# Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Men's 5000 metres

The Men's 5000 metres competition at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico. The event was held at the University Olympic Stadium on October 15–17.

## Competition format

The Men's 5000m competition consisted of three heats (Round 1) and a Final. The top five runners from each heat advanced to the final.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows:
| World record | Ron Clarke (AUS) | 13:16.6 | Stockholm, Sweden | July 5, 1966 |
| Olympic record | Vladimir Kuts (URS) | 13:39.6 | Melbourne, Australia | November 26, 1956 |

## Results
### Round 1
#### Heat 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Kipchoge Keino | Kenya | 14:28.4 | Q |
| 2 | Mohammed Gammoudi | Tunisia | 14:29.0 | Q |
| 3 | Mamo Wolde | Ethiopia | 14:29.8 | Q |
| 4 | Bob Finlay | Canada | 14:31.8 | Q |
| 5 | Emiel Puttemans | Belgium | 14:34.6 | Q |
| 6 | Bernd Dießner | East Germany | 14:41.0 | |
| 7 | Rashid Sharafetdinov | Soviet Union | 14:44.0 | |
| 8 | Dick Taylor | Great Britain | 14:46.6 | |
| 9 | Keisuke Sawaki | Japan | 15:00.8 | |
| 10 | György Kiss | Hungary | 15:13.0 | |
| 11 | Lou Scott | United States | 15:13.6 | |
| 12 | Esau Adenji | Cameroon | 15:46.2 | |
| 13 | Gabriel M'Boa | Central African Republic | 17:33.0 | |
| 14 | Juan Valladares | Honduras | 18:21.6 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Naftali Temu | Kenya | 14:20.4 | Q |
| 2 | Ron Clarke | Australia | 14:20.8 | Q |
| 3 | Wohib Masresha | Ethiopia | 14:27.0 | Q |
| 4 | Jack Bacheler | United States | 14:31.0 | Q |
| 5 | Nikolay Sviridov | Soviet Union | 14:38.8 | Q |
| 6 | Ahmed Zammel | Tunisia | 14:54.0 | |
| 7 | Alan Blinston | Great Britain | 15:06.2 | |
| 8 | Werner Schneiter | Switzerland | 15:08.2 | |
| 9 | Mustafa Musa | Uganda | 15:10.2 | |
| 10 | Edward Stawiarz | Poland | 15:13.8 | |
| 11 | Werner Girke | West Germany | 15:20.8 | |
| 12 | Rafael Pérez | Costa Rica | 15:41.4 | |
| 13 | Benjamin Silva-Netto | Philippines | 17:10.2 | |
| 14 | Clovis Morales | Honduras | 18:40.2 | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Jean Wadoux | France | 14:19.8 | Q |
| 2 | Juan Máximo Martínez | Mexico | 14:20.0 | Q |
| 3 | Harald Norpoth | West Germany | 14:20.6 | Q |
| 4 | Rex Maddaford | New Zealand | 14:20.8 | Q |
| 5 | Fikru Deguefu | Ethiopia | 14:21.6 | Q |
| 6 | Bob Day | United States | 14:23.2 | |
| 7 | Leonid Mykytenko | Soviet Union | 14:44.0 | |
| 8 | Allan Rushmer | Great Britain | 15:05.2 | |
| 9 | Julio Quevedo | Guatemala | 15:23.0 | |
| — | Dave Ellis | Canada | DNF | |
| — | Roland Brehmer | Poland | DNF | |

### Final

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time |
| | Mohammed Gammoudi | Tunisia | 14:05.0 |
| | Kipchoge Keino | Kenya | 14:05.2 |
| | Naftali Temu | Kenya | 14:06.4 |
| 4 | Juan Máximo Martínez | Mexico | 14:10.8 |
| 5 | Ron Clarke | Australia | 14:12.4 |
| 6 | Wohib Masresha | Ethiopia | 14:17.6 |
| 7 | Nikolay Sviridov | Soviet Union | 14:18.4 |
| 8 | Fikru Deguefu | Ethiopia | 14:19.0 |
| 9 | Jean Wadoux | France | 14:20.8 |
| 10 | Rex Maddaford | New Zealand | 14:39.8 |
| 11 | Bob Finlay | Canada | 14:45.0 |
| 12 | Emiel Puttemans | Belgium | 14:59.6 |
| — | Harald Norpoth | West Germany | DNF |
Notes: Q- Qualified by place DNF - Did Not Finish