The men's 5000 metres event at the 1948 Olympic Games took place July 31 and August 2. The final was won by Gaston Reiff of Belgium. The Belgian Gaston Reiff became the Olympic champion ahead of the Czechoslovak Emil Zátopek. Willem Slijkhuis from the Netherlands won bronze.
Records Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.
World record13:58.2Gothenburg, Sweden20 September 1942Olympic record14:22.2Berlin, Germany7 August 1936
The following new Olympic record was set during this competition:
Date Event Athlete Time Notes 2 August Final 14:17.6 OR
Schedule All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1). Date TimeSaturday, 31 July 1948 16:00Round 1Monday, 2 August 1948 17:00Final
Results The first four runners from each heat qualified to the final.
Heats Heat 1 Rank Country Athletes Time (hand) 1 Evert Nyberg 14:58.2 2 Väinö Koskela 14:58.3 2 Curt Stone 14:58.6 4 Marcel Vandewattyne 15:14.0 5 Jacques Vernier15:29.8 6 Harold Nelson 15:34.4 7 Jef Lataster 15:39.0 8 Jack Braughton 9 Cliff Salmond 16:05.0 10 Manny Ramjohn - Aage Poulsen DNF - John Joe Barry DNF
Heat 2 Rank Country Athletes Time (hand) 1 Erik Ahldén 14:34.2 2 Emil Zátopek 14:34.4 2 Väinö Mäkelä 14:45.8 4 Martin Stokken 15:04.4 5 Maurice Pouzieux15:09.8 6 Gregorio Rojo 15:19.0 7 Bill Lucas 8 Lou Wen-ngau 9 Vasilios Mavrapostolos 10 Sim Bok-seok - Mustafa Özcan DNF - Clarence Robison DNF
Heat 3 Rank Country Athletes Time (hand) 1 Willem Slijkhuis 15:06.8 2 Gaston Reiff 15:07.0 2 Bertil Albertsson 15:07.8 4 Helge Perälä 15:07.8 5 Jerry Thompson15:08.4 6 Alain Mimoun 15:11.2 7 Alec Olney 8 Martín Alarcón 9 Ernst Günther
Final
Rank Name Nationality Time (hand) Notes Gaston Reiff 14:17.6 OR Emil Zátopek 14:17.8 Willem Slijkhuis 14:26.8 4 Erik Ahldén 14:28.6 5 Bertil Albertsson 14:39.0 6 Curt Stone 14:39.4 7 Väinö Koskela 14:41.0 8 Väinö Mäkelä 14:43.0 9 Marcel Vandewattyne 10 Martin Stokken 11 Helge Perälä Evert Nyberg DNF
Key: DNF = Did not finish, OR = Olympic record
References
External links Organising Committee for the XIV Olympiad, The (1948). The Official Report of the Organising Committee for the XIV Olympiad. LA84 Foundation. Retrieved 5 September 2016.