# Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's 5000 metres

The Men's 5000 metres at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place on 20 and 23 August at the Beijing National Stadium. The winning margin was 4.98 seconds.
The qualifying standards were 13:21.50 (A standard) and 13:28.00 (B standard).

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world record, Olympic record, and world leading time were as follows:
| World record | Kenenisa Bekele (ETH) | 12:37.35 | Hengelo, Netherlands | 31 May 2004 |
| Olympic record | Saïd Aouita (MAR) | 13:05.59 | Los Angeles, United States | 11 August 1984 |
| World Leading | Moses Masai (KEN) | 12:50.55 | Berlin, Germany | 1 June 2008 |
The following new Olympic record was set during this competition:
| Date | Event | Athlete | Time | Notes |
| 23 August 2008 | Final | Kenenisa Bekele (ETH) | 12:57.82 | OR |

## Results
### Heat 1

Qualification: First 4 in each heat(Q) and the next 3 fastest(q) advance to the Final.
To sort this table by heat, athlete, or any other column, click on the icon next to the column title.
| Rank | Athlete | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Matthew Tegenkamp | United States | 13:37.36 | Q |
| 2 | Eliud Kipchoge | Kenya | 13:37.50 | Q |
| 3 | Tariku Bekele | Ethiopia | 13:37.63 | Q |
| 4 | Kidane Tadasse | Eritrea | 13:37.72 | Q |
| 5 | Alemayehu Bezabeh | Spain | 13:37.88 | q |
| 6 | Alistair Ian Cragg | Ireland | 13:38.57 | q |
| 7 | Juan Luis Barrios | Mexico | 13:42.39 | q |
| 8 | Anis Selmouni | Morocco | 13:43.70 | |
| 9 | Aadam Ismaeel Khamis | Bahrain | 13:44.76 | |
| 10 | Collis Birmingham | Australia | 13:44.90 | |
| 11 | Geofrey Kusuro | Uganda | 13:50.50 | |
| 12 | Sultan Khamis Zaman | Qatar | 13:53.38 | |
| 13 | Takayuki Matsumiya | Japan | 14:20.24 | |
| 14 | Soe Min Thu | Myanmar | 15:50.56 | |

### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Edwin Cheruiyot Soi | Kenya | 13:46.41 | Q |
| 2 | Moses Ndiema Kipsiro | Uganda | 13:46.58 | Q |
| 3 | Abreham Cherkos | Ethiopia | 13:47.60 | Q |
| 4 | Jesús España | Spain | 13:48.88 | Q |
| 5 | Ali Abdalla | Eritrea | 13:49.68 | |
| 6 | Mo Farah | Great Britain | 13:50.95 | |
| 7 | Adrian Blincoe | New Zealand | 13:55.27 | |
| 8 | Mourad Marofit | Morocco | 14:00.76 | |
| 9 | Ian Dobson | United States | 14:05.47 | |
| 10 | Tonny Wamulwa | Zambia | 14:06.96 | |
| 11 | Kevin Sullivan | Canada | 14:09.16 | |
| 12 | Ali Saïdi-Sief | Algeria | 14:15.00 | |
| 13 | Nader Almassri | Palestine | 14:41.10 | |
| | Rashid Ramzi | Bahrain | DNS | |

### Heat 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Bernard Lagat | United States | 13:39.70 | Q |
| 2 | James Kwalia C'Kurui | Qatar | 13:39.96 | Q |
| 3 | Kenenisa Bekele | Ethiopia | 13:40.13 | Q |
| 4 | Thomas Pkemei Longosiwa | Kenya | 13:41.30 | Q |
| 5 | Craig Mottram | Australia | 13:44.39 | |
| 6 | Moukheld Al-Outaibi | Saudi Arabia | 13:47.00 | |
| 7 | Kensuke Takezawa | Japan | 13:49.42 | SB |
| 8 | Monder Rizki | Belgium | 13:54.41 | |
| 9 | Alberto García | Spain | 13:58.20 | |
| 10 | Philippe Bandi | Switzerland | 13:59.68 | |
| 11 | Abdelaziz Ennaji El Idrissi | Morocco | 14:05.30 | |
| 12 | Abdinasir Said Ibrahim | Somalia | 14:21.58 | |
| | Selim Bayrak | Turkey | DNS | |
| | Hasan Mahboob | Bahrain | DNS | |
| | David Galván | Mexico | DNS | |

### Final

23 August 2008 - 20:10
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| | Kenenisa Bekele | Ethiopia | 12:57.82 | OR |
| | Eliud Kipchoge | Kenya | 13:02.80 | |
| | Edwin Cheruiyot Soi | Kenya | 13:06.22 | SB |
| 4 | Moses Ndiema Kipsiro | Uganda | 13:10.56 | |
| 5 | Abreham Cherkos | Ethiopia | 13:16.46 | |
| 6 | Tariku Bekele | Ethiopia | 13:19.06 | |
| 7 | Juan Luis Barrios | Mexico | 13:19.79 | SB |
| 8 | James Kwalia C'Kurui | Qatar | 13:23.48 | |
| 9 | Bernard Lagat | United States | 13:26.89 | |
| 10 | Kidane Tadasse | Eritrea | 13:28.40 | |
| 11 | Alemayehu Bezabeh | Spain | 13:30.48 | |
| 12 | Thomas Pkemei Longosiwa | Kenya | 13:31.34 | |
| 13 | Matthew Tegenkamp | United States | 13:33.13 | |
| 14 | Jesús España | Spain | 13:55.94 | |
| | Alistair Cragg | Ireland | DNF | |

### Splits

| Intermediate | Athlete | Country | Mark |
| 1000m | Tariku Bekele | Ethiopia | 2:45.49 |
| 2000m | Tariku Bekele | Ethiopia | 5:22.29 |
| 3000m | Kenenisa Bekele | Ethiopia | 8:00.85 |
| 4000m | Kenenisa Bekele | Ethiopia | 10:32.52 |