Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Men's 5000 metres

The men's 5000 metres was the second-longest of the seven men's track races in the Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics program in Tokyo. It was held on 16 October and 18 October 1964. 54 athletes from 35 nations entered, with 6 not starting the first round. The first round was held on 16 October and the final on 18 October.[1]

Men's 5000 metres
at the Games of the XVIII Olympiad
Harald Norpoth, Bob Schul and Bill Dellinger on the podium
VenueOlympic Stadium
Dates16–18 October
Competitors54 from 35 nations
Winning time13:48.8
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Bob Schul  United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Harald Norpoth  United Team of Germany
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Bill Dellinger  United States
← 1960
1968 →

The world record holder Vladimir Kuts had retired five years earlier. Defending champion Murray Halberg didn't make the final. Halberg and Pyotr Bolotnikov had dominated the event the previous four years but neither was in the final. The top runner of the year was Bob Schul from the Compton Invitational. This was Kip Keino's first Olympic final, but he would gain fame four years later.

In the slow, strategic race held in a light rain on a muddy dirt track Michel Jazy was more of a 1500 meter runner and expected to be ready for a fast finish. He kept himself in the lead or close to the lead throughout. Schul found himself on the curb boxed in by a loping Keino who seemed to be marking the field on the outside of the pack that also included future world record holder Ron Clarke. With 600 metres to go Bill Dellinger made the first move coming around the entire pack and into the lead. At age 30, old for an amateur athlete in this era, Dellinger came out of retirement to make one last attempt after failing to make the Olympic final the previous two Olympiads. Dellinger's move was marked by Jazy as the pace quickened. Nikolay Dutov came around the entire pack to challenge Jazy and Dellinger. Shortly after the bell, Jazy decided to take off, jumping to the lead with Harald Norpoth coming from mid pack to become his closest pursuer 5 metres back as the field stretched out. A one speed runner, Clarke had no answer for the speedsters. With 300 to go, Schul came from fifth place to start picking off runners to get to Norpoth with 200 to go. Through the turn he passed Norpoth with Jazy constantly looking over his shoulder to check his pursuer. Jazy still had a two metres lead as they reached the final straight. But that lead disappeared rapidly as Schul sprinted by to take the gold medal. Jazy now watched Norpoth as he slowly edged by just before the finish. Given all he could, Jazy tried to maintain and glide across the finish line, but Dellinger, in full sprint, caught Jazy at the line to take the bronze medal. It took officials a half an hour to decide the bronze medalist.[2]

Schul's victory was the first and only American victory in the event. His was only the second medal in the history of the event; Dellinger's bronze became the third. It would be 52 years before USA would register another medal in the 5000, when Kenyan born Paul Chelimo took silver in 2016.

Results

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First round

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The top three runners in each of the 4 heats advanced.

First round, heat 1

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Place Athlete Nation Time
1 Michel Jazy   France 13:55.4
2 Bill Baillie   New Zealand 13:55.4
3 Stepan Baidiuk   Soviet Union 14:00.2
4 Andrei Barabas   Romania 14:00.2
5 Anthony Cook   Australia 14:02.4
6 John Bryan Herring   Great Britain 14:07.2
7 Muharrem Dalkilic   Turkey 14:12.0
8 Lutz Philipp   United Team of Germany 14:15.2
9 Bruce Kidd   Canada 14:21.8
10 Janos Pinter   Hungary 14:41.0
11 Jean Randrianjatovo   Madagascar 15:50.4
Pascal Mfyomi   Tanzania DNS
Gaston Roelants   Belgium DNS

First round, heat 2

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Place Athlete Nation Time
1 Michael Edwin Wiggs   Great Britain 13:51.0
2 Bill Dellinger   United States 13:52.2
3 Thor Helland   Norway 13:52.4
4 Lech Boguszewicz   Poland 13:52.8
5 Kęstutis Orentas   Soviet Union 13:54.0
6 Eugene Allonsius   Belgium 13:55.0
7 Jean Vaillant   France 14:05.8
8 Manfred Letzerich   United Team of Germany 14:06.2
9 Thomas O'Riordan   Ireland 14:08.8
10 Jørgen Dam   Denmark 14:20.4
11 Albert George Thomas   Australia 14:27.8
12 Fernando Aguilar   Spain 14:29.2
13 Alvaro Mejia Florez   Colombia 14:41.4
Ebrahim Yazdanpanah   Iran DNS

First round, heat 3

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Place Athlete Nation Time
1 Mohammed Gammoudi   Tunisia 14:10.2
2 Bob Schul   United States 14:11.4
3 Harald Norpoth   United Team of Germany 14:11.6
4 Murray Halberg   New Zealand 14:12.0
5 Josef Tomáš   Czechoslovakia 14:12.6
6 Bengt Najde   Sweden 14:13.4
7 Franc Červan   Yugoslavia 14:16.6
8 Simo Sakari Saloranta   Finland 14:24.6
9 Lajos Mecser   Hungary 14:35.4
10 Jean Fayolle   France 14:44.6
11 Somsak Keaokanta   Thailand 16:08.8
12 Ranatunge Karunananda   Ceylon 16:22.2
13 Nguyen Van Ly   Vietnam 17:28.0

First round, heat 4

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Place Athlete Nation Time
1 Ron Clarke   Australia 13:48.4
2 Kipchoge Keino   Kenya 13:49.6
3 Nikolay Dutov   Soviet Union 13:50.6
4 Francisco Aritmendi   Spain 14:05.0
5 Sven-Olov Larsson   Sweden 14:10.2
6 Satsuo Iwashita   Japan 14:18.4
7 Derek Graham   Great Britain 14:21.6
8 Oscar Moore   United States 14:24.0
9 Simo Vazic   Yugoslavia 14:33.8
10 Henri Clerckx   Belgium 14:40.0
11 Neville Ian Scott   New Zealand 15:01.0
Ben Assou El Ghazi   Morocco DNS
Manuel Oliveira   Portugal DNS
Mamo Wolde   Ethiopia DNS

Final

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Place Athlete Nation Time 1000 2000 3000 4000
1 Bob Schul   United States 13:48.8 2:51.4 5:40.0 8:25.0 11:16.2
2 Harald Norpoth   United Team of Germany 13:49.6 2:51.0 5:39.8 8:22.8 11:15.8
3 Bill Dellinger   United States 13:49.8 2:51.8 5:40.6 8:25.8 11:16.4
4 Michel Jazy   France 13:49.8 2:50.4 5:39.6 8:22.4 11:15.6
5 Kipchoge Keino   Kenya 13:50.4 2:50.8 5:40.4 8:25.6 11:16.0
6 Bill Baillie   New Zealand 13:51.0 2:50.6 5:39.8 8:24.2 11:16.0
7 Nikolay Dutov   Soviet Union 13:53.8 2:51.6 5:40.4 8:23.2 11:15.8
8 Thor Helland   Norway 13:57.0 2:51.6 5:40.2 8:26.0 11:16.6
9 Ron Clarke   Australia 13:58.0 2:50.2 5:39.4 8:22.2 11:15.8
10 Stepan Baidiuk   Soviet Union 14:11.2 2:51.0 5:40.0 8:25.6 11:19.2
11 Michael Edwin Wiggs   Great Britain 14:20.8 2:52.8 5:40.8 8:28.6 11:28.6
Mohammed Gammoudi   Tunisia Did not start -

References

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  1. ^ "Athletics at the 1964 Tokyo Games: Men's 5000 metres". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  2. ^ Robinson, Roger (24 November 2014). "America's Only 5,000m Gold Medalist". Runner's World. Retrieved 27 December 2018.