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Athletics at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games:

Men's 10,000 metres

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Host City: Melbourne, Australia
Location: Melbourne Cricket Club Stadium
Date Started: November 23, 1956
Date Finished: November 23, 1956
Format: Final only.

Gold:URS Vladimir Kuts
Silver:HUN József Kovács II
Bronze:AUS Allan Lawrence

Summary

The favorites were Soviet Vladimir Kuts and Britain’s Gordon Pirie. Kuts had broken the world record in September 1956, but had been beaten by Pirie in July. Kuts set out in the Olympic race at a suicidal pace, passing 5,000 in 14:06.8, only 0.2 seconds off the Olympic record for that race. But he did not drop Pirie. Kuts then put on a series of surges followed by dramatic slowing of the pace, attempt to lose the Briton. Finally, Kuts almost came to a stop, forcing Pirie to take the lead. When he did so, he looked in Pirie’s face and realized he was almost ashen from the effort, and at 8 km. Kuts sprinted ahead, never again challenged by Pirie, who struggled home in 8th place. Hungary’s József Kovács ran a careful race, closing almost 60 metres in the last few laps.

Final Standings

Glossary ▪ CSV ▪ PRE
Rank Athlete Age Team NOC Medal T(H) T(A)
1 Vladimir Kuts 29 Soviet Union URS Gold 28:45.6 28:45.59 OR
2 József Kovács II 30 Hungary HUN Silver 28:52.4 28:52.36
3 Allan Lawrence 26 Australia AUS Bronze 28:53.6 28:53.59
4 Zdzisław Krzyszkowiak 27 Poland POL 29:05.0 29:05.41
5 Ken Norris 25 Great Britain GBR 29:21.6
6 Ivan Chernyavsky 26 Soviet Union URS 29:31.6
7 Dave Power 28 Australia AUS 29:49.2
8 Gordon Pirie 25 Great Britain GBR 29:49.6
9 Herbert Schade 34 Germany GER 30:00,6
10 Frank Sando 25 Great Britain GBR 30:05,0
11 Pavel Kantorek 26 Czechoslovakia TCH 30:06,0
12 Alain Mimoun 35 France FRA 30:18,0
13 Walter Konrad 28 Germany GER 30:30,0
14 Frans Herman 29 Belgium BEL TNK
15 Thyge Thøgersen 30 Denmark DEN TNK
16 Pyotr Bolotnikov 26 Soviet Union URS TNK
17 Klaus Porbadnik 26 Germany GER TNK
18 Gordon McKenzie 29 United States USA 30:34,4
19 Rune Åhlund 26 Sweden SWE 30:57,0
20 Dave Stephens 28 Australia AUS TNK
21 Dick Hart 29 United States USA 31:06,8
22 Ilmari Taipale 28 Finland FIN 31:10,6
23 Doug Kyle 24 Canada CAN 31:21,0
AC Max Truex 21 United States USA DNF
AC Myitung Naw 22 Myanmar MYA DNF