26.15
21	1	Majed Abu Maraheel	PLE	34:40.50
DNF	11	Larbi Zéroual	MAR	–
DNS	9	Yasuyuki Watanabe	JPN	–
DNS	17	Julian Paynter	AUS	–

Heat Two (22:05)

Pos	Ord	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	23	Haile Gebrselassie	ETH	28:14.20	Q
2	16	Josephat Machuka	KEN	28:14.27	Q
3	18	Paul Koech	KEN	28:17.48	Q
4	3	Jon Brown	GBR	28:19.85	Q
5	8	Alyan Al-Qahtani	KSA	28:22.35	Q
6	21	Khalid Skah	MAR	28:23.21	Q
7	12	Stéphane Franke	GER	28:24.30	Q
8	17	Armando Quintanilla	MEX	28:27.28	Q
9	1	Alejandro Gómez	ESP	28:28.16	q
10	10	Silvio Guerra	ECU	28:30.15
11	5	Abraham Assefa	ETH	28:32.24
12	7	Toshinari Takaoka	JPN	28:38.18
13	24	Shaun Creighton	AUS	28:44.29
14	14	Alfredo Brás	POR	28:50.28
15	13	Hendrick Ramaala	RSA	29:07.81
16	15	Brad Barquist	USA	29:11.20
17	19	Charles Mulinga	ZAM	29:14.99
18	11	Miroslav Vanko	SVK	29:17.53
19	6	Sean Dollman	IRL	29:19.03
20	9	Sayed Hamid Sajjadi	IRI	29:22.65
21	22	Jeff Schiebler	CAN	29:47.79
DNF	20	Abdellah Béhar	FRA	–
DNF	4	Paulo Guerra	POR	–
DNF	2	Todd Williams	USA	–

Final (29 July 1996 — 22:00)

Pos	Ord	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	8	Haile Gebrselassie	ETH	27:07.34	OR
2	1	Paul Tergat	KEN	27:08.17
3	9	Salah Hissou	MAR	27:24.67
4	20	Aloÿs Nizigama	BDI	27:33.79
5	5	Josephat Machuka	KEN	27:35.08
6	15	Paul Koech	KEN	27:35.19
7	11	Khalid Skah	MAR	27:46.98
8	17	Mathias Ntawulikura	RWA	27:50.73
9	2	Stéphane Franke	GER	27:59.08
10	10	Jon Brown	GBR	27:59.72
11	19	Armando Quintanilla	MEX	28:09.46
12	13	Marko Hhawu	TAN	28:20.58
13	12	Abel Antón	ESP	28:29.37
14	18	Carlos de la Torre	ESP	28:32.11
15	14	Alejandro Gómez	ESP	28:39.11
16	4	Zoltán Káldy	HUN	28:45.48
17	3	Worku Bikila	ETH	28:59.15
18	6	Stefano Baldini	ITA	29:07.77
DNF	7	Alyan Al-Qahtani	KSA	–
DNF	16	Paul Evans	GBR	–