Contents
| Men's 10,000 metres at the Games of the XX Olympiad | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||||||||
| Venue | Olympic Stadium, Munich, West Germany | |||||||||
| Date | 3 September 1972 | |||||||||
| Competitors | 51 from 33 nations | |||||||||
| Winning time | 27:38.35 WR | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Track events | ||
| 100 m | men | women |
| 200 m | men | women |
| 400 m | men | women |
| 800 m | men | women |
| 1500 m | men | women |
| 5000 m | men | |
| 10,000 m | men | |
| 100 m hurdles | women | |
| 110 m hurdles | men | |
| 400 m hurdles | men | |
| 3000 m steeplechase | men | |
| 4 × 100 m relay | men | women |
| 4 × 400 m relay | men | women |
| Road events | ||
| Marathon | men | |
| 20 km walk | men | |
| 50 km walk | men | |
| Field events | ||
| Long jump | men | women |
| Triple jump | men | |
| High jump | men | women |
| Pole vault | men | |
| Shot put | men | women |
| Discus throw | men | women |
| Javelin throw | men | women |
| Hammer throw | men | |
| Combined events | ||
| Pentathlon | women | |
| Decathlon | men | |
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.
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]
