His legs were tired, but Britain’s Mo Farah produced blistering pace in the final straight to become the first man in 40 years to retain the two Olympic distance titles.
The 33-year-old, who fought back from a stumble to claim the 10,000m last week, said his victory in the 5,000m on Saturday night had been the most satisfying of the four golds.
Farah won his second straight 5,000m in 13min 3.30sec to match the feat of Finland’s Lasse Viren who retained the same Olympic titles in 1976.