Quick Facts Men's 5000 metres at the Games of the V Olympiad, Venue ...

Men's 5000 metres at the Games of the V Olympiad
The finish: Kolehmainen on the way to pass Bouin who is still in the lead.
Venue	Stockholm Olympic Stadium
Dates	July 9 (semifinals) July 10 (final)
Competitors	31 from 11 nations
Medalists
Hannes Kolehmainen  Finland Jean Bouin  France George Hutson  Great Britain
1920 →

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The men's 5000 metres was a track and field athletics event held as part of the Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics programme. It was the debut of the event, which along with the 10000 metre event replaced the 5 mile race held at the 1908 Summer Olympics. The competition was held on Tuesday, July 9, 1912, and on Wednesday, July 10, 1912. Thirty-one long-distance runners from eleven nations competed.^[1] NOCs could enter up to 12 athletes.^[2]

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1912 Summer Olympics.

More information World Record, Olympic Record ...

World Record	14:59.0(*)	Alfred Shrubb	Glasgow (GBR)	June 13, 1904
Olympic Record	-	none	-	-

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(*) unofficial

George Bonhag, in winning the first semifinal, which was the first Olympic 5000 ever, set the Olympic record at 15:22.6. It lasted until the 5th and last semifinal, in which Jean Bouin broke it by finishing in 15:05.0. Unsurprisingly, that record stood only until the next race—Hannes Kolehmainen won the final at 14:36.6 as both he and Bouin (just behind Kolehmainen, at 14:36.7) surpassed the best time of the semifinals. This record became the first official world record for the 5000 metres.