| | Event type

5,000 metres, Women

Date	26 – 28 July 1996
Status	Olympic
Location	Centennial Olympic Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia
Participants	46 from 25 countries

After three Olympics in which the women had run 3,000 metres as a shorter distance race, the event was moved up to 5,000 metres in 1996, putting them on a par with the men. The 1995 Worlds had been conducted at 5K, won by Sonia O’Sullivan, but the European Championship would not move up to 5,000 until 1998. O’Sullivan had also won the 1994 European 3K and was favored with Romania’s Gabriela Szabo. Mary Decker-Slaney (USA) was back, still trying for an Olympic medal after her trauma in 1984 and failure in the 1988 final. But she would not get out of the heats. O’Sullivan did not run well in the Atlanta heat and dropped out of the final. Kenya’s Pauline Konga took the lead at 1,000 and held it until two laps to go when Wang Junxia passed her in the decisive move. Wang held on to win the gold medal, Konga not really challenging her on the last lap, but Konga did get the silver medal.

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	R1	Final
1	3154	Wang Junxia	CHN	15:24.28 (4 h2)	14:59.88 (1)	Gold	OR
2	3516	Pauline Konga	KEN	15:07.01 (1 h3)	15:03.49 (2)	Silver
3	3438	Roberta Brunet	ITA	15:22.58 (1 h2)	15:07.52 (3)	Bronze
4	3497	Michiko Shimizu	JPN	15:23.56 (2 h2)	15:09.05 (4)
5	3329	Paula Radcliffe	GBR	15:23.90 (3 h2)	15:13.11 (5)
6	3710	Yelena Romanova	RUS	15:23.37 (4 h3)	15:14.09 (6)
7	3653	Elena Fidatof	ROU	15:17.89 (2 h1)	15:16.71 (7)
8	3513	Rose Cheruiyot	KEN	15:26.87 (5 h2)	15:17.33 (8)
9	3849	Lynn Jennings	USA	15:19.66 (3 h1)	15:17.50 (9)
10	3870	Amy Rudolph	USA	15:21.90 (3 h3)	15:19.77 (10)
11	3771	Sara Wedlund	SWE	15:20.61 (5 h1)	15:22.98 (11)
12	3264	Ayelech Worku	ETH	15:21.59 (2 h3)	15:28.81 (12)
13	3614	Anne Hare	NZL	15:22.31 (6 h1)	15:29.11 (13)
14	3762	Anita Weyermann	SUI	15:19.91 (4 h1)	15:44.40 (14)
AC r2/2	3425	Sonia O'Sullivan	IRL	15:15.80 (1 h1)	– (DNF)
5 h3 r1/2	3158	Wei Li	CHN	15:33.49 (5 h3)	–
6 h2 r1/2	3364	Claudia Lokar	GER	15:28.35 (6 h2)	–
6 h3 r1/2	3459	Silvia Sommaggio	ITA	15:33.63 (6 h3)	–
7 h1 r1/2	3380	Petra Wassiluk	GER	15:37.73 (7 h1)	–
7 h2 r1/2	3128	Kathy Butler	CAN	15:47.50 (7 h2)	–
7 h3 r1/2	3664	Gabriela Szabo	ROU	15:42.35 (7 h3)	–
8 h1 r1/2	3161	Yang Siju	CHN	15:40.41 (8 h1)	–
8 h2 r1/2	3258	Merima Denboba	ETH	15:48.35 (8 h2)	–
8 h3 r1/2	3245	Cristina Petite	ESP	15:48.63 (8 h3)	–
9 h1 r1/2	3102	Roseli Machado	BRA	15:41.63 (9 h1)	–
9 h2 r1/2	3214	Nina Christiansen	DEN	15:56.38 (9 h2)	–
9 h3 r1/2	3555	Zohra Ouaziz	MAR	15:55.03 (9 h3)	–
10 h1 r1/2	3512	Lydia Cheromei	KEN	15:49.85 (10 h1)	–
10 h2 r1/2	3633	Ana Dias	POR	15:57.35 (10 h2)	–
10 h3 r1/2	3422	Katy McCandless	IRL	15:55.66 (10 h3)	–
11 h1 r1/2	3490	Harumi Hiroyama	JPN	15:50.43 (11 h1)	–
11 h2 r1/2	3661	Stela Olteanu	ROU	15:58.28 (11 h2)	–
11 h3 r1/2	3503	Irina Mikitenko	KAZ	15:57.67 (11 h3)	–
12 h1 r1/2	3238	Isabel Martínez	ESP	15:59.42 (12 h1)	–
12 h2 r1/2	3528	Jeļena Čelnova	LAT	15:59.00 (12 h2)	–
12 h3 r1/2	3491	Yoshiko Ichikawa	JPN	15:58.90 (12 h3)	–
13 h1 r1/2	3265	Luchia Yishak	ETH	16:04.29 (13 h1)	–
13 h2 r1/2	3424	Marie McMahon	IRL	15:59.12 (13 h2)	–
13 h3 r1/2	3322	Sonia McGeorge	GBR	16:01.92 (13 h3)	–
14 h1 r1/2	3018	Kate Anderson	AUS	16:17.83 (14 h1)	–
14 h2 r1/2	3028	Natalie Harvey	AUS	16:06.45 (14 h2)	–
14 h3 r1/2	3133	Robyn Meagher	CAN	16:24.49 (14 h3)	–
15 h1 r1/2	3335	Alison Wyeth	GBR	16:24.74 (15 h1)	–
15 h3 r1/2	3573	Martha Portoblanco	NCA	18:42.78 (15 h3)	–
16 h1 r1/2	3604	Rachida Mahamane	NIG	19:17.87 (16 h1)	–
DQ	3872	Mary Decker-Slaney	USA	[15:41.30] (DQ h2)	–			1
DNS	3046	Carolyn Schuwalow	AUS	– (DNS h3)	–
DNS	3669	Gwen Griffiths	RSA	– (DNS h2)	–

