Athletics at the 1932 Summer Olympics – Men's 5000 metres
# Athletics at the 1932 Summer Olympics – Men's 5000 metres

The men's 5000 metres event was part of the track and field athletics programme at the 1932 Summer Olympics. The competition was held on Tuesday, August 2, 1932, and on Friday, August 5, 1932.

## Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1932 Summer Olympics.

| World Record | 14:17.0 | Lauri Lehtinen | Helsinki (FIN) | June 19, 1932 |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Olympic Record | 14:31.2 | Paavo Nurmi | Paris (FRA) | July 10, 1924 |

In the final Lauri Lehtinen set a new Olympic record with 14:30.0 minutes.

## Results

### Semifinals

Both semi-finals were held on Tuesday, August 2, 1932, and started at 4:45 p.m.

The best seven finishers of every heat qualified for the final.

Semifinal 1

| Place | Athlete | Time | Qual. |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Ralph Hill (USA) | 14:59.6 | Q |
| 2 | Lauri Lehtinen (FIN) | 15:05.5 | Q |
| 3 | Jean-Gunnar Lindgren (SWE) | 15:06.0 | Q |
| 4 | Lauri Virtanen (FIN) | 15:06.4 | Q |
| 5 | Billy Savidan (NZL) | 15:08.2 | Q |
| 6 | Alex Hillhouse (AUS) | 15:14.0 | Q |
| 7 | Daniel Dean (USA) | 15:19.6 | Q |
| 8 | George Bailey (GBR) | | |
| 9 | Masamichi Kitamoto (JPN) | | |
| 10 | Juan Morales (MEX) | DNF | |

Semifinal 2

| Place | Athlete | Time | Qual. |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Alec Burns (GBR) | 15:25.8 | Q |
| 2 | Paul Rekers (USA) | 15:34.6 | Q |
| 3 | Erik Pettersson (SWE) | 15:36.4 | Q |
| 4 | Roger Rochard (FRA) | 15:37.8 | Q |
| 5 | Scotty Rankine (CAN) | 15:39.6 | Q |
| 6 | Max Syring (GER) | 15:48.5 | Q |
| 7 | Shoichiro Takenaka (JPN) | 15:56.0 | Q |
| 8 | Valentín González (MEX) | 16:00.0 | |

### Final

The final was held on Friday, August 5, 1932, and started at 3:15 p.m.

In a controversial move Lehtinen blocked Hill when he tried to pass Lehtinen on the final straight. Both runners broke the Olympic record but Lehtinen finished 30 cm in front.

| Place | Athlete | Time |
| - | - | - |
| | Lauri Lehtinen (FIN) | 14:30.0 OR |
| | Ralph Hill (USA) | 14:30.0 |
| | Lauri Virtanen (FIN) | 14:44.0 |
| 4 | Billy Savidan (NZL) | 14:49.6 |
| 5 | Jean-Gunnar Lindgren (SWE) | 14:54:7 |
| 6 | Max Syring (GER) | 14:59.0 |
| 7 | Alec Burns (GBR) | 15:04.4 |
| 8 | Daniel Dean (USA) | 15:08.5 |
| 9 | Erik Pettersson (SWE) | 15:13.4 |
| 10 | Alex Hillhouse (AUS) | 15:15.0 |
| 11 | Scotty Rankine (CAN) | 15:24.0 |
| 12 | Shoichiro Takenaka (JPN) | 17:20.0 |
| — | Paul Rekers (USA) | DNF |
| — | Roger Rochard (FRA) | DNF |
