Athletics at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Men's 10,000 metres

Men's 10,000 metres at the Games of the XXI Olympiad
Venue	Olympic Stadium
Dates	23 July 1976 (heats) 26 July 1976 (final)
Competitors	41 from 27 nations
Winning time	27:40.36
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Lasse Virén File:Flag of Finland.svg Finland 2nd place, silver medalist(s) Carlos Lopes File:Flag of Portugal.svg Portugal 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Brendan Foster File:Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg Great Britain

File:TV-icon-2.svg

Official Video Highlights

The official results of the Men's 10,000 metres at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The final was held on Monday July 26, 1976, after the qualifying heats were run on Friday July 23, 1976.

Medalists

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Lasse Virén File:Flag of Finland.svg Finland	Carlos Lopes File:Flag of Portugal.svg Portugal	Brendan Foster File:Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg Great Britain

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1976 Summer Olympics.

World Record	27:30.8	David Bedford	London (GBR)	July 13, 1973
Olympic Record	27:38.35	Lasse Virén	Munich (FRG)	September 3, 1972

Results

Final

This 10,000-metre final started slowly, with Britain's Anthony Simmons leading at 1,000 metres in 2:52.95. Around 200 metres later, Belgium's Marc Smet accelerated briefly, but with little effect on the other 15 runners. However, before 2,000 metres there was some pushing in the tightly bunched field. As a result, Norway's Knut Boro injured one of his legs, and he was forced to drop out. The pace only improved slightly through 2,000 metres (5:44.08) and 3,000 metres (8:33.37). Around 3,300 metres, Portugal's Carlos Lopes took the lead for the first time, but he was shortly thereafter passed by Simmons. Gradually Australia's David Fitzimons, who had exhausted himself in his qualifying heat, started to lose contact with the lead group. Lopes led the field at 4,000 metres in 11:22.82. During the fifth kilometre, he slowly accelerated the pace by over 3 seconds. At 5,000 metres, Lopes's time was 14:08.94. By 6,000 metres (16:52.29), several runners had already dropped from the lead group: The Netherlands' Jos Hermens, Belgium's Karel Lismont and Emiel Puttemans, France's Jean-Paul Gomez, Australia's Christopher Wardlaw, the United States' Gary Bjorklund, and Britain's Bernard Ford. Shortly after 6,000 metres, also Spain's Mariano Haro and Britain's Simmons lost contact with the top runners. The next runner to drop from the lead group was Romania's Ilie Floroiu. At 6,800 metres, the discouraged Puttemans dropped out of the final. Lopes's exhausting pace continued through 7,000 metres (19:36.34), shortly after which Smet dropped from the top runners' group. Foster was the next runner to lose contact with Lopes, at 8,000 metres (22:20.19). Lopes and Viren lapped Fitzsimons at 8,600 metres, while Foster lapped the worn out Australian runner at 8,900 metres. Lopes led still at 9,000 metres (25:02.88), with Viren remaining close behind him. Around 9,550 metres, Viren at last moved out from the first lane's inner edge, in order to pass Lopes. The tenacious Portuguese runner could not accelerate his pace, and thus Viren easily and quickly broke away from him. The only suspense during the last lap involved the bronze medalist's identity. Despite his fatigue, Foster was able to run the last lap in 63-64 seconds, which was enough to hold off Simmons' strong final kick. (Hannus, Matti, The Montreal Olympic Book / Montrealin olympiakirja, Finland, 1976; Wunsche, Wolfgang, The Heroes of the Race Tracks (the Finnish edition, c. 1984-1985); https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6NPfl8igr4 Lasse Viren, Montrealin 10000m (Finnish commentary); https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFVKBK0eM24&t=19s Olympics - 1972 Munich & 1976 Montreal - Track - Mens 5K & 10K - FIN Lasse Virein imasportsphile (English commentary).)

RANK	FINAL	TIME
File:Med 1.png	File:Flag of Finland.svg Lasse Virén (FIN)	27:40.38
File:Med 2.png	File:Flag of Portugal.svg Carlos Lopes (POR)	27:45.17
File:Med 3.png	File:Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg Brendan Foster (GBR)	27:54.92
4.	File:Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg Tony Simmons (GBR)	27:56.26
5.	File:Flag of Romania (1965-1989).svg Ilie Floroiu (ROU)	27:59.93
6.	File:Flag of Spain (1945–1977).svg Mariano Haro (ESP)	28:00.28
7.	File:Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Marc Smet (BEL)	28:02.80
8.	File:Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg Bernie Ford (GBR)	28:17.78
9.	File:Flag of France.svg Jean-Paul Gomez (FRA)	28:24.07
10.	File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Jos Hermens (NED)	28:25.04
11.	File:Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Karel Lismont (BEL)	28:26.48
12.	File:Flag of Australia.svg Chris Wardlaw (AUS)	28:29.91
13.	File:Flag of the United States.svg Garry Bjorklund (USA)	28:38.08
14.	File:Flag of Australia.svg David Fitzsimons (AUS)	29:17.74
—	File:Flag of Norway.svg Knut Børø (NOR)	DNF
—	File:Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Emiel Puttemans (BEL)	DNF

