Athletics at the 1928 Amsterdam Summer Games:

Paavo Nurmi was expected to dominate this event. In his heat he fell over the water jump on an early lap and was helped by Frenchman Lucien Duquesne, who stopped to help him up. Nurmi reciprocated by pacing Duquesne throughout the remainder of the heat, helping him to qualify for the final. A few weeks before the Olympics, Nurmi’s teammate, Toivo Loukola, had run the best mark on record with 9:25.2 in Helsinki. The final was expected to be between Nurmi, Loukola, and the defending champion, Ville Ritola. But Ritola ran poorly, probably tired from his gold medal effort the previous day in the 5,000, and he would not finish. Loukola dominated the final, pulling away on the fifth lap, and winning by almost 10 seconds in a new world best time.