Athletics at the 1996 Summer Games: Previous Summer Games ▪ Next Summer Games
Host City: Atlanta, United States
Venue(s): Centennial Olympic Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia
Date Started: July 26, 1996
Date Finished: July 26, 1996
Format: Top eight in each heat and next four fastest advanced to the final.
| Gold: | Haile Gebrselassie |
| Silver: | Paul Tergat |
| Bronze: | Salah Hissou |
| Rank | Athlete | Age | Team | NOC | T(A) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Worku Bikila | 28 | Ethiopia | ETH | 27:50.57 | QU |
| 2 | Paul Tergat | 27 | Kenya | KEN | 27:50.66 | QU |
| 3 | Mathias Ntawulikura | 32 | Rwanda | RWA | 27:51.69 | QU |
| 4 | Aloÿs Nizigama | 30 | Burundi | BDI | 27:53.21 | QU |
| 5 | Salah Hissou | 24 | Morocco | MAR | 27:53.32 | QU |
| 6 | Stefano Baldini | 25 | Italy | ITA | 27:55.79 | QU |
| 7 | Abel Antón | 33 | Spain | ESP | 27:56.26 | QU |
| 8 | Carlos de la Torre | 30 | Spain | ESP | 28:04.14 | QU |
| 9 | Zoltán Káldy | 27 | Hungary | HUN | 28:13.49 | QC |
| 10 | Marko Hhawu | 17 | Tanzania | TAN | 28:14.08 | QC |
| 11 | Paul Evans | 35 | Great Britain | GBR | 28:24.39 | QC |
| 12 | Robbie Johnston | 28 | New Zealand | NZL | 28:40.60 | |
| 13 | Katsuhiko Hanada | 25 | Japan | JPN | 28:52.22 | |
| 14 | Róbert Štefko | 28 | Slovakia | SVK | 29:03.80 | |
| 15 | Carlos Patrício | 31 | Portugal | POR | 29:15.41 | |
| 16 | Ronaldo da Costa | 26 | Brazil | BRA | 29:26.58 | |
| 17 | Dan Middleman | 26 | United States | USA | 29:50.72 | |
| 18 | Mohamed Ezzher | 36 | France | FRA | 29:55.34 | |
| 19 | Martín Pitayo | 35 | Mexico | MEX | 30:32.20 | |
| 20 | Herder Vázquez | 29 | Colombia | COL | 33:26.15 | |
| 21 | Majed Abu Maraheel | 33 | Palestine | PLE | 34:40.50 | |
| AC | Larbi Zéroual | 25 | Morocco | MAR | DNF |
| Rank | Athlete | Age | Team | NOC | T(A) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Haile Gebrselassie | 23 | Ethiopia | ETH | 28:14.20 | QU |
| 2 | Josphat Machuka | 22 | Kenya | KEN | 28:14.27 | QU |
| 3 | Paul Koech | 27 | Kenya | KEN | 28:17.48 | QU |
| 4 | Jon Brown | 25 | Great Britain | GBR | 28:19.85 | QU |
| 5 | Alyan Al-Qahtani | 24 | Saudi Arabia | KSA | 28:22.35 | QU |
| 6 | Khalid Skah | 29 | Morocco | MAR | 28:23.21 | QU |
| 7 | Stéphane Franke | 32 | Germany | GER | 28:24.30 | QU |
| 8 | Armando Quintanilla | 28 | Mexico | MEX | 28:27.28 | QU |
| 9 | Alejandro Gómez | 29 | Spain | ESP | 28:28.16 | QC |
| 10 | Silvio Guerra | 27 | Ecuador | ECU | 28:30.15 | |
| 11 | Abraham Assefa | 23 | Ethiopia | ETH | 28:32.24 | |
| 12 | Toshinari Takaoka | 25 | Japan | JPN | 28:38.18 | |
| 13 | Shaun Creighton | 29 | Australia | AUS | 28:44.29 | |
| 14 | Alfredo Brás | 27 | Portugal | POR | 28:50.28 | |
| 15 | Hendrick Ramaala | 24 | South Africa | RSA | 29:07.81 | |
| 16 | Brad Barquist | 28 | United States | USA | 29:11.20 | |
| 17 | Charles Mulinga | 28 | Zambia | ZAM | 29:14.99 | |
| 18 | Miroslav Vanko | 23 | Slovakia | SVK | 29:17.53 | |
| 19 | Sean Dollman | 27 | Ireland | IRL | 29:19.03 | |
| 20 | Sayed Hamid Sajjadi | 27 | Iran | IRI | 29:22.65 | |
| 21 | Jeff Schiebler | 23 | Canada | CAN | 29:47.79 | |
| AC | Abdellah Béhar | 33 | France | FRA | DNF | |
| AC | Paulo Guerra | 25 | Portugal | POR | DNF | |
| AC | Todd Williams | 27 | United States | USA | DNF |