# 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. The winning margin was 0.8 seconds.

## 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