Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's 10,000 metres

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]

Men's 10,000 metres
at the Games of the XX Olympiad
VenueOlympic Stadium, Munich, West Germany
Date31 August 1972
Competitors51 from 33 nations
Winning time27:38.35 WR
Medalists
Lasse Virén  Finland
Emiel Puttemans  Belgium
Miruts Yifter  Ethiopia

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

The top four runners in each of the three heats (blue) and the next three fastest (green), advanced to the final round.

Heat one

RankNameNationalityTimeNotes
1Emiel Puttemans Belgium27:53.28OR
2Dave Bedford Great Britain27:53.64
3Javier Álvarez Spain28:08.58
4Abdel Kader Zaddem Tunisia28:14.70
5Josef Jánský Czechoslovakia28:23.15
6Anatoly Badrankov Soviet Union28:35.84
7Noël Tijou France28:36.08
8Werner Dössegger Switzerland28:36.4
9Tadesse Wolde-Medhin Ethiopia28:45.4
10Akio Usami Japan29:24.8
11Jeff Galloway United States29:35.0
12Naftali Temu Kenya30:19.6
13Esaie Fongang Cameroon31:32.6
14P. C. Suppiah[4] Singapore31:59.2
15Crispin Quispe Bolivia32:31.8
16Giuseppe Cindolo Italy33:03.4
Günter Mielke West GermanyDNF
Usaia Sotutu FijiDNF

Heat two

RankNameNationalityTime
1Mohammed Gammoudi Tunisia27:54.69
2Mariano Haro Spain27:55.89
3Frank Shorter United States27:58.23
4Lasse Virén Finland28:04.41
5Paul Mose Kenya28:18.74
6Rashid Sharafetdinov Soviet Union28:24.64
7Wohib Masresha Ethiopia28:28.2
8Pedro Miranda Mexico28:35.8
9Karel Lismont Belgium28:41.8
10Neil Cusack Ireland28:45.8
11Dave Holt Great Britain28:46.8
12Keisuke Sawaki Japan29:29.0
13Rafael Pérez Costa Rica29:36.6
14Julio Quevedo Guatemala30:08.4
15Abdel Hamid Khamis Egypt30:19.2
16Lucien Rosa Ceylon30:20.2
Richard Mabuza SwazilandDNF
Abdi Gulet SomaliaDNS
Per Halle NorwayDNS

Heat three

RankNameNationalityTime
1Miruts Yifter Ethiopia28:18.11
2Willy Polleunis Belgium28:19.71
3Pavlo Andreiev Soviet Union28:20.97
4Dane Korica Yugoslavia28:22.24
5Juan Martínez Mexico28:23.14
6Lachie Stewart Great Britain28:31.33
7Arne Risa Norway28:31.74
8Jon Anderson United States28:34.2
9Carlos Lopes Portugal28:53.6
10Albrecht Moser Switzerland29:05.8
11Richard Juma Kenya29:13.0
12Domingo Tibaduiza Colombia29:24.0
13Shaq Musa Medani Sudan29:32.8
14Manfred Letzerich West Germany29:37.8
15Hikmet Şen Turkey29:51.8
16Anilus Joseph HaitiDNF
17Gavin Thorley New ZealandDNF
18Juha Väätäinen FinlandDNS
19Edmundo Warnke ChileDNS

Final

RankNameNationalityTimeNotes
Lasse Virén Finland27:38.35WR
Emiel Puttemans Belgium27:39.35
Miruts Yifter Ethiopia27:40.96
4Mariano Haro Spain27:48.14
5Frank Shorter United States27:51.32
6Dave Bedford Great Britain28:05.44
7Dane Korica Yugoslavia28:15.18
8Abdel Kader Zaddem Tunisia28:18.17
9Josef Jánský Czechoslovakia28:23.59
10Juan Martínez Mexico28:44.08
11Pavlo Andreiev Soviet Union28:46.27
12Javier Álvarez Spain28:56.38
13Paul Mose Kenya29:02.87
14Willy Polleunis Belgium29:10.15
15Mohammed Gammoudi TunisiaDNF

Sources

  • "Official Olympic Reports". la84foundation.org. Archived from the original on 12 June 2007.

References

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. "Official Olympic Reports: 1972 Munich Volume 3" (PDF). la84foundation.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2007.
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