Athletics at the 1948 Summer Olympics – Men's 5000 metres

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.[1] The Belgian Gaston Reiff became the Olympic champion ahead of the Czechoslovakian Emil Zátopek. Willem Slijkhuis from the Netherlands won bronze.

Men's 5000 metres
at the Games of the XIV Olympiad
Emil Zátopek
DatesJuly 31 (heats)
August 2 (final)
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Gaston Reiff
 Belgium
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Emil Zátopek
 Czechoslovakia
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Willem Slijkhuis
 Netherlands
← 1936
1952 →
Official Video Highlights

Records edit

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

World record   Gunder Hägg (SWE) 13:58.2 Gothenburg, Sweden 20 September 1942
Olympic record   Gunnar Höckert (FIN) 14:22.2 Berlin, Germany 7 August 1936

The following new Olympic record was set during this competition:

Date Event Athlete Time Notes
2 August Final   Gaston Reiff (BEL) 14:17.6 OR


Schedule edit

All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1).

Date Time
Saturday, 31 July 1948 16:00 Round 1
Monday, 2 August 1948 17:00 Final


Results edit

The first four runners from each heat qualified to the final.

Heats edit

Heat 1

Rank Country Athletes Time (hand)
1   Sweden Evert Nyberg 14:58.2
2   Finland Väinö Koskela 14:58.3
2   United States Curt Stone 14:58.6
4   Belgium Marcel Vandewattyne 15:14.0
5   France Jacques Vernier 15:29.8
6   New Zealand Harold Nelson 15:34.4
7   Netherlands Jef Lataster 15:39.0
8   Great Britain Jack Braughton
9   Canada Cliff Salmond 16:05.0
10   Trinidad and Tobago Manny Ramjohn
-   Denmark Aage Poulsen DNF
-   Ireland John Joe Barry DNF

Heat 2

Rank Country Athletes Time (hand)
1   Sweden Erik Ahldén 14:34.2
2   Czechoslovakia Emil Zátopek 14:34.4
2   Finland Väinö Mäkelä 14:45.8
4   Norway Martin Stokken 15:04.4
5   France Maurice Pouzieux 15:09.8
6   Spain Gregorio Rojo 15:19.0
7   Great Britain Bill Lucas
8   Republic of China Lou Wen-ngau
9   Greece Vasilios Mavrapostolos
10   South Korea Sim Bok-seok
-   Turkey Mustafa Özcan DNF
-   United States Clarence Robison DNF

Heat 3

Rank Country Athletes Time (hand)
1   Netherlands Willem Slijkhuis 15:06.8
2   Belgium Gaston Reiff 15:07.0
2   Sweden Bertil Albertsson 15:07.8
4   Finland Helge Perälä 15:07.8
5   United States Jerry Thompson 15:08.4
6   France Alain Mimoun 15:11.2
7   Great Britain Alec Olney
8   Mexico Martín Alarcón
9   Switzerland Ernst Günther

Final edit

Rank Name Nationality Time (hand) Notes
  Gaston Reiff   Belgium 14:17.6 OR
  Emil Zátopek   Czechoslovakia 14:17.8
  Willem Slijkhuis   Netherlands 14:26.8
4 Erik Ahldén   Sweden 14:28.6
5 Bertil Albertsson   Sweden 14:39.0
6 Curt Stone   United States 14:39.4
7 Väinö Koskela   Finland 14:41.0
8 Väinö Mäkelä   Finland 14:43.0
9 Marcel Vandewattyne   Belgium
10 Martin Stokken   Norway
11 Helge Perälä   Finland
Evert Nyberg   Sweden DNF

Key: DNF = Did not finish, OR = Olympic record

References edit

  1. ^ "Athletics at the 1948 London Games: Men's 5000 metres". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 6 November 2017.

External links edit