# Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's 5000 metres

The Women's 5000 metres competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom. The event final was held at the Olympic Stadium on 10 of August.
From the start of the final Joanne Pavey took the lead, with Dibaba moving into the fourth position in the procession, ready to cover any moves. After about four laps Elena Romagnolo took up the front position for a few laps, to be replaced again with Pavey. At the 3K mark, Julia Bleasdale moved in behind her teammate, but in the next 200 metres, Dibaba decided it was time to take up the lead. The pace accelerated markedly, with the Ethiopian and Kenyan teams coming to the front and the others falling off the back. Viola Jelagat Kibiwot was the last to pay attention, sprinting along the outside to catch the group of leaders. Bleasdale was the last to stay with that group of six, who had achieved separation with 600 to go, Dibaba and Meseret Defar, led Kibiwot and Vivian Cheruiyot with the pace steadily increasing. With 200 to go, Cheruiyot moved into third, Kibiwot losing ground. Coming off the turn Defar moved onto Dibaba's shoulder, followed by Cheruiyot. Coming around the outside, Defar passed Dibaba, with Dibaba unable to change pace. 3 metres behind, Cheruiyot followed Defar to the line.

## Competition format

The Women's 5000m competition consisted of heats (Round 1) and a Final. The fastest competitors from each race in the heats qualified for the Final along with the fastest overall competitors not already qualified that were required to fill the eight spaces in the Final.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Tirunesh Dibaba (ETH) | 14:11.15 | Oslo, Norway | 6 June 2008 |
| Olympic record | Gabriela Szabo (ROU) | 14:40.79 | Sydney, Australia | 25 September 2000 |
| 2012 World leading | Vivian Cheruiyot (KEN) | 14:35.62 | Rome, Italy | 31 May 2012 |

## Schedule

All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)
| Date | Time | Round |
| Tuesday, 7 August 2012 | 10:55 | Round 1 |
| Friday, 10 August 2012 | 20:05 | Finals |

## Results
### Heats

Qual. rule: first 5 of each heat (Q) plus the 5 fastest times (q) qualified.

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Tirunesh Dibaba | Ethiopia | 14:58.48 | Q |
| 2 | Meseret Defar | Ethiopia | 14:58.70 | Q |
| 3 | Viola Kibiwot | Kenya | 14:59.31 | Q |
| 4 | Olga Golovkina | Russia | 15:05.26 | Q, PB |
| 5 | Julie Culley | United States | 15:05.38 | Q, PB |
| 6 | Tejitu Daba | Bahrain | 15:05.59 | q, PB |
| 7 | Silvia Weissteiner | Italy | 15:06.81 | SB |
| 8 | Kayoko Fukushi | Japan | 15:09.31 | SB |
| 9 | Barbara Parker | Great Britain | 15:12.81 | PB |
| 10 | Fionnuala Britton | Ireland | 15:12.97 | PB |
| 11 | Lyudmyla Kovalenko | Ukraine | 15:18.60 | |
| 12 | Judith Plá | Spain | 15:20.39 | PB |
| 13 | Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal | Norway | 15:24.86 | PB |
| 14 | Dudu Karakaya | Turkey | 15:28.32 | |
| 15 | Eloise Wellings | Australia | 15:35.53 | |
| 16 | Sandra López | Mexico | 15:55.16 | |
| - | Nadia Noujani | Morocco | DNF | |
| - | Sara Moreira | Portugal | DNS | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Gelete Burka | Ethiopia | 15:01.44 | Q |
| 2 | Vivian Cheruiyot | Kenya | 15:01.54 | Q |
| 3 | Sally Kipyego | Kenya | 15:01.87 | Q |
| 4 | Julia Bleasdale | Great Britain | 15:02.00 | Q, PB |
| 5 | Molly Huddle | United States | 15:02.26 | Q, SB |
| 6 | Yelena Nagovitsyna | Russia | 15:02.80 | q, PB |
| 7 | Joanne Pavey | Great Britain | 15:02.84 | q, SB |
| 8 | Shitaye Eshete | Bahrain | 15:05.48 | q, PB |
| 9 | Elena Romagnolo | Italy | 15:06.38 | q, PB |
| 10 | Hitomi Niiya | Japan | 15:10.20 | PB |
| 11 | Almensh Belete | Belgium | 15:10.24 | SB |
| 12 | Kim Conley | United States | 15:14.48 | PB |
| 13 | Mika Yoshikawa | Japan | 15:16.77 | PB |
| 14 | Nadia Ejjafini | Italy | 15:24.70 | |
| 15 | Sheila Reid | Canada | 15:27.41 | |
| 16 | Zakia Mrisho | Tanzania | 15:39.58 | |
| 17 | Layes Abdullayeva | Azerbaijan | 15:45.69 | |
| 18 | Roxana Bârcă | Romania | 16:01.04 | |
Notes: Q- Qualified by place q - Qualified by performance (time) PB - Personal best NR - National record SB - Seasonal best DQ - Disqualified DNS - Did not start DNF - Did not finish

### Final

| Rank | Athlete | Nationality | Time |
| | Meseret Defar | Ethiopia | 15:04.25 |
| | Vivian Cheruiyot | Kenya | 15:04.73 |
| | Tirunesh Dibaba | Ethiopia | 15:05.15 |
| 4 | Sally Kipyego | Kenya | 15:05.79 |
| 5 | Gelete Burka | Ethiopia | 15:10.66 |
| 6 | Viola Kibiwot | Kenya | 15:11.59 |
| 7 | Joanne Pavey | Great Britain | 15:12.72 |
| 8 | Julia Bleasdale | Great Britain | 15:14.55 |
| 9 | Olga Golovkina | Russia | 15:17.88 |
| 10 | Shitaye Eshete | Bahrain | 15:19.13 |
| 11 | Molly Huddle | United States | 15:20.29 |
| 12 | Tejitu Daba | Bahrain | 15:21.34 |
| 13 | Yelena Nagovitsyna | Russia | 15:21.38 |
| 14 | Julie Culley | United States | 15:28.22 |
| 15 | Elena Romagnolo | Italy | 15:35.69 |