Eamonn Christopher Coghlan is an Irish former track and field athlete who specialised in middle distance track events and the 5,000 metres. He is a three-time Olympian, held the world indoor mile record and was world champion in the 5,000 m. Coghlan served as a senator from 2011 to 2016.
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.
Miruts Yifter was an Ethiopian long-distance runner and winner of two gold medals at the 1980 Summer Olympics. His date of birth is often given as 15 May 1944, though there is some uncertainty about this. His name is also sometimes spelled as Muruse Yefter.
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.
Finland competed at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, USSR. 105 competitors, 99 men and 6 women, took part in 71 events in 16 sports.
Ethiopia, also known as the Derg, competed at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, USSR. The nation returned to the Olympic Games after boycotting the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 41 competitors, 39 men and 2 women, took part in 26 events in 3 sports.
Mohamed Kedir is a former long-distance runner from Ethiopia, who won a bronze medal in men's 10,000 metres at the 1980 Summer Olympics.
Markus Ryffel is a former long-distance runner from Switzerland who won the silver medal in the 5000 metres at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Douglas Padilla is a former middle and long distance runner from the United States, who won the overall Grand Prix 1985 and the World Cup 5000m race in 1985. He finished fifth in the 5000m final at the 1983 World Championships in Athletics in Helsinki, and seventh in the 5000m final at the 1984 Summer Olympics. In the 1983 World Championships 5,000-metre final, Padilla was among the favourites, but he succumbed to the radically accelerating pace of top runners, such as Ireland's Eamonn Coghlan, East Germany's Werner Schildhauer and Finland's Martti Vainio, during the last lap. He lost to the winner, Coghlan, by 3.55 seconds, but managed to defeat another unlucky favourite, West Germany's Thomas Wessinghage, by 0.38 seconds. By contrast, the fast 1984 Olympic 5,000-metre final was tough for Padilla already after 3,000 metres, and he painstakingly defeated New Zealand's John Walker who finished eighth. He was ranked number 1 in the world in 1983 for the 3000-meter distance.
Venanzio Ortis is an Italian retired long-distance runner who won two medals at the 1978 European Championships.
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.
These are the official results of the men's 10,000 metres event at the 1983 IAAF World Championships in Helsinki, Finland. There were a total number of 37 participating athletes, with two qualifying heats held on Sunday 7 August and the final held on Tuesday 9 August 1983.
These are the official results of the Men's 10,000 metres event at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. There were a total number of 41 participating athletes. The event took place between 3 and 6 August. The winning margin was 18.68 seconds.
These are the official results of the Men's 5000 metres event at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California.
These are the official results of the Men's 5,000 metres event at the 1987 IAAF World Championships in Rome, Italy. There were a total of 36 participating athletes, with two qualifying heats and the final held on Sunday September 6, 1987.
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.
These are the official results of the men's 5000 metres event at the 1983 IAAF World Championships in Helsinki, Finland. There were a total of 39 participating athletes, with three qualifying heats, two semi-finals and the final held on Sunday 14 August 1983.
The 10,000 metres at the Summer Olympics is the longest track running event held at the multi-sport event. The men's 10,000 m has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since 1912. The women's event was added to the programme over seventy years later, at the 1988 Olympics. It is the most prestigious 10,000 m race at elite level. The competition format is a straight final between around 30 athletes, although prior to 2004 a qualifying round was held.
The men's 5000 metres at the 1978 European Athletics Championships was held in Prague, then Czechoslovakia, at Stadion Evžena Rošického on 31 August and 2 September 1978.
Tolossa Kotu Terfe is an Ethiopian long-distance runner and coach. He placed fourth in men's 10,000 metres at the 1980 Summer Olympics and has coached the national teams of both Ethiopia and Bahrain.
