Ian Stewart MBE is a Scottish former long-distance running athlete. Ian Stewart was one of the world's leading distance runners between the late 1960s and mid-1970s. Stewart won the bronze medal in the Men's 5000 metres at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. Stewart also won the following championships: European 5,000 metres (1969), Commonwealth 5,000 metres (1970), European Indoor and World Cross Country (1975).
Lasse Artturi Virén is a Finnish former long-distance runner, winner of four gold medals at the 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics. Virén recaptured the image of the "Flying Finns" promoted by runners like Hannes Kolehmainen, Paavo Nurmi and Ville Ritola in the 1920s. He was elected Finnish Sportsman of the Year in 1972 and 1976 and later became a politician and a member of Finland's parliament in 1999–2007 and 2010–2011.
Carlos Alberto de Sousa Lopes, GCIH is a Portuguese former long-distance runner who competed for Sporting of Portugal at club level.
Mohammed Tlili ben Abdallah, also known as Moham(m)ed Gammoudi, is a Tunisian athlete who competed as a long-distance runner in international track and field competitions. He represented Tunisia in the Tokyo, Mexico City, and Munich Olympiads and recorded four medals, including a gold medal in the 5000 metres event in Mexico City. Gammoudi was also competitive at 10,000 metres.
Alberto Cova is a retired Italian long-distance track athlete, winner of the 10,000 m at the 1984 Summer Olympics and 1983 World Championships.
Sir Brendan Foster is a British former long-distance runner, athletics commentator and road race organiser. He founded the Great North Run, one of the sport's most high profile half-marathon races. As an athlete, he won the bronze medal in the 10,000 metres at the 1976 Summer Olympics and the gold medal in the 5,000 metres at the 1974 European Championships and the 10,000 metres at the 1978 Commonwealth Games. He later provided commentary and analysis on athletics, particularly long-distance events, for BBC Sport.
Rodney Phillip Dixon is a former New Zealand middle- to long-distance runner. He won the bronze medal in the 1500 metres at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, and in 1983 won the New York City Marathon.
Martti Olavi Vainio is a Finnish former long-distance runner. In Finland he is recognized as the last of the great runners of the famous "V-line", the previous ones being Juha Väätäinen, Lasse Virén, and Pekka Vasala. Each of them won at least one gold medal either at the Summer Olympics or the European Athletics Championships in the 1970s. Vainio's accomplishments are tarnished though, for testing positive for PEDs on at least two occasions. One of those events was the 1984 Olympic Games where he was disqualified and stripped of his medal and later suspended from sport.
Klaus-Peter Hildenbrand is a retired West German athlete who competed mainly in the 5000 metres.
The Men's 5000 metres at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany took place on 7 and 10 September 1972.
These are the official results of the Men's 5.000 metres at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The final was held on Friday July 30, 1976, after the three qualifying heats were run on Wednesday July 28, 1976.
Willy Polleunis is a Belgian former long-distance runner who won the silver medal in the 3000 metres at the 1973 European Indoor Championships, behind his clubmate Emiel Puttemans. He competed in the 5000 and 10000 metres events at the 1968, 1972 and 1976 Olympics with the best achievement of sixth place in the 5000 metres in 1976. At the start of the final lap, he was in tenth place, but he accelerated, and possibly ran the final lap even faster than the winner, Lasse Viren. Polleunis also won team gold medals at the 1973 and 1977 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, and a team silver in 1976.
These are the official results of the Men's 5,000 metres event at the 1982 European Championships in Athens, Greece, held at Olympic Stadium "Spiros Louis" on 8 and 11 September 1982.
Pekka Johannes Päivärinta is a Finnish former long-distance runner. He won men's senior race in the first World Championships of cross-country running in 1973. He competed in 1972 Olympics at 3000-meter steeplechase finishing 8th. In 1976 Olympics he competed in 5000 meters and finished 13th. In 1975 he broke world record in 25000 meters running by his result 1:14:16,8. The record was broken by Bill Rodgers in 1979.
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. The winning margin was 1.00 second.
The men's 5000 metres at the 1971 European Athletics Championships was held in Helsinki, Finland, at Helsinki Olympic Stadium on 12 and 14 August 1971.
The men's 5000 metres at the 1974 European Athletics Championships was held in Rome, Italy, at Stadio Olimpico on 6 and 8 September 1974.
The men's 10,000 metres at the 1978 European Athletics Championships was held in Prague, then Czechoslovakia, at Stadion Evžena Rošického on 29 August 1978.
The men's 10,000 metres event at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place on 13 August at the Olympic Stadium. In a tactical yet comparatively quick race, Great Britain's Mo Farah defended his Olympic title in 27:05.17 minutes, becoming the sixth man to win the Olympic 10,000 metres title twice. Reaching their first Olympic podium, Kenya's Paul Tanui was the silver medallist and Tamirat Tola of Ethiopia took the bronze. Farah's winning margin was 0.47 seconds.
A kick in a running race is the ability of some athletes to sprint at the end of an endurance-oriented race. For those who possess the ability to kick, it is a strategic weapon. For those with the liability not to possess a kick, they must seek different strategies to anticipate and diminish their opponent's kicking power, usually by a long extended surge to break away or exhaust their opponent well ahead of the finish of the race. Similar to a sprinter in cycling, a kicker has a finite distance they know they are able to sprint, making their strategy to be in the ideal position at that distance to be able to utilize that speed. Sprinting too early could lead an athlete to tie up, a form of muscle cramp that debilitates a racer from continuing to kick. Thus team tactics might also intentionally or not, box a kicker, meaning to position other competitors to their outside, to disrupt their positioning and timing. Of course, as the finish is nearing and all athletes are straining, this becomes more difficult to accomplish deliberately.
