These are the official results of the men's 5000 metres at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. The event took place between 31 July and 3 August.
Medalists
Summary
After a diverse semi-final round where one heat ran a modest 14 minute strategic race and the other ran over thirty seconds faster, some athletes had an easier time of qualifying for the final.
At the gun, the entire Moroccan team went to the front, but then controlled the pace. After a lap at the back of the pack, Kenyan Tom Nyariki ran around the field to take the lead. German Dieter Baumann hung on his shoulder as it looked like an early attempt to steal the race with a quick breakaway. Several others in the field scrambled forward while Nyariki, shadowed by his teammate Shem Kororia pushed the pace, exchanging the lead position and stringing out the field into single file. American Bob Kennedy marked this action hovering around second place. With four laps to go, after an exchange of Kenyan leaders, Burundi's Vénuste Niyongabo moved into second place, squeezing back Kennedy into third. Over the next lap, Nyariki and Moroccan Brahim Lahlafi got past Kennedy. Just before two laps to go, Kennedy ran around the group and into the lead. Kennedy led for the first 300 metres of the penultimate lap before Niyongabo passed him coming off the turn, followed by the designated kickers who had protected their interests at the back of the pack; Paul Bitok (Kenya), Khalid Boulami (Morocco) and Baumann. But as one of the fastest 1500 meter runners in the world at the time, Niyongabo had the position and more speed, opening up a 5-metre gap on Boulami. At the beginning of the final turn, Bitok got around Boulami and everybody sprinted for home. Nobody was able to make any progress except that Niyongabo slowed on the final straight to celebrate Burundi's first gold medal.
Records These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1996 Summer Olympics.
World record 12:44.39 Haile Gebrselassie Zürich (SUI) August 16, 1995 Olympic record 13:05.59 Saïd Aouita Los Angeles (USA) August 11, 1984
Results Heats Qualification: First 8 in each heat (Q) and the next 6 fastest (q) qualified to the semifinals.
Rank Heat Name Nationality Time Notes 1 2 Fita Bayisa 13:50.61 Q 2 2 Brahim Lahlafi 13:51.25 Q 3 2 Tom Nyariki 13:51.47 Q 4 2 Enrique Molina 13:51.55 Q 5 2 Aïssa Belaout 13:51.96 Q 6 2 Dieter Baumann 13:52.00 Q 7 2 John Nuttall 13:52.16 Q 8 2 Jonathan Wyatt 13:52.56 Q 9 2 Jim Spivey 13:53.16 q 10 2 Cormac Finnerty 13:54.01 q 11 3 John Morapedi 13:54.30 Q 12 3 Paul Bitok 13:54.45 Q 13 3 Vénuste Niyongabo 13:54.53 Q 14 3 Bob Kennedy 13:54.57 Q 15 3 Khalid Boulami 13:54.72 Q 16 3 Miroslav Vanko 13:54.88 Q 17 3 Assefa Mezgebu 13:54.89 Q 18 3 Stefano Baldini 13:55.41 Q 19 3 Manuel Pancorbo 13:57.42 q 20 2 Julian Paynter 14:00.25 q 21 1 Ismaïl Sghyr 14:02.71 Q 22 1 Shem Kororia 14:02.75 Q 23 1 Réda Benzine 14:03.06 Q 24 1 Gennaro Di Napoli 14:03.56 Q 25 1 Shaun Creighton 14:04.08 Q 26 1 Shadrack Hoff 14:05.97 Q 27 3 Stéphane Franke 14:06.34 q 28 3 Luís Jesus 14:08.87 q 29 3 Khmees Abdalla Seif Eldin 14:15.21 30 1 Anacleto Jiménez 14:16.57 Q 31 1 José Ramos 14:17.26 Q 32 2 Adalberto García 14:28.64 33 2 Henry Moyo 14:30.53 34 1 Matt Giusto 14:30.76 35 1 William Roldán 14:39.50 36 3 Aboukar Hassan Adani 15:19.80 37 1 Sid'Ahmed Ould Mohamedou 15:29.16 1 Haile Gebrselassie 1 Armando Quintanilla 2 Aloÿs Nizigama 3 Alyan Al-Qahtani
Semifinals Qualification: First 6 in each heat (Q) and the next 3 fastest (q) qualified to the final.
Rank Heat Name Nationality Time Notes 1 1 Shem Kororia 13:27.50 Q 2 1 Paul Bitok 13:27.61 Q 3 1 Brahim Lahlafi 13:27.73 Q 4 1 Bob Kennedy 13:27.90 Q 5 1 Gennaro Di Napoli 13:28.80 Q 6 1 Khalid Boulami 13:29.72 Q 7 1 Fita Bayisa 13:30.88 q 8 1 Réda Benzine 13:37.52 q 9 1 Stéphane Franke 13:40.94 q 10 1 Jonathan Wyatt 13:47.81 11 1 Anacleto Jiménez 13:50.90 12 1 Miroslav Vanko 13:51.45 13 1 John Morapedi 13:54.43 14 1 Shaun Creighton 13:55.23 15 2 Tom Nyariki 14:03.21 Q 16 2 Vénuste Niyongabo 14:03.48 Q 17 2 Dieter Baumann 14:03.75 Q 18 2 Enrique Molina 14:04.08 Q 19 2 Ismaïl Sghyr 14:04.23 Q 20 2 Aïssa Belaout 14:04.56 Q 21 2 Assefa Mezgebu 14:05.48 22 2 Stefano Baldini 14:06.45 23 2 John Nuttall 14:08.39 24 2 Cormac Finnerty 14:08.88 25 2 Shadrack Hoff 14:16.14 26 1 José Ramos 14:24.81 27 2 Jim Spivey 14:27.72 28 2 Julian Paynter 14:23.60 29 2 Manuel Pancorbo 14:39.64 2 Luís Jesus
Final Rank Name Nationality Time Notes Vénuste Niyongabo 13:07.96 Paul Bitok 13:08.16 Khalid Boulami 13:08.37 Dieter Baumann 13:08.81 Tom Nyariki 13:12.29 Bob Kennedy 13:12.35 Enrique Molina 13:12.91 Brahim Lahlafi 13:13.26 Shem Kororia 13:14.63 10 Fita Bayisa 13:18.30 11 Ismaïl Sghyr 13:22.89 12 Gennaro Di Napoli 13:28.36 13 Réda Benzine 13:42.34 14 Stéphane Franke 13:44.64 15 Aïssa Belaout 14:06.52
See also 1994 Men's European Championships 5.000 metres (Helsinki) 1995 Men's World Championships 5.000 metres (Gothenburg) 1997 Men's World Championships 5.000 metres (Athens) 1998 Men's European Championships 5.000 metres (Budapest)
References
External links Official Report Results