| | Final | time |  |  | 1. Matthew Birir |  Kenya | 8:08.84 |  |  | 2. Patrick Sang |  Kenya | 8:09.55 |  |  | 3. William Mutwol |  Kenya | 8:10.74 |  |  | 4. Alessandro Lambruschini |  Italy | 8:15.52 |  |  | 5. Steffen Brand |  Germany | 8:16.60 |  |  | 6. Tom Hanlon |  Great Britain | 8:18.14 |  |  | 7. Brian Diemer |  United States | 8:18.77 |  |  | 8. Azzedine Brahmi |  Algeria | 8:20.71 |  |  | 9. William Van Dijck |  Belgium | 8:22.51 |  |  | 10.Elarbi Khattabi |  Marocco | 8:23.82 |  |  | 11.Clodoaldo Lopes do Carmo |  Brazil | 8:25.92 |  |  | 12.Ricardo Vera |  Uruguay | 8:26.35 |  | 
 | |  |  | Venue: Estadi Olímpic de Montjuïc 67,007. |  | -- competitors from -- nations. | 
 | World record: 8:05.35 Peter Koech, Kenya, Stockholm, Sweden July 3, 1989 |  | Olympic record: 8:05.51 Julius Kariuki, Kenya, Seoul, South Korea September 30, 1988 | 
 |
 |  |  | First 5 from each Heat and next Best 2 times advanced to Final. | 
 | | Semi 1 | time |  |  | 1. Matthew Birir |  Kenya | 8:25.55 | Q |  | 2. Steffen Brand |  Germany | 8:26.12 | Q |  | 3. Patrick Sang |  Kenya | 8:26.46 | Q |  | 4. William Van Dijck |  Belgium | 8:26.70 | Q |  | 5. Tom Hanlon |  Great Britain | 8:26.91 | Q |  | 6. Ricardo Vera |  Uruguay | 8:27.46 | q |  | 7. Mark Croghan |  United States | 8:30.15 |  |  | 8. Tom Buckner |  Great Britain | 8:32.89 |  |  | 9. Ville Hautala |  Finland | 8:33.69 |  |  | 10.João Junqueira |  Portugal | 8:39.17 |  |  | 11.Daniel Lopez |  United States | 8:41.28 |  |  | 12.Joseph Mahmoud |  France | 8:52.00 |  | 
 |  | | Semi 2 | time |  |  | 1. William Mutwol |  Kenya | 8:19.83 | Q |  | 2. Clodoaldo Lopes do Carmo |  Brazil | 8:20.46 | Q |  | 3. Brian Diemer |  United States | 8:23.30 | Q |  | 4. Alessandro Lambruschini |  Italy | 8:23.56 | Q |  | 5. Azzedine Brahmi |  Algeria | 8:25.85 | Q |  | 6. Elarbi Khattabi |  Marocco | 8:27.00 | q |  | 7. Vladimir Golias |  United Team | 8:30.26 |  |  | 8. Colin Walker |  Great Britain | 8:34.82 |  |  | 9. Mohammed Al-Dossary |  Saudi Arabia | 8:36.38 |  |  | 10.Whaddon Niewoudt |  South Africa | 8:37.99 |  |  | 11.Hagen Melzer |  Germany | 8:38.07 |  |  | 12.Thierry Brusseau |  France | 8:42.48 |  | 
 | 
 | | Heat 1 | time |  |  | 1. William Mutwol |  Kenya | 8:26.23 |  |  | 2. Brian Diemer |  United States | 8:28.88 |  |  | 3. Colin Walker |  Great Britain | 8:29.34 |  |  | 4. Steffen Brand |  Germany | 8:30.03 |  |  | 5. Vladimir Golyas |  United Team | 8:32.49 |  |  | 6. Thierry Brusseau |  France | 8:33.10 |  |  | 7. Ville Hautala |  Finland | 8:34.10 |  |  | 8. Michael Buchleitner |  Austria | 8:40.46 |  |  | 9. Graeme Fell |  Canada | 8:50.87 |  |  | 10.Prakash Davendra Singh |  Fiji | 9:07.49 |  |  | -. Abdelaziz Sahere |  Marocco | DNS |  | 
 |  | | Heat 2 | time |  |  | 1. Matthew Birir |  Kenya | 8:23.22 |  |  | 2. Clodoaldo Lopes do Carmo |  Brazil | 8:26.31 |  |  | 3. William Van Dijck |  Belgium | 8:27.23 |  |  | 4. Azzeddine Brahmi |  Algeria | 8:28.01 |  |  | 5. Tom Buckner |  Great Britain | 8:28.36 |  |  | 6. Elarbi Khattabi |  Marocco | 8:28.50 |  |  | 7. Daniel Lopez |  United States | 8:29.01 |  |  | 8. Hagen Melzer |  Germany | 8:31.89 |  |  | 9. Mohammed Al-Dossary |  Saudi Arabia | 8:36.73 |  |  | 10.Ivan Konovalov |  United Team | 8:58.04 |  |  | 11.Hector Begeo |  Philippines | 9:14.48 |  | 
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