The men's 10,000 metres event at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich was held on 31 August and 3 September. This event featured a qualifying round for the first time since the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp. The favorites in the event included Belgium's Emiel Puttemans, Great Britain's Dave Bedford, and Finland's Lasse Virén.[1] The winning margin was 1.00 second.
Men's 10,000 metres at the Games of the XX Olympiad | ||||||||||
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Venue | Olympic Stadium, Munich, West Germany | |||||||||
Date | 3 September 1972 | |||||||||
Competitors | 51 from 33 nations | |||||||||
Winning time | 27:38.35 WR | |||||||||
Medalists | ||||||||||
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![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b6/TV-icon-2.svg/110px-TV-icon-2.svg.png)
The men's 10,000 metres final was notable for Lasse Virén's world record performance.[2] At the start of the race, Bedford led the pace; he maintained a world record pace at the 4000 m mark, and he still led halfway through the race. On the 12th lap, just before the halfway point, Virén and Tunisia's Mohammed Gammoudi, 10,000 m bronze medalist and 5000 m gold medalist in the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, tangled into each other and fell onto the track.[1] Both recovered, and while Gammoudi fell out of the race two laps later, Virén caught up to the front and passed Bedford to take the lead at about the 6000 m mark.[2]
With Virén leading for the rest of the race, the lead pack reduced to five competitors with 600 m remaining when he made his charge.[3] He ran the final lap (the last 400 m) in 56.4 seconds; he won the gold medal, beating runner-up Puttemans by 7 m and setting a world record time of 27:38.35.[1][2] Virén would go on to win the 5000 metres event, where he would set an Olympic record there; he also went on to win both the 10,000 metres and 5000 metres races at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.[2]
The Guardian listed Virén's world record performance as the greatest sport comeback of all time.[2]
Heats
editThe top four runners in each of the three heats (blue) and the next three fastest (green), advanced to the final round.
Heat one
Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Emiel Puttemans | Belgium | 27:53.28 | OR |
2 | Dave Bedford | Great Britain | 27:53.64 | |
3 | Javier Álvarez | Spain | 28:08.58 | |
4 | Abdel Kader Zaddem | Tunisia | 28:14.70 | |
5 | Josef Jánský | Czechoslovakia | 28:23.15 | |
6 | Anatoly Badrankov | Soviet Union | 28:35.84 | |
7 | Noël Tijou | France | 28:36.08 | |
8 | Werner Dössegger | Switzerland | 28:36.4 | |
9 | Tadesse Wolde-Medhin | Ethiopia | 28:45.4 | |
10 | Akio Usami | Japan | 29:24.8 | |
11 | Jeff Galloway | United States | 29:35.0 | |
12 | Naftali Temu | Kenya | 30:19.6 | |
13 | Esaie Fongang | Cameroon | 31:32.6 | |
14 | P. C. Suppiah[4] | Singapore | 31:59.2 | |
15 | Crispin Quispe | Bolivia | 32:31.8 | |
16 | Giuseppe Cindolo | Italy | 33:03.4 | |
– | Günter Mielke | West Germany | DNF | |
– | Usaia Sotutu | Fiji | DNF |
Heat two
Rank | Name | Nationality | Time |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Mohammed Gammoudi | Tunisia | 27:54.69 |
2 | Mariano Haro | Spain | 27:55.89 |
3 | Frank Shorter | United States | 27:58.23 |
4 | Lasse Virén | Finland | 28:04.41 |
5 | Paul Mose | Kenya | 28:18.74 |
6 | Rashid Sharafetdinov | Soviet Union | 28:24.64 |
7 | Wohib Masresha | Ethiopia | 28:28.2 |
8 | Pedro Miranda | Mexico | 28:35.8 |
9 | Karel Lismont | Belgium | 28:41.8 |
10 | Neil Cusack | Ireland | 28:45.8 |
11 | Dave Holt | Great Britain | 28:46.8 |
12 | Keisuke Sawaki | Japan | 29:29.0 |
13 | Rafael Pérez | Costa Rica | 29:36.6 |
14 | Julio Quevedo | Guatemala | 30:08.4 |
15 | Abdel Hamid Khamis | Egypt | 30:19.2 |
16 | Lucien Rosa | Ceylon | 30:20.2 |
– | Richard Mabuza | Swaziland | DNF |
– | Abdi Gulet | Somalia | DNS |
– | Per Halle | Norway | DNS |
Heat three
Rank | Name | Nationality | Time |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Miruts Yifter | Ethiopia | 28:18.11 |
2 | Willy Polleunis | Belgium | 28:19.71 |
3 | Pavlo Andreiev | Soviet Union | 28:20.97 |
4 | Dane Korica | Yugoslavia | 28:22.24 |
5 | Juan Martínez | Mexico | 28:23.14 |
6 | Lachie Stewart | Great Britain | 28:31.33 |
7 | Arne Risa | Norway | 28:31.74 |
8 | Jon Anderson | United States | 28:34.2 |
9 | Carlos Lopes | Portugal | 28:53.6 |
10 | Albrecht Moser | Switzerland | 29:05.8 |
11 | Richard Juma | Kenya | 29:13.0 |
12 | Domingo Tibaduiza | Colombia | 29:24.0 |
13 | Shaq Musa Medani | Sudan | 29:32.8 |
14 | Manfred Letzerich | West Germany | 29:37.8 |
15 | Hikmet Şen | Turkey | 29:51.8 |
– | Anilus Joseph | Haiti | DNF |
– | Gavin Thorley | New Zealand | DNF |
– | Juha Väätäinen | Finland | DNS |
– | Edmundo Warnke | Chile | DNS |
Final
editRank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Lasse Virén | Finland | 27:38.35 | WR | |
Emiel Puttemans | Belgium | 27:39.35 | ||
Miruts Yifter | Ethiopia | 27:40.96 | ||
4 | Mariano Haro | Spain | 27:48.14 | |
5 | Frank Shorter | United States | 27:51.32 | |
6 | Dave Bedford | Great Britain | 28:05.44 | |
7 | Dane Korica | Yugoslavia | 28:15.18 | |
8 | Abdel Kader Zaddem | Tunisia | 28:18.17 | |
9 | Josef Jánský | Czechoslovakia | 28:23.59 | |
10 | Juan Martínez | Mexico | 28:44.08 | |
11 | Pavlo Andreiev | Soviet Union | 28:46.27 | |
12 | Javier Álvarez | Spain | 28:56.38 | |
13 | Paul Mose | Kenya | 29:02.87 | |
14 | Willy Polleunis | Belgium | 29:10.15 | |
– | Mohammed Gammoudi | Tunisia | DNF |
Sources
edit- "Official Olympic Reports". la84foundation.org. Archived from the original on 12 June 2007.
References
edit- ^ a b c Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Athletics at the 1972 Munich Games: Men's 10,000 metres". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 12 April 2009. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
- ^ a b c d e Hendersen, John (7 October 2001). "The 10 greatest comebacks of all time". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 28 October 2011. Retrieved 1 October 2011.
- ^ Tanser, Toby (September 2004). "Last of the Nordic Gods: Lasse Viren's training and triumphs". Running Times. Archived from the original on 30 March 2012. Retrieved 1 October 2011.
- ^ "Official Olympic Reports: 1972 Munich Volume 3" (PDF). la84foundation.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2007.