| Final | time | | 1. Haile Gebrselassie |  ETH | 27:07.34 OR | | 2. Paul Tergat |  KEN | 27:08.17 | | 3. Salah Hissou |  MAR | 27:24.67 | | 4. Aloys Nizigama |  BDI | 27:33.79 | | 5. Josphat Machuka | KEN | 27:35.08 | | 6. Paul Koech | KEN | 27:35.19 | | 7. Khalid Skah | MAR | 27:46.98 | | 8. Mathias Ntawulikura |  RWA | 27:50.73 | | 9. Stephane Franke |  GER | 27:59.08 | | 10.Jon Brown |  GBR | 27:59.72 | | 11.Armando Quintanilla |  MEX | 28:09.46 | | 12.Marko Hhawu |  TAN | 28:20.58 | | 13.Abel Anton |  ESP | 28:29.37 | | 14.Carlos de la Torre | ESP | 28:32.11 | | 15.Alejandro Gomez | ESP | 28:39.11 | | 16.Zoltan Kaldy |  HUN | 28:45.48 | | 17.Worku Bikila | ETH | 28:59.15 | | 18.Stefano Baldini |  ITA | 29:07.77 | | -. Alyan al-Qahtani |  KSA | DNF | | -. Paul Evans | GBR | DNF |
|
| | Venue: Centennial Olympic Stadium, Atlanta. Capp.: 85,000. | | 46 competitors from 29 nations. | | Heats |
Gebrselassie, twice the World Champion by the time of the Olympics,
was the big favourite to win the title. No-one could have imagined such
aremarkable race, particularly after the first half was covered in a com
fortable 13:55.2 in the 27°C heat, with Nizigama leading for most of
the way.
Koech changed things just after halfway, producing a 62 lap in the
sixth kilometre, covered in 2:39.6. Machuka helped with the pace in the
eighth kilometre, and Tergat began to execute the final part of the grand
Kenyan plan with six laps to go, passing 8000m in 22:02.0. The pack
of five (Hissou, Gebrselassie and the three Kenyans) suddenly nar
rowed to a duel after a 60.3 lap, which featured a 29 second 200m burst
by the tall Kenyan. Tergat then ran 62 and two laps of 62.5, but found
the little Ethiopian gliding past him just before the bell. Gebrselassie
ran his next 200m in 28.4, opening up a 12m gap, which Tergat closed
to 6m in the finishing straight. The Ethiopian clocked 57.48 for his last
lap compared with 57.93 by the Kenyan. Both much faster than
Hissou’s 64.21. The second half had taken just 13:11.5 for “Geb”, and
the sheer pace, allied with the hard track meant that he would withdraw
from the 5000m.
|
| Heat 1 | time | | 1. Worku Bikila | ETH | 27:50.57 | | 2. Paul Tergat | KEN | 27:50.66 | | 3. Mathias Ntawulikura | RWA | 27:51.69 | | 4. Aloys Nizigama | BDI | 27:53.21 | | 5. Salah Hissou | MAR | 27:53.32 | | 6. Stefano Baldini | ITA | 27:55.79 | | 7. Abel Anton | ESP | 27:56.26 | | 8. Carlos de la Torre | ESP | 28:04.14 | | 9. Zoltan Kaldy | HUN | 28:13.49 | | 10.Marko Hhawu | TAN | 28:14.08 | | 11.Paul Evans | GBR | 28:24.39 | | 12.Robbie Johnston |  NZL | 28:40.60 | | 13.Katsuhiko Hanada |  JPN | 28:52.22 | | 14.Robert Stefko |  SVK | 29:03.80 | | 15.Carlos Patricio |  POR | 29:15.41 | | 16.Ronaldo da Costa |  BRA | 29:26.58 | | 17.Dan Middleman |  USA | 29:50.72 | | 18.Mohamed Ezzher |  FRA | 29:55.34 | | 19.Martin Pitayo | MEX | 30:32.20 | | 20.Herder Vasquez |  COL | 33:26.15 | | 21.Majed Abu Maraheel |  PLE | 34:40.50 | | -. Larbi Zeroual | MAR | DNF | | -. Julian Paynter |  AUS | DNS | | -. Yasuyuki Watanabe | JPN | DNS |
|
|
| Heat 2 | time | | 1. Haile Gebrselassie | ETH | 28:14.20 | | 2. Josphat Machuka | KEN | 28:14.27 | | 3. Paul Koech | KEN | 28:17.48 | | 4. Jon Brown | GBR | 28:19.85 | | 5. Alyan al-Qahtani | KSA | 28:22.35 | | 6. Khalid Skah | MAR | 28:23.21 | | 7. Stephane Franke | GER | 28:24.30 | | 8. Armando Quintanilla | MEX | 28:27.28 | | 9. Alejandro Gomez | ESP | 28:28.16 | | 10.Silvio Guerra |  ECU | 28:30.15 | | 11.Abraham Assefa | ETH | 28:32.24 | | 12.Toshinari Takaoka | JPN | 28:38.18 | | 13.Shaun Creighton | AUS | 28:44.29 | | 14.Alfredo Braz | POR | 28:50.28 | | 15.Hendrick Ramaala |  RSA | 29:07.81 | | 16.Brad Barquist | USA | 29:11.20 | | 17.Charles Mulinga |  ZAM | 29:14.99 | | 18.Miroslav Vanko | SVK | 29:17.53 | | 19.Sean Dollman |  IRL | 29:19.03 | | 20.Hamid Sadjadi |  IRI | 29:22.65 | | 21.Jeff Schiebler |  CAN | 29:47.79 | | -. Abdellah Behar | FRA | DNF | | -. Paulo Guerra | POR | DNF | | -. Todd Williams | USA | DNF |
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