| | Event type

5,000 metres, Men

Date	16 – 18 October 1964
Status	Olympic
Location	Kokuritsu Kyogijo, Shinjuku, Tokyo
Participants	48 from 29 countries

A few weeks before the Tokyo Olympics, America’s Bob Schul had broken the world record for 2 miles, running 8:26.4 in Los Angeles. With no heavy favorite in the 5K, he felt he had the best finishing speed and if he could stay in contact until the final lap, felt he could win the gold medal. The pace in the final was set up Australia’s Ron Clarke, but France’s Michel Jazy took the lead at the bell. Jazy would break the world mile record in 1965 and also possessed top finishing speed. With 200 metres left, Jazy had a five-metre lead and looked a sure bet. But Schul began his kick on the final curve and caught him with 50 metres left, becoming the first American to win the 5,000 metres at the Olympics – and thru 2008, the only one. Jazy had nothing left and fell out of the medals, passed in the closing metres by Harald Norpoth (FRG) and the USA’s Bill Dellinger. At the 1966 European Championships, Jazy would win the gold medal, defeating Norpoth in the stretch. The race was run in a heavy rain.

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	R1	Final
1	719	Bob Schul	USA	14:11.4 (2 h3)	13:48.8 (1)	Gold
2	209	Harald Norpoth	GER	14:11.6 (3 h3)	13:49.6 (2)	Silver
3	717	Bill Dellinger	USA	13:52.2 (2 h2)	13:49.8 (3)	Bronze
4	124	Michel Jazy	FRA	13:55.4 (1 h1)	13:49.8 (4)
5	388	Kip Keino	KEN	13:49.6 (2 h4)	13:50.4 (5)
6	468	Bill Baillie	NZL	13:55.4 (2 h1)	13:51.0 (6)
7	651	Nikolay Dutov	URS	13:50.6 (3 h4)	13:53.8 (7)
8	456	Thor Helland	NOR	13:52.4 (3 h2)	13:57.0 (8)
9	12	Ron Clarke	AUS	13:48.4 (1 h4)	13:58.0 (9)
10	652	Stepan Baydyuk	URS	14:00.2 (3 h1)	14:11.2 (10)
11	164	Mike Wiggs	GBR	13:51.0 (1 h2)	14:20.8 (11)
1 h3 r1/2	615	Mohamad Gammoudi	TUN	14:10.2 (1 h3)	– (DNS)
4 h1 r1/2	533	Andrei Barabaș	ROU	14:00.2 (4 h1)	–
4 h2 r1/2	500	Lech Boguszewicz	POL	13:52.8 (4 h2)	–
4 h3 r1/2	469	Murray Halberg	NZL	14:12.0 (4 h3)	–
4 h4 r1/2	558	Paco Aritmendi	ESP	14:05.0 (4 h4)	–
5 h1 r1/2	13	Tony Cook	AUS	14:02.4 (5 h1)	–
5 h2 r1/2	650	Kęstutis Orentas	URS	13:54.0 (5 h2)	–
5 h3 r1/2	85	Josef Tomáš	TCH	14:12.6 (5 h3)	–
5 h4 r1/2	564	Sven-Olov Larsson	SWE	14:10.2 (5 h4)	–
6 h1 r1/2	163	John Herring	GBR	14:07.2 (6 h1)	–
6 h2 r1/2	38	Eugène Allonsius	BEL	13:55.0 (6 h2)	–
6 h3 r1/2	565	Bengt Nåjde	SWE	14:13.4 (6 h3)	–
6 h4 r1/2	792	Satsuo Iwashita	JPN	14:18.4 (6 h4)	–
7 h1 r1/2	622	Muharrem Dalkılıç	TUR	14:12.0 (7 h1)	–
7 h2 r1/2	128	Jean Vaillant	FRA	14:05.8 (7 h2)	–
7 h3 r1/2	782	Franc Červan	YUG	14:16.6 (7 h3)	–
7 h4 r1/2	162	Derek Graham	GBR	14:21.6 (7 h4)	–
8 h1 r1/2	210	Lutz Philipp	GER	14:15.2 (8 h1)	–
8 h2 r1/2	208	Manfred Letzerich	GER	14:06.2 (8 h2)	–
8 h3 r1/2	103	Simo Saloranta	FIN	14:24.6 (8 h3)	–
8 h4 r1/2	718	Oscar Moore	USA	14:24.0 (8 h4)	–
9 h1 r1/2	60	Bruce Kidd	CAN	14:21.8 (9 h1)	–
9 h2 r1/2	325	Tom O'Riordan	IRL	14:08.8 (9 h2)	–
9 h3 r1/2	291	Lajos Mecser	HUN	14:35.4 (9 h3)	–
9 h4 r1/2	781	Simo Važić	YUG	14:33.8 (9 h4)	–
10 h1 r1/2	292	János Pintér	HUN	14:41.0 (10 h1)	–
10 h2 r1/2	93	Aske Dam	DEN	14:20.4 (10 h2)	–
10 h3 r1/2	127	Jean Fayolle	FRA	14:44.6 (10 h3)	–
10 h4 r1/2	39	Henri Clerckx	BEL	14:40.0 (10 h4)	–
11 h1 r1/2	413	Jean Randrianjatavo	MAD	15:50.4 (11 h1)	–
11 h2 r1/2	11	Albie Thomas	AUS	14:27.8 (11 h2)	–
11 h3 r1/2	600	Somsak Keaokanta	THA	16:08.8 (11 h3)	–
11 h4 r1/2	470	Neville Scott	NZL	15:01.0 (11 h4)	–
12 h2 r1/2	557	Fernando Aguilar	ESP	14:29.2 (12 h2)	–
12 h3 r1/2	67	Ranatunge Karunananda	SRI	16:22.2 (12 h3)	–
13 h2 r1/2	79	Álvaro Mejía	COL	14:41.4 (13 h2)	–
13 h3 r1/2	780	Nguyễn Văn Lý	VNM	17:28.0 (13 h3)	–
DNS	40	Gaston Roelants	BEL	– (DNS h1)	–
DNS	98	Mamo Wolde	ETH	– (DNS h4)	–
DNS	330	Ibrahim Yazdan Panah	IRI	– (DNS h2)	–
DNS	434	Ben Assou El-Ghazi	MAR	– (DNS h4)	–
DNS	521	Manuel Oliveira	POR	– (DNS h4)	–
DNS	594	Pascal Mfyomi	TAN	– (DNS h1)	–