Qualifying Heats

RANK	HEAT 1	TIME
1.	File:Flag of Portugal.svg Carlos Lopes (POR)	28:04.53
2.	File:Flag of France.svg Jean-Paul Gomez (FRA)	28:10.52
3.	File:Flag of Spain (1945–1977).svg Mariano Haro (ESP)	28:11.66
4.	File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Jos Hermens (NED)	28:16.07
5.	File:Flag of Australia.svg Dave Fitzsimons (AUS)	28:16.43
6.	File:Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg Bernie Ford (GBR)	28:17.26
7.	File:Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Karel Lismont (BEL)	28:17.45
8.	File:Flag of Finland.svg Martti Vainio (FIN)	28:26.60
9.	File:Flag of SFR Yugoslavia.svg Dušan Janićijević (YUG)	28:48.87
10.	File:Flag of the United States.svg Ed Mendoza (USA)	29:02.97
11.	File:Flag of Colombia.svg Víctor Mora (COL)	30:26.57
12.	File:Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Chris McCubbins (CAN)	33:33.35
13.	File:Flag of Haiti (1964–1986).svg Olmeus Charles (HAI)	42:00.11

RANK	HEAT 2	TIME
1.	File:Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Marc Smet (BEL)	28:22.07
2.	File:Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg Brendan Foster (GBR)	28:22.19
3.	File:Flag of Norway.svg Knut Børø (NOR)	28:23.07
4.	File:Flag of Romania (1965-1989).svg Ilie Floroiu (ROU)	28:23.40
5.	File:Flag of Italy.svg Franco Fava (ITA)	28:24.80
6.	File:Flag of the United States.svg Craig Virgin (USA)	28:30.22
7.	File:Flag of Chile.svg Edmundo Warnke (CHI)	28:43.63
8.	File:Flag of India.svg Hari Chand (IND)	28:48.72
9.	File:Flag of Ireland (3-2).svg Eddie Leddy (IRL)	28:55.49
10.	File:Flag of Colombia.svg Domingo Tibaduiza (COL)	29:28.17
11.	File:Flag of Mexico.svg Rodolfo Gómez (MEX)	30:05.19
12.	File:Flag of France.svg Pierre Lévisse (FRA)	30:07.84
13.	File:Flag of Finland.svg Pekka Päivärinta (FIN)	DNF
14.	File:Flag of Saudi Arabia.svg Raja Faradj Al-Shalawi (KSA)	DNF

RANK	HEAT 3	TIME
1.	File:Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg Tony Simmons (GBR)	28:01.82
2.	File:Flag of the United States.svg Garry Bjorklund (USA)	28:12.24
3.	File:Flag of Finland.svg Lasse Virén (FIN)	28:14.95
4.	File:Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Emiel Puttemans (BEL)	28:15.52
5.	File:Flag of Australia.svg Chris Wardlaw (AUS)	28:17.52
6.	File:Flag of Germany.svg Detlef Uhlemann (FRG)	28:29.28
7.	File:Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg Toshiaki Kamata (JPN)	28:36.21
8.	File:Flag of Mexico.svg Luis Hernández (MEX)	28:44.17
9.	File:Flag of New Zealand.svg Dick Quax (NZL)	28:56.92
10.	File:Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Dan Shaughnessy (CAN)	29:26.96
11.	File:Flag of France.svg Lucien Rault (FRA)	29:40.76
12.	File:Flag of Spain (1945–1977).svg José Luis Ruiz (ESP)	31:03.43
13.	File:State Flag of Iran (1964-1980).svg Hossein Rabbi (IRI)	31:44.27
14.	File:Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg Tau John Tokwepota (PNG)	32:26.96

See also

• 1972 Men's Olympic Games 10000 metres (Munich)
• 1974 Men's European Championships 10000 metres (Rome)
• 1978 Men's European Championships 10000 metres (Prague)
• 1980 Men's Olympic Games 10000 metres (Moscow)
• 1982 Men's European Championships 10000 metres (Athens)
• 1983 Men's World Championships 10000 metres (Helsinki)

External links

• Official Report
• Results