The Men's 5000 metres at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany took place on 7 and 10 September 1972.
Having won the 10,000 metres a week earlier, Lasse Virén controlled the pace through the first 2000 metres in 5:32.61. David Bedford, tired of the slow pace, passing Viren and leading a crowd to go around to a faster pace. As the pace accelerated, Javier Álvarez came from the rear around the field to take the point for the next kilometre. At 3200 metres, Nikolay Sviridov challenged for the lead.
Steve Prefontaine took the lead at 3400 metres. Over the next lap, Viren came from sixth place in line to mark Prefontaine. Viren was in turn marked by Emiel Puttemans. A five-man breakaway formed. With 850 metres to go, Viren passed Prefontaine. Down the back stretch, Prefontaine strained back into the lead. 50 metres before the bell, Viren took the lead again, with Mohammed Gammoudi breaking off the remaining group to mark the leaders.
Down the final backstretch, Gammoudi eased around Viren while Prefontaine hit almost a full sprint to get on Gammoudi's shoulder. With 200 to go, Prefontaine relaxed and Viren moved ahead of him. Prefontaine surged again to keep pace. In the middle of the final turn, Virén changed gears into his full sprint, taking the lead. Gammoudi couldn't keep pace and began to watch Prefontaine while trying to hold on to the silver medal. Mid-straightaway all three checked the position of their rivals as Prefontaine took one more surge after Gammoudi. As it was quickly clear he couldn't make enough progress, Prefontaine strained. Ian Stewart came from the chasing group in full sprint gaining rapidly. As Stewart caught him from behind, Prefontaine fell apart, struggling the final steps.
Virén successfully defended both titles in 1976.
Results Heats Qualification rule: First 2 in each heat (Q) and the next 4 fastest (q) advance to the Final.
Rank Heat Name Nationality Time Notes 1 2 Emiel Puttemans 13:31.8 Q 2 2 Steve Prefontaine 13:32.6 Q 3 4 Juha Väätäinen 13:32.8 Q 4 4 Ian Stewart 13:33.0 Q 5 2 Harald Norpoth 13:33.4 q 6 4 Mariano Haro 13:35.4 q 7 2 Javier Álvarez 13:36.6 q 8 3 Ian McCafferty 13:38.2 Q 9 3 Frank Eisenberg 13:38.4 Q 9 5 Lasse Virén 13:38.4 Q 9 5 Nikolay Sviridov 13:38.4 Q 12 3 Per Halle 13:38.6 q 13 5 Josef Jánský 13:39.8 14 3 Dušan Moravčík 13:40.4 15 5 George Young 13:41.2 16 3 Paul Mose 13:41.4 17 3 Tapio Kantanen 13:42.0 18 3 Tony Benson 13:42.8 19 5 Edmundo Warnke 13:43.6 20 2 Grant McLaren 13:43.8 21 5 Bob Finlay 13:44.0 22 5 Keisuke Sawaki 13:44.8 23 3 Boualem Rahoui 13:45.0 24 2 Pedro Miranda 13:45.2 25 4 Tolossa Kotu 13:46.2 26 5 Bronisław Malinowski 13:48.2 27 1 Mohamed Gammoudi 13:49.8 Q 28 1 David Bedford 13:49.8 Q 29 3 Tekle Fitinsa 13:50.4 30 4 Willy Polleunis 13:52.6 31 3 Dick Tayler 13:56.2 32 1 Ben Jipcho 13:56.8 33 1 Anders Gärderud 13:57.2 34 4 Nikolay Puklakov 13:57.6 35 1 Michael Keogh 13:57.8 36 1 René Goris 13:57.8 37 4 Mario Pérez 13:58.2 38 3 Edward Sequeira 14:01.4 39 1 Arne Risa 14:01.6 40 5 Jürgen May 14:06.6 41 4 Leonard Hilton 14:07.2 42 2 Vladimir Afonin 14:08.6 43 5 Gavin Thorley 14:11.6 44 1 Takaharu Koyama 14:12.6 45 4 Wolfgang Riesinger 14:15.2 46 4 Knut Børø 14:15.8 47 4 Jørn Lauenbourg 14:18.8 48 5 Hikmet Şen 14:26.0 49 1 Carlos Lopes 14:29.6 50 2 Raymond Zembri 14:34.4 51 3 John Hartnett 14:34.6 52 2 Dick Quax 14:35.2 53 4 Evans Mogaka 14:37.2 54 4 Ngwila Musonda 14:37.4 55 2 Gert Kærlin 14:39.2 56 5 Fritz Rüegsegger 14:54.4 57 1 Nji Esau Ade 15:19.6 58 5 Usaia Sotutu 15:24.2 59 1 P. C. Suppiah 15:36.6 60 3 Abdullah Al-Mabrouk 15:51.0 61 2 Carlos Cuque 15:53.4 1 Jadour Haddou 1 Siatka Badji 1 Dane Korica 2 Mikhail Jelev 2 Rafael Ángel Pérez 2 Kerry O'Brian 3 Jos Hermens 4 Ardelham Khamis 5 Miruts Yifter 5 Crispin Quispe
Final Rank Name Nationality TimeLasse Virén13:26.4Mohamed Gammoudi13:27.4Ian Stewart13:27.6Steve Prefontaine13:28.4Emiel Puttemans13:30.8Harald Norpoth13:32.6Per Halle13:34.4Nikolay Sviridov13:39.4Frank Eisenberg13:40.810Javier Álvarez13:41.811Ian McCafferty13:43.212David Bedford13:43.213Juha Väätäinen13:53.8 Mariano Haro
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