Athletics at the 1920 Antwerpen Summer Games:

The world and Olympic record was 14:36.6, set by Hannes Kolehmainen in winning the 1912 gold medal. There was no equivalent race held at either the AAU or AAA Championships. The closest AAA race was the four-mile, while the AAU held no similar event at the American national championship from 1906-1931. The 5,000 was the first Olympic appearance for Paavo Nurmi. He was met by Frenchman, Joseph Guillemot, who had suffered the effects of mustard gas in World War I, and was told in 1918 that he would never be able to run again. The two of them left the field behind after two laps and ran together until Guillemot outsprinted Nurmi with a kick that began from about 200 metres out.