Athletics at the 1948 London Summer Games:

The world record and 14-minute barrier had been broken in 1942 by Sweden’s Gunder Hägg but he had been declared a professional and never competed in the Olympics. The 1946 European Champion was Britain’s Sydney Wooderson but he was injured and did not compete in London. A few days before the 5K final, Czechoslovakia’s Emil Zátopek had won the 10,000. He pushed the pace immediately in this race, with only Gaston Reiff (BEL), Erik Ahldén (SWE), and Wim Slijkhuis (NED), the 1946 European silver medalist, able to stay in contact. On the ninth lap, Reiff pulled away from the group and opened up a lead which grew to 30 metres by the bell lap. But with 300 metres to go, Zátopek took flight after Reiff and almost closed the margin by the tape, finishing only a metre in arrears. Reiff’s gold medal was the first ever for Belgium in track & field athletics.