Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's 5000 metres
# Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's 5000 metres

The men's 5000 metres event at the 1952 Olympic Games took place July 22 and July 24. The final was won by Emil Zátopek of Czechoslovakia.

## Results

### Heats

The first round was on July 22. The fastest five runners from each heat qualified for the final.

Heat 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time (hand) | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Alain Mimoun | France | 14:19.0 | Q |
| 2 | Ilmari Taipale | Finland | 14:22.8 | Q |
| 3 | Gaston Reiff | Belgium | 14:23.8 | Q |
| 4 | Åke Andersson | Sweden | 14:25.0 | Q |
| 5 | Gordon Pirie | Great Britain | 14:26.2 | Q |
| 6 | Nikifor Popov | Soviet Union | 14:28.5 | |
| 7 | Charlie Capozzoli | United States | 14:39.0 | |
| 8 | August Sutter | Switzerland | 14:45.2 | |
| 9 | Øistein Saksvik | Norway | 14:55.4 | |
| 10 | John Landy | Australia | 14:56.4 | |
| 11 | Helmuth Perz | Austria | 14:57.2 | |
| 12 | Osamu Inoue | Japan | 14:59.0 | |
| 13 | Stevan Pavlović | Yugoslavia | 14:59.2 | |
| 14 | József Kovács | Hungary | 17:09.2 | |

Heat 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time (hand) | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Herbert Schade | Germany | 14:15.4 | Q |
| 2 | Alan Parker | Great Britain | 14:18.2 | Q |
| 3 | Ernő Béres | Hungary | 14:19.6 | Q |
| 4 | Lucien Theys | Belgium | 14:22.2 | Q |
| 5 | Eero Tuomaala | Finland | 14:26.8 | Q |
| 6 | Ivan Semyonov | Soviet Union | 14:28.0 | |
| 7 | Alojzy Graj | Poland | 14:30.0 | |
| 8 | Osman Coşgül | Turkey | 14:36.2 | |
| 9 | Bertil Karlsson | Sweden | 14:45.8 | |
| 10 | Pierre Page | Switzerland | 14:57.0 | |
| 11 | Ali Baghbanbashi | Iran | 15:03.0 | |
| 12 | Ben Ahmed Abdelkrim | France | 15:10.2 | |
| 13 | Wes Santee | United States | 15:10.4 | |
| 14 | Zdravko Ceraj | Yugoslavia | 15:17.8 | |
| | Rich Ferguson | Canada | DNF | |

Heat 3

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time (hand) | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Aleksandr Anufriyev | Soviet Union | 14:23.6 | Q |
| 2 | Bertil Albertsson | Sweden | 14:26.0 | Q |
| 3 | Emil Zátopek | Czechoslovakia | 14:26.0 | Q |
| 4 | Les Perry | Australia | 14:27.0 | Q |
| 5 | Christopher Chataway | Great Britain | 14:27.8 | Q |
| 6 | Ib Planck | Denmark | 14:31.6 | |
| 7 | Martin Stokken | Norway | 14:39.0 | |
| 8 | Curt Stone | United States | 14:42.8 | |
| 9 | Jean Schlegel | France | 14:45.6 | |
| 10 | Kurt Rötzer | Austria | 14:49.4 | |
| 11 | Väinö Koskela | Finland | 14:50.8 | |
| 12 | Velimir Ilić | Yugoslavia | 14:51.6 | |
| 13 | Paul Frieden | Luxembourg | 15:23.2 | |
| 14 | Kristján Jóhannsson | Iceland | 15:23.8 | |
| 15 | Alphonse Vandenrydt | Belgium | 15:51.2 | |
| | George Hoskins | New Zealand | DNF | |

### Final

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time (hand) | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| | Emil Zátopek | Czechoslovakia | 14:06.6 | OR |
| | Alain Mimoun | France | 14:07.4 | |
| | Herbert Schade | Germany | 14:08.6 | |
| 4 | Gordon Pirie | Great Britain | 14:18.0 | |
| 5 | Chris Chataway | Great Britain | 14:18.0 | |
| 6 | Les Perry | Australia | 14:23.6 | |
| 7 | Ernő Béres | Hungary | 14:24.8 | |
| 8 | Åke Andersson | Sweden | 14:26.0 | |
| 9 | Bertil Albertsson | Sweden | 14:27.8 | |
| 10 | Aleksandr Anufriyev | Soviet Union | 14:31.4 | |
| 11 | Alan Parker | Great Britain | 14:37.0 | |
| 12 | Ilmari Taipale | Finland | 14:40.0 | |
| 13 | Eero Tuomaala | Finland | 14:54.2 | |
| 14 | Lucien Theys | Belgium | 14:59.0 | |
| | Gaston Reiff | Belgium | | DNF |

Key: DNF = Did not finish, OR = Olympic record

