The men's 5000 metres event was part of the track and field athletics programme

Athletics at the 1924 Summer Olympics

At the 1924 Summer Olympics held in Paris, 27 athletics events were contested, all for men only.-Medal table:-Medal summary:-Participating nations:657 athletes from 40 nations competed. Ten nations competed in athletics for the first time...

 at the 1924 Summer Olympics

1924 Summer Olympics

The 1924 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the VIII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1924 in Paris, France...

. The competition was held on Tuesday, July 8, 1924 and on Thursday, July 10, 1924.

38 long-distance runners from 21 nations competed.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1924 Summer Olympics.

World Record	14:28.2	Paavo Nurmi Paavo Nurmi Paavo Johannes Nurmi was a Finnish runner. Born in Turku, he was known as one of the "Flying Finns," a term given to him, Hannes Kolehmainen, Ville Ritola, and others for their distinction in running...	Helsinki Helsinki Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...  (FIN Finland Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside... )	June 19, 1924
Olympic Record	14:36.6	Hannes Kolehmainen Hannes Kolehmainen Juho Pietari "Hannes" Kolehmainen was a Finnish long-distance runner. He is considered to be the first of a generation of great Finnish long distance runners, often named the "Flying Finns". Kolehmainen competed for a number of years in the United States, wearing the Winged Fist of the Irish...	Stockholm Stockholm Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...  (SWE Sweden Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund.... )	July 10, 1912

In the final Paavo Nurmi

Paavo Nurmi

Paavo Johannes Nurmi was a Finnish runner. Born in Turku, he was known as one of the "Flying Finns," a term given to him, Hannes Kolehmainen, Ville Ritola, and others for their distinction in running...

set a new Olympic record with 14:31.2 minutes.

Semifinals

All semi-finals were held on Tuesday, July 8, 1924.

The best four finishers of every heat qualified for the final.

Semifinal 1

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1		15:22.2	Q
2		15:22.2	Q
3		15:23.6	Q
4		15:26.4	Q
5		15:27.4
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14		16:36.0

Semifinal 2

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1		15:28.6	Q
2		15:29.4	Q
3		15:34.6	Q
4		15:37.0	Q
5		15:41.4
6
7
8
9
10
11
-		DNF

Semifinal 3

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1		15:14.6	Q
2		15:24.0	Q
3		15:32.1	Q
4		15:35.6	Q
5		16:03.0
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

Final

The final was held on Thursday, July 10, 1924.

Nurmi had to improve the standing Olympic record to win the gold medal with Ritola only two tenths behind.

Place	Athlete	Time
1		14:31.2 OR
2		14:31.4
3		15:01.8
4		15:12.4
5		15:18.4
6		15:29.0
7		15:32.6
8		15:38.0
9		15:39.0
10		15:54.0
11
12