Round One (16 October 1964 — 15:00)

Top three in each heat advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Ord	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)
1	1	Michel Jazy	FRA	13:55.4	Q
2	12	Bill Baillie	NZL	13:55.4	Q
3	13	Stepan Baydyuk	URS	14:00.2	Q
4	2	Andrei Barabaș	ROU	14:00.2
5	6	Tony Cook	AUS	14:02.4
6	1	John Herring	GBR	14:07.2
7	8	Muharrem Dalkılıç	TUR	14:12.0
8	11	Lutz Philipp	GER	14:15.2
9	4	Bruce Kidd	CAN	14:21.8
10	10	János Pintér	HUN	14:41.0
11	7	Jean Randrianjatavo	MAD	15:50.4
DNS	40	Gaston Roelants	BEL	–
DNS	594	Pascal Mfyomi	TAN	–

Heat Two

Pos	Ord	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)
1	8	Mike Wiggs	GBR	13:51.0	Q
2	12	Bill Dellinger	USA	13:52.2	Q
3	1	Thor Helland	NOR	13:52.4	Q
4	6	Lech Boguszewicz	POL	13:52.8
5	9	Kęstutis Orentas	URS	13:54.0
6	14	Eugène Allonsius	BEL	13:55.0
7	3	Jean Vaillant	FRA	14:05.8
8	5	Manfred Letzerich	GER	14:06.2
9	10	Tom O'Riordan	IRL	14:08.8
10	11	Aske Dam	DEN	14:20.4
11	7	Albie Thomas	AUS	14:27.8
12	2	Fernando Aguilar	ESP	14:29.2
13	4	Álvaro Mejía	COL	14:41.4
DNS	330	Ibrahim Yazdan Panah	IRI	–

Heat Three

Pos	Ord	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)
1	7	Mohamad Gammoudi	TUN	14:10.2	Q
2	8	Bob Schul	USA	14:11.4	Q
3	11	Harald Norpoth	GER	14:11.6	Q
4	5	Murray Halberg	NZL	14:12.0
5	9	Josef Tomáš	TCH	14:12.6
6	1	Bengt Nåjde	SWE	14:13.4
7	10	Franc Červan	YUG	14:16.6
8	2	Simo Saloranta	FIN	14:24.6
9	12	Lajos Mecser	HUN	14:35.4
10	4	Jean Fayolle	FRA	14:44.6
11	6	Somsak Keaokanta	THA	16:08.8
12	3	Ranatunge Karunananda	SRI	16:22.2
13	12	Nguyễn Văn Lý	VNM	17:28.0

Heat Four

Pos	Ord	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)
1	3	Ron Clarke	AUS	13:48.4	Q
2	7	Kip Keino	KEN	13:49.6	Q
3	8	Nikolay Dutov	URS	13:50.6	Q
4	10	Paco Aritmendi	ESP	14:05.0
5	11	Sven-Olov Larsson	SWE	14:10.2
6	9	Satsuo Iwashita	JPN	14:18.4
7	6	Derek Graham	GBR	14:21.6
8	5	Oscar Moore	USA	14:24.0
9	12	Simo Važić	YUG	14:33.8
10	14	Henri Clerckx	BEL	14:40.0
11	13	Neville Scott	NZL	15:01.0
DNS	98	Mamo Wolde	ETH	–
DNS	434	Ben Assou El-Ghazi	MAR	–
DNS	521	Manuel Oliveira	POR	–

Final (18 October 1964 — 16:05)

Pos	Ord	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)
1	2	Bob Schul	USA	13:48.8
2	1	Harald Norpoth	GER	13:49.6
3	6	Bill Dellinger	USA	13:49.8
4	5	Michel Jazy	FRA	13:49.8
5	10	Kip Keino	KEN	13:50.4
6	9	Bill Baillie	NZL	13:51.0
7	11	Nikolay Dutov	URS	13:53.8
8	8	Thor Helland	NOR	13:57.0
9	3	Ron Clarke	AUS	13:58.0
10	12	Stepan Baydyuk	URS	14:11.2
11	4	Mike Wiggs	GBR	14:20.8
DNS	7	Mohamad Gammoudi	TUN	–

Splits

1000 m	2:50.2	Thor Helland
2000 m	5:39.4	Thor Helland
3000 m	8:22.2	Thor Helland
4000 m	11:15.6	Michel Jazy