Round One (26 July 1996)

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

Heat One (19:50)

Pos	Ord	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	6	Sonia O'Sullivan	IRL	15:15.80	QOR
2	14	Elena Fidatof	ROU	15:17.89	Q
3	1	Lynn Jennings	USA	15:19.66	Q
4	4	Anita Weyermann	SUI	15:19.91	Q
5	11	Sara Wedlund	SWE	15:20.61	q
6	7	Anne Hare	NZL	15:22.31	q
7	5	Petra Wassiluk	GER	15:37.73
8	13	Yang Siju	CHN	15:40.41
9	10	Roseli Machado	BRA	15:41.63
10	16	Lydia Cheromei	KEN	15:49.85
11	15	Harumi Hiroyama	JPN	15:50.43
12	2	Isabel Martínez	ESP	15:59.42
13	8	Luchia Yishak	ETH	16:04.29
14	12	Kate Anderson	AUS	16:17.83
15	3	Alison Wyeth	GBR	16:24.74
16	9	Rachida Mahamane	NIG	19:17.87

Heat Two (20:20)

Pos	Ord	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	16	Roberta Brunet	ITA	15:22.58	Q
2	2	Michiko Shimizu	JPN	15:23.56	Q
3	13	Paula Radcliffe	GBR	15:23.90	Q
4	15	Wang Junxia	CHN	15:24.28	Q
5	3	Rose Cheruiyot	KEN	15:26.87	q
6	7	Claudia Lokar	GER	15:28.35
7	12	Kathy Butler	CAN	15:47.50
8	8	Merima Denboba	ETH	15:48.35
9	5	Nina Christiansen	DEN	15:56.38
10	10	Ana Dias	POR	15:57.35
11	1	Stela Olteanu	ROU	15:58.28
12	11	Jeļena Čelnova	LAT	15:59.00
13	14	Marie McMahon	IRL	15:59.12		2
14	4	Natalie Harvey	AUS	16:06.45
DQ	[9]	Mary Decker-Slaney	USA	[15:41.30]		3
DNS	6	Gwen Griffiths	RSA	–

Heat Three (20:50)

Pos	Ord	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	12	Pauline Konga	KEN	15:07.01	QOR
2	7	Ayelech Worku	ETH	15:21.59	Q
3	16	Amy Rudolph	USA	15:21.90	Q
4	13	Yelena Romanova	RUS	15:23.37	Q
5	10	Wei Li	CHN	15:33.49
6	15	Silvia Sommaggio	ITA	15:33.63
7	8	Gabriela Szabo	ROU	15:42.35
8	1	Cristina Petite	ESP	15:48.63
9	11	Zohra Ouaziz	MAR	15:55.03
10	14	Katy McCandless	IRL	15:55.66
11	5	Irina Mikitenko	KAZ	15:57.67
12	2	Yoshiko Ichikawa	JPN	15:58.90
13	6	Sonia McGeorge	GBR	16:01.92
14	3	Robyn Meagher	CAN	16:24.49
15	4	Martha Portoblanco	NCA	18:42.78
DNS	9	Carolyn Schuwalow	AUS	–

Final (28 July 1996 — 20:45)

Pos	Ord	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	4	Wang Junxia	CHN	14:59.88	OR
2	13	Pauline Konga	KEN	15:03.49
3	12	Roberta Brunet	ITA	15:07.52
4	15	Michiko Shimizu	JPN	15:09.05
5	2	Paula Radcliffe	GBR	15:13.11
6	1	Yelena Romanova	RUS	15:14.09
7	7	Elena Fidatof	ROU	15:16.71
8	3	Rose Cheruiyot	KEN	15:17.33
9	8	Lynn Jennings	USA	15:17.50
10	10	Amy Rudolph	USA	15:19.77
11	5	Sara Wedlund	SWE	15:22.98
12	11	Ayelech Worku	ETH	15:28.81
13	6	Anne Hare	NZL	15:29.11
14	14	Anita Weyermann	SUI	15:44.40
DNF	9	Sonia O'Sullivan	IRL	–

Splits

1000 m	3:06.15	Pauline Konga
2000 m	6:08.9	Pauline Konga
3000 m	9:08.02	Pauline Konga
4000 m	12:05.25	Pauline Konga