# Athletics at the 1928 Summer Olympics – Men's 5000 metres

The men's 5000 metres event was part of the track and field athletics programme at the 1928 Summer Olympics. The competition was held on Tuesday, July 31, 1928, and Friday, August 3, 1928. Thirty-eight long-distance runners from 19 nations competed.

## Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1928 Summer Olympics.
| World Record | 14:28.2 | Paavo Nurmi | Helsinki (FIN) | June 19, 1924 |
| Olympic Record | 14:31.2 | Paavo Nurmi | Paris (FRA) | July 10, 1924 |

## Results
### Semifinals

All semifinals were held on Tuesday, July 31, 1928, and started at 5:10 p.m.
The best four finishers of every heat qualified for the final.

#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Leo Lermond | United States | 15:02.6 | Q |
| 2 | Staņislavs Petkēvičs | Latvia | 15:03.0 | Q |
| 3 | Eino Purje | Finland | 15:03.6 | Q |
| 4 | Ragnar Magnusson | Sweden | 15:03.8 | Q |
| 5 | Wally Beavers | Great Britain | | |
| 6 | Carl Petersen | Denmark | 15:13.0 | |
| 7 | Frederick Light | Great Britain | | |
| 8 | Lucien Duquesne | France | | |
| 9 | Seghir Beddari | France | | |
| — | Ciro Chapa | Mexico | DNF | |
| — | Charles Haworth | United States | DNF | |
| — | Karel Nedobitý | Czechoslovakia | DNF | |
| — | Billy Kibblewhite | Canada | DNF | |
| — | Nol Wolf | Netherlands | DNF | |
| — | Julien Serwy | Belgium | DNF | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Nils Eklöf | Sweden | 15:07.4 | Q |
| 2 | Ville Ritola | Finland | 15:10.8 | Q |
| 3 | Armas Kinnunen | Finland | 15:10.8 | Q |
| 4 | Brian Oddie | Great Britain | 15:16.0 | Q |
| 5 | Jesús Oyarbide | Spain | 15:22.0 | |
| 6 | Roger Pelé | France | | |
| 7 | Willi Boltze | Germany | 15:33.0 | |
| 8 | Jozef Koščak | Czechoslovakia | 15:42.0 | |
| 9 | Andreas Paouris | Greece | | |
| 10 | Julius Petraitis | Lithuania | | |
| 11 | David Abbott | United States | | |
| — | Art Keay | Canada | DNF | |
| — | George Hyde | Australia | DNF | |
| — | Pieter Gerbrands | Netherlands | DNF | |

#### Semifinal 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Macauley Smith | United States | 15:04.0 | Q |
| 2 | Edvin Wide | Sweden | 15:05.0 | Q |
| 3 | Herbert Johnston | Great Britain | 15:06.3 | Q |
| 4 | Paavo Nurmi | Finland | 15:08.0 | Q |
| 5 | Otto Kohn | Germany | | |
| 6 | Arie Klaase | Netherlands | | |
| 7 | Arturo Peña | Spain | 15:45.0 | |
| 8 | Vincent Callard | Canada | | |
| — | Gurbachan Singh | India | DNF | |

### Final

The final was held on Friday, August 3, 1928, and started at 2:30 p.m.
The same three runners finished on the podium as four years earlier in the 5000 metre event at the 1924 Games. But this time Ritola won the gold medal and Nurmi silver, Wide won the bronze medal again.
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time |
| | Ville Ritola | Finland | 14:38.0 |
| | Paavo Nurmi | Finland | 14:40.0 |
| | Edvin Wide | Sweden | 14:41.2 |
| 4 | Leo Lermond | United States | 14:50.0 |
| 5 | Ragnar Magnusson | Sweden | 14:59.6 |
| 6 | Armas Kinnunen | Finland | 15:02.0 |
| 7 | Staņislavs Petkēvičs | Latvia | |
| 8 | Herbert Johnston | Great Britain | |
| 9 | Brian Oddie | Great Britain | |
| 10 | Macauley Smith | United States | |
| — | Nils Eklöf | Sweden | DNF |
| — | Eino Purje | Finland | DNF |