The women's 10,000 metres at the 2004 Summer Olympics were held as part of the athletics program at the Athens Olympic Stadium on August 27. No preliminary rounds were held at this distance, since the number of competitors allowed a direct final.

Like Fernanda Ribeiro at the 2000 Summer Olympics, defending champion Derartu Tulu was not able to maintain her title, finishing in the third place behind compatriot (and cousin) Ejegayehu Dibaba and the winner Xing Huina. In Athens, Ribeiro did not finish the race due to fatigue, along with British marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe. Throughout the race, Xing marked the Ethiopian favorites, not taking the lead until the home stretch with a final kick Dibabba could not match. Xing's final lap was just under 63 seconds.

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

No new records were set during the competition.

Qualification The qualification period for athletics was 1 January 2003 to 9 August 2004. For the women's 10,000 metres, each National Olympic Committee was permitted to enter up to three athletes that had run the race in 31:45.00 or faster during the qualification period. If an NOC had no athletes that qualified under that standard, one athlete that had run the race in 32:17.00 or faster could be entered.

Schedule All times are Greece Standard Time (UTC+2) Date Time RoundFriday, 27 August 2004 21:50 Final

Results Rank Name Nationality Time Notes Xing Huina 30:24.36 PB Ejegayehu Dibaba 30:24.98 PB Derartu Tulu 30:26.42 SB 4 Werknesh Kidane 30:28.30 5 Lornah Kiplagat 30:31.92 6 Sun Yingjie 30:54.37 SB 7 Jeļena Prokopčuka 31:04.10 NR 8 Lidiya Grigoryeva 31:04.62 9 Lucy Wangui 31:05.90 PB 10 Helena Javornik 31:06.63 NR 11 Mihaela Botezan 31:11.24 NR 12 Kathy Butler 31:41.13 13 Megumi Oshima 31:42.18 14 Marie Davenport 31:50.49 15 Sabrina Mockenhaupt 32:00.85 16 Alice Timbilil 32:12.57 17 Sally Barsosio 32:14.00 18 Harumi Hiroyama 32:15.12 19 Elva Dryer 32:18.16 20 Anikó Kálovics 32:21.47 21 Kate O'Neill 32:24.04 22 Galina Bogomolova 32:25.10 23 Adriana Fernández 32:29.57 24 Benita Johnson 32:32.01 25 Haley McGregor 33:35.27 26 Kayoko Fukushi 33:48.66 27 Natalia Cercheș 34:04.97 Souad Aït Salem Natalya Berkut Paula Radcliffe Fernanda Ribeiro

References

External links IAAF Athens 2004 Olympic Coverage