Mo Farah entered as the favourite for the race, having won the 2012 Olympic title as well as the last two World Championships 5000m. He also held the fastest time of the year at 12:59:29 minutes and won the Olympic 10,000 m earlier in Rio. His primary challengers included 2015 World medallists Caleb Ndiku of Kenya and Ethiopia's Hagos Gebrhiwet (with the latter having shown the best form that year). Another Ethiopian, Dejen Gebremeskel (the 2012 Olympic runner-up) was also in the race, as was three-time 5000m world medallist Bernard Lagat.[2]
The preliminaries delivered a shock as distance running power Kenya placed no athletes in the final. However, three Kenyan immigrants to other countries ran in the final; Paul Kipkemoi Chelimo and 41-year-old Bernard Lagat of the United States and Albert Kibichii Rop of Bahrain. The East African representation was strong with three Ethiopians in the final (plus Birhanu Balew running for Bahrain). Uganda qualified two athletes. Mohammed Ahmed running for Canada, Hassan Mead running for the United States and the defending champion Mo Farah running for Great Britain were born in Somalia. Andrew Butchart was a second British finalist, and David Torrence, an American-born athlete, ran for Peru. During the first preliminary heat, Mead's front foot met Farah's back foot, both runners stumbling, Mead crashing to the track. Farah righted himself and continued on to the finish, qualifying third. After the race a successful protest was filed by the United States, and Mead advanced to the final as a result. No one was disqualified.[3][4]
This race was the completion of Farah's attempt to complete the second Woolworth double (5 and 10). His race tactics were well known and his results consistent. Somebody had to do something different in order to beat him. From the gun in the final, two Ethiopian runners went to the front, while Farah dropped to his customary tail end position. Dejen Gebremeskel and Hagos Gebrhiwet went to the front and were pushing the pace. Paul Kipkemoi Chelimo moved in behind them. Farah sensed the change in tactics and moved up much earlier than normal to a position in the middle of the strung out pack, to watch the action. While the two Ethiopians were sharing the lead duty, Gebrhiwet was taking the lion's share. 19 year old Joshua Kiprui Cheptegei moved in to mark Farah's moves. With five and a half laps to go, the situation started to change. Chelimo moved up, passing Gebrhiwet, who fell back into the field. Farah used this occasion to hit the front.
Down the backstretch with 4 and a half laps to go, many tried to move to the front to mark Farah, with elbows flying in the tightening pack. From this point Farah began to control the race, with Rop, Chelimo, the third Ethiopian Muktar Edris, Mead, Gebremeskel, Gebrhiwet, Cheptegei, Butchart, Ahmed and Lagat all in a row behind Farah. During the next lap and a half Butchart moved closer to Farah on the outside, then with almost 3 laps to go, went around the outside and onto Farah's shoulder, creating a British team wall similar to the blocking techniques the Kenyans usually use. Cheptegei then moved to the outside of the wall making it three wide. Butchart was only able to stay there for about a half lap before falling back into the pack, but Cheptegei remained in place. Edris was looking for a way around.[5]
With a lap and a half to go, Cheptegei tried to speed up to go around Farah, but Farah exactly matched his speed. The rules of the road were clearly explained to the youngster, do not pass. Finally Gebrhiwet, bounced out of the pack several places behind at the same time Edris moved, the two collided with Edris bouncing sideways as Gebrhiwet made the bold move around Cheptegei and was ahead of Farah at the line and sprinting. He didn't want to give Farah the opportunity to get the jump on him like in the two previous World Championships. In the next 50 metres, Farah explained the rules of the road to him too, the two exchanging elbows as Farah would not let Gebrhiwet to move to the inside. When Gebrhiwet relented Chelimo filled the space between him and the curb, right behind Farah. Down the final backstretch, Gebrhiwet tried one more time, elbowing Chelimo as he went by with Chelimo losing his balance for a moment, then making contact with Ahmed following Gebrhiwet. Getting untangled, Chelimo ran down the backstretch after Gebrhiwet, who still couldn't get around Farah. Gebrhiwet slowed a little, Chelimo was again pinned to the curb, more contact with Ahmed as Chelimo was looking for running space.[citation needed] Chelimo moved to the outside, leaving Gebrhiwet on the curb behind Farah. Edris elbowed his way inside of Ahmed as he passed. After all the contact, Chelimo was in the perfect position to sprint past Farah on the home stretch. Chelimo almost got to Farah's shoulder but Farah accelerated again, pulling away to the win by five metres, still looking over his shoulder to make sure there was no further challenge.[6] Chelimo finished second, Gebrhiwet, Edris, Ahmed and Lagat.[7]
Farah knelt and kissed the track. After the celebration and victory lap, it was announced that Chelimo, Ahmed and Edris were disqualified, giving Gebrhiwet the silver and Lagat the bronze. Being interviewed on American television, Chelimo was shocked. An appeal was filed and the decision was mostly reversed. Chelimo was reinstated as the silver medalist, Ahmed was also reinstated when it was found that they did not break the rules while Edris' disqualification would stand.[8]
The medals for the competition were presented by Anant Singh, South Africa, IOC member, and the gifts were presented by Ahmed Al Kamali, IAAF Council Member.
Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
Bernard Kipchirchir Lagat is a Kenyan-American middle and long-distance runner.
The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to 3 miles 188 yards or 16,404 feet 2 inches. It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over 12+1⁄2 laps of a standard track. The same distance in road running is called a 5K run; referring to the distance in metres rather than kilometres serves to disambiguate the two events. The 5000 m has been present on the Olympic programme since 1912 for men and since 1996 for women. Prior to 1996, women had competed in an Olympic 3000 metres race since 1984. The 5000 m has been held at each of the World Championships in Athletics in men's competition and since 1995 in women's.
Eliud Kipchoge is a Kenyan professional long-distance runner who competes in the marathon and formerly competed at the 5000 metre distance. He is the 2016 and 2020 Olympic marathon champion, and holds the world record in the marathon with a time of 2:01:39 set at the 2018 Berlin Marathon. His run broke the previous world record by 1 minute and 18 seconds. He is widely regarded as the greatest ever marathon runner and one of the greatest sportsmen in history.
The men's 5000 metres competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom. The event was held at the Olympic Stadium on 8–11 August. In a tactical, slow race, the gold medal was won by reigning World champion Mo Farah of host Great Britain, completing a distance double having won the 10,000 metres a week earlier. Ethiopia's Dejen Gebremeskel took silver, with Thomas Pkemei Longosiwa of Kenya in bronze position.
The men's 5000 metres at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Daegu Stadium on September 1 and 4.
Dejen Gebremeskel is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who primarily competes in track events. His personal best of 12:46.81 minutes for the 5000 metres ranks him as the fifth fastest of all time for the distance. He was the 5000 m silver medallist at the 2012 London Olympics and took the bronze medal over that distance at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics.
Hagos Gebrhiwet Berhe is an Ethiopian long-distance runner and the former World Junior Record holder in the 5000 meters (12:47:53).
Muktar Edris is an Ethiopian professional long-distance runner who competes in track and cross country races.
The men's 5000 metres at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Luzhniki Stadium on 13 and 16 August.
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.
The men's 5000 metres at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Beijing National Stadium on 26 and 29 August.
Paul Kipkemoi Chelimo is an American track and field athlete. He is the 2016 Olympic silver medalist and the 2020 Olympic bronze medalist in the 5000 meters.
Birhanu Balew is an Ethiopian-born long-distance runner representing Bahrain. He reached the final of the 5000 m event at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
The men's 5000 metres at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics was held at the London Olympic Stadium on 9−12 August. This race was announced as the last track race of Mo Farah's career as he intends to focus on marathon running and road racing. Farah had been in every final since 2007, winning three straight since 2011.
Selemon Barega Shirtaga is an Ethiopian long-distance runner. He won the gold medal in the 10,000 metres at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and a silver for the 5000 metres at the 2019 World Championships in Doha. Barega is a two-time 3000 metres World Indoor Championship medallist, taking a silver in 2018, and a gold in 2022.
The men's 3000 metres at the 2018 IAAF World Indoor Championships took place on 2 and 4 March 2018.
The men's 5000 metres event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 3 and 6 August 2021 at the Japan National Stadium. Approximately 45 athletes competed; the exact number was dependent on how many nations use universality places to enter athletes in addition to the 42 qualifying through time or ranking.
The men's 10,000 metres event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 30 July 2021 at the Japan National Stadium. 25 athletes competed. None of the 2016 medalists took part in the competition. Selemon Barega from Ethiopia won the event, with Ugandans Joshua Cheptegei, the world record holder, and Jacob Kiplimo coming second and third, respectively. All of them won their first Olympic medal.
The men's 5000 metres at the 2019 World Athletics Championships was held at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha from 27 to 30 September 2019.
The men's 10,000 metres at the 2019 World Athletics Championships was held at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha on 6 October 2019.
References
↑ "Men's 5000m". Rio 2016 Organisation. Archived from the original on 21 August 2016. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
NB: Women's events from 1984–1992 were over 3000 metres
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