Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics – Men's 5000 metres

The men's 5000 metres was a track and field athletics event held as part of the Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics programme. It was the debut of the event, which along with the 10000 metre event replaced the 5 mile race held at the 1908 Summer Olympics. The competition was held on Tuesday, July 9, 1912, and on Wednesday, July 10, 1912. Thirty-one long-distance runners from eleven nations competed.^[1] NOCs could enter up to 12 athletes.^[2]

Men's 5000 metres at the Games of the V Olympiad
The finish: Kolehmainen on the way to pass Bouin who is still in the lead.
Venue	Stockholm Olympic Stadium
Dates	July 9, 1912 (semifinals) July 10, 1912 (final)
Competitors	31 from 11 nations
Medalists
Hannes Kolehmainen  Finland Jean Bouin  France George Hutson  Great Britain
1920 →

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1912 Summer Olympics.

World Record	14:59.0(*)	Alfred Shrubb	Glasgow (GBR)	June 13, 1904
Olympic Record	-	none	-	-

(*) unofficial

George Bonhag, in winning the first semifinal, which was the first Olympic 5000 ever, set the Olympic record at 15:22.6. It lasted until the 5th and last semifinal, in which Jean Bouin broke it by finishing in 15:05.0. Unsurprisingly, that record stood only until the next race—Hannes Kolehmainen won the final at 14:36.6 as both he and Bouin (just behind Kolehmainen, at 14:36.7) surpassed the best time of the semifinals. This record became the first official world record for the 5000 metres.

Results

Semifinals

All semi-finals were held on Tuesday, July 9, 1912.

Semifinal 1

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	George Bonhag (USA)	15:22.6 OR	QF
2	Alex Decoteau (CAN)	15:24.2	QF
3	Frederick Hibbins (GBR)	15:27.6	QF
4	George Hill (ANZ)	15:56.8
—	Klas Lundström (SWE)	Did not finish

Semifinal 2

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Louis Scott (USA)	15:23.5	QF
2	Joe Keeper (CAN)	15:28.9	QF
3	George Hutson (GBR)	15:29.0	QF
4	Bror Modigh (SWE)	16:07.1
—	Eddie Fitzgerald (USA)	Did not finish
	Martin Persson (SWE)	Did not finish
	Charles Ruffell (GBR)	Did not finish

Semifinal 3

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Mauritz Carlsson (SWE)	15:34.6	QF
2	Ernest Glover (GBR)	16:09.1	QF
3	Cyril Porter (GBR)	16:23.4	QF
4	Mikhail Nikolsky (RUS)	17:21.7
—	Aarne Lindholm (FIN)	Did not finish
	Garnett Wikoff (USA)	Did not finish

Semifinal 4

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Hannes Kolehmainen (FIN)	15:38.9	QF
2	Henrik Nordström (SWE)	15:49.1	QF
3	Tell Berna (USA)	15:53.3	QF
4	George Lee (GBR)
—	Gregor Vietz (GER)	Did not finish

Semifinal 5

The start of the final.

The upcoming winner Hannes Kolehmainen in the lead with Jean Bouin behind.

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Jean Bouin (FRA)	15:05.0 OR	QF
2	Thorild Olsson (SWE)	15:25.2	QF
3	Viljam Johansson (FIN)	15:31.4	QF
—	Gaston Heuet (FRA)	Did not finish
	Wallace McCurdy (USA)	Did not finish
	Alfonso Orlando (ITA)	Did not finish
	Alfonso Sánchez (CHI)	Did not finish
	Arnold Treble (GBR)	Did not finish

Final

The final was held on Wednesday, July 10, 1912.

Place	Athlete	Time
1	Hannes Kolehmainen (FIN)	14:36.6 WR
2	Jean Bouin (FRA)	14:36.7
3	George Hutson (GBR)	15:07.6
4	George Bonhag (USA)	15:09.8
5	Tell Berna (USA)	15:10.0
6	Alex Decoteau (CAN)
7	Mauritz Carlsson (SWE)	15:18.6
8-11	Frederick Hibbins (GBR)
	Joe Keeper (CAN)
	Cyril Porter (GBR)
	Louis Scott (USA)
—	Ernest Glover (GBR)	Did not start
	Viljam Johansson (FIN)	Did not start
	Henrik Nordström (SWE)	Did not start
	Thorild Olsson (SWE)	Did not start

Finish