| Event: | Men's 5000 metres |
| Games: | 1948 Summer |
| Dates: | July 31 (heats) August 2 (final) |
| Longnames: | yes |
| Gold: | Gaston Reiff |
| Goldnoc: | BEL |
| Silver: | Emil Zátopek |
| Silvernoc: | TCH |
| Bronze: | Willem Slijkhuis |
| Bronzenoc: | NED |
| Prev: | 1936 |
| Next: | 1952 |
The men's 5000 metres event at the 1948 Olympic Games took place July 31 and August 2. The final was won by Gaston Reiff of Belgium.[1] The Belgian Gaston Reiff became the Olympic champion ahead of the Czechoslovakian Emil Zátopek. Willem Slijkhuis from the Netherlands won bronze.
Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | 13:58.2 | Gothenburg, Sweden | 20 September 1942 | ||
| Olympic record | 14:22.2 | Berlin, Germany | 7 August 1936 |
The following new Olympic record was set during this competition:
All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1).
| Date | Time | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday, 31 July 1948 | 16:00 | Round 1 | ||||
| style=background:lemonchiffon | Monday, 2 August 1948 | style=background:lemonchiffon | 17:00 | style=background:lemonchiffon | Final |
The first four runners from each heat qualified to the final.
Heat 1
| Rank | Country | Athletes | Time (hand) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14:58.2 | |||
| 2 | 14:58.3 | |||
| 2 | 14:58.6 | |||
| 4 | 15:14.0 | |||
| 5 | Jacques Vernier | 15:29.8 | ||
| 6 | 15:34.4 | |||
| 7 | 15:39.0 | |||
| 8 | ||||
| 9 | 16:05.0 | |||
| 10 | ||||
| - | DNF | |||
| - | DNF |
Heat 2
| Rank | Country | Athletes | Time (hand) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14:34.2 | |||
| 2 | 14:34.4 | |||
| 2 | 14:45.8 | |||
| 4 | 15:04.4 | |||
| 5 | Maurice Pouzieux | 15:09.8 | ||
| 6 | 15:19.0 | |||
| 7 | ||||
| 8 | ||||
| 9 | ||||
| 10 | ||||
| - | DNF | |||
| - | DNF |
Heat 3
| Rank | Country | Athletes | Time (hand) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15:06.8 | |||
| 2 | 15:07.0 | |||
| 2 | 15:07.8 | |||
| 4 | 15:07.8 | |||
| 5 | Jerry Thompson | 15:08.4 | ||
| 6 | 15:11.2 | |||
| 7 | ||||
| 8 | ||||
| 9 |
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time (hand) | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14:17.6 | OR | ||||
| 14:17.8 | |||||
| 14:26.8 | |||||
| 4 | 14:28.6 | ||||
| 5 | 14:39.0 | ||||
| 6 | 14:39.4 | ||||
| 7 | 14:41.0 | ||||
| 8 | 14:43.0 | ||||
| 9 | |||||
| 10 | |||||
| 11 | |||||
| DNF |
Key: DNF = Did not finish, OR = Olympic record