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Athletics at the 1924 Paris Summer Games:

Men's 5,000 metres



Host City: Paris, France
Venue(s): Colombes Olympic Stadium, Colombes
Date Started: July 8, 1924
Date Finished: July 10, 1924

Gold: FIN Paavo Nurmi
Silver: FIN Ville Ritola
Bronze: SWE Edvin Wide


The two favorites were Finland’s Paavo Nurmi and Ville Ritola. The big question concerned Nurmi, who was attempting a 1,500/5K double with both finals being run on the same afternoon. Ritola had already won the 10K in Paris. The runners tried to set a fast pace, hoping that Nurmi would be tired from having won the 1,500 gold medal only 42 minutes before the start of this race. Edvin Wide (SWE) started quickly and only Ritola followed him, but Nurmi caught the leaders at 2K. By 3,000 metres Ritola and Nurmi had dropped Wide and it became a two-man race. Nurmi took the lead by 4K and continued to push the pace, but could not drop Ritola. Ritola kept pushing but could never get to the lead and Nurmi held off all attacks on him over the last lap.

Final Standings

Rank Athlete Age Team NOC Medal
1 Paavo Nurmi 26 Finland FIN Gold OR
2 Ville Ritola 28 Finland FIN Silver
3 Edvin Wide 28 Sweden SWE Bronze
4 John Romig 25 United States USA
5 Eino Seppälä 27 Finland FIN
6 Charles Clibbon 29 Great Britain GBR
7 Lucien Dolquès 19 France FRA
8 Axel Eriksson 21 Sweden SWE
9 Léon Mascaux France FRA
10 Frank Saunders 24 Great Britain GBR
11 Eino Rastas 29 Finland FIN
12 Katsuo Okazaki 26 Japan JPN
5 h1 r1/2 Charles Johnstone 20 Great Britain GBR
5 h2 r1/2 Maurice Norland 22 France FRA
5 h3 r1/2 Lucien Duquesne 23 France FRA
6 h1 r1/2 Ralph Starr 21 Great Britain GBR
6 h2 r1/2 Pete Phelps 21 United States USA
6 h3 r1/2 Jan Zeegers 22 Netherlands NED
7 h1 r1/2 Eastman Doolittle 24 United States USA
7 h2 r1/2 David McGill 22 Canada CAN
7 h3 r1/2 Alexandros Kranis Greece GRE
8 h1 r1/2 Camiel Vandevelde 21 Belgium BEL
8 h2 r1/2 István Kultsár 23 Hungary HUN
8 h3 r1/2 George Lermond 19 United States USA
9 h1 r1/2 Alfredo Gomes 25 Brazil BRA
9 h2 r1/2 Stefan Szelestowski 23 Poland POL
9 h3 r1/2 Malcolm Boyd 27 Australia AUS
10 h1 r1/2 Mohamed El-Sayed Egypt EGY
10 h2 r1/2 Pala Singh India IND
10 h3 r1/2 Hans Kantor Austria AUT
11 h1 r1/2 Joaquín Miquel Spain ESP
11 h2 r1/2 Karel Nedobitý 18 Czechoslovakia TCH
11 h3 r1/2 Miguel Palau 22 Spain ESP
12 h1 r1/2 Vilis Cimmermanis 27 Latvia LAT
12 h3 r1/2 Pedro Curiel Mexico MEX
13 h1 r1/2 Daniel Eslava Mexico MEX
13 h3 r1/2 Artūrs Motmillers 23 Latvia LAT
14 h1 r1/2 Stanisław Ziffer 19 Poland POL
AC h2 r1/2 William Marthe Switzerland SUI