The women's 10,000 metres at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place on 15 August at the Beijing National Stadium. The race was won by Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia, who set a new Olympic record time of 29:54.66.

The qualifying standards were 31:45.00 (A standard) and 32:20.00 (B standard).

The early part of the race was dominated by Lornah Kiplagat. But in the second half of the race, the contenders moved to the front, dominated by Elvan Abeylegesse, with the string of runners lined up behind her. Abeylegesse separated herself from the rest of the field, except for Tirunesh Dibaba, who marked her every step. Midway through the last lap, Dibaba pounced with a kick Abeylegesse couldn't answer. Almost a half a minute back, Shalane Flanagan was the best of the rest for bronze, with Linet Chepkwemoi Masai setting the World junior record a few steps behind her.

At the time Dibaba and Abeylegesse ran the second and third fastest of all time (the best having occurred also in Beijing, Junxia Wang's world record in 1993). A year after this race, Meselech Melkamu edged past these two for the second best of all time.

On 29 March 2017, IAAF confirmed that Abeylegesse had tested positive for a banned substance at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics, and that her results from 2007 to 2009, including her Olympic silvers, had been expunged.IAAF March 2017 Newsletter

Records Prior to this competition, the existing world record, Olympic record, and world leading time were as follows:

The following new Olympic record was set during this competition.

Date Event Name Nationality Time OR WR 15 August Final Tirunesh Dibaba 29:54.66

Both Tirunesh Dibaba and Elvan Abeylegesse completed the race in a time under the old Olympic record, recording the second and third fastest ever women's 10,000 metre times, making Dibaba the new Olympic record holder.

Results Rank Name Nationality Result Notes Tirunesh Dibaba 29:54.66 , AR Shalane Flanagan 30:22.22 AR Linet Chepkwemoi Masai 30:26.50 WJR, NR 4 Mariya Konovalova 30:35.84 PB 5 Lucy Kabuu Wangui 30:39.96 PB 6 Lornah Kiplagat 30:40.27 SB 7 Kimberley Smith 30:51.00 8 Kara Goucher 30:55.16 PB 9 Kayoko Fukushi 31:01.14 SB 10 Joanne Pavey 31:12.30 PB 11 Sabrina Mockenhaupt 31:14.21 PB 12 Ejegayehu Dibaba 31:22.18 13 Hilda Kibet 31:29.69 14 Zhang Yingying 31:31.12 SB 15 Yoko Shibui 31:31:13 16 Penninah Arusei 31:39.87 17 Tatyana Khmeleva-Aryasova 31:45.57 18 Yukiko Akaba 32:00.37 19 Bai Xue 32:20.27 20 Anikó Kálovics 32:24.83 21 Kate Reed 32:26.69 22 Nathalie De Vos 32:33.45 SB 23 Preeja Sreedharan 32:34.64 24 Amy Yoder Begley 32:38.28 25 Dulce María Rodríguez 32:58.04 26 Dong Xiaoqin 33:03.14 27 Isabel Checa 33:17.88 Mestawet Tufa DNF Asmae Leghzaoui DNF Nataliya Berkut DNS DSQ Elvan Abeylegesse 29:56.34. Doping ViolationDSQ Inga Abitova 30:37.33 Doping Violation

Splits Intermediate Athlete Country Mark 1000m Lornah Kiplagat 3:00.46 2000m Lornah Kiplagat 6:00.15 3000m Lornah Kiplagat 9:03.83 4000m Lornah Kiplagat 12:06.60 5000m Lornah Kiplagat 15:09.98 6000m Lornah Kiplagat 18:12.85 7000m Elvan Abeylegesse 21:14.46 8000m Elvan Abeylegesse 24:09.40 9000m Elvan Abeylegesse 27:06.02

References