Medalists
| Gold |
 Oussama Mellouli
Tunisia (TUN) |
| Silver |
 Grant Hackett
Australia (AUS) |
| Bronze |
 Ryan Cochrane
Canada (CAN) |
Records
| World Record |
Grant Hackett (AUS) |
14:34.56 |
Fukuoka, Japan |
29 July 2001 |
| Olympic Record |
Grant Hackett (AUS) |
14:43.40 |
Athens, Greece |
21 August 2004 |
Heats
Heat 1
| Rank |
Lane |
Name |
Nationality |
Time |
Notes |
| 1 |
5 |
Florian Janistyn |
Austria |
15:12.46 |
|
| 2 |
3 |
Petar Stoychev |
Bulgaria |
15:28.84 |
|
| 3 |
6 |
Ryan Paolo Arabejo |
Philippines |
15:42.77 |
|
| 4 |
4 |
Juan Martin Pereyra |
Argentina |
15:12.46 |
|
| 5 |
2 |
Ediz Yildirimer |
Turkey |
15:12.46 |
|
Heat 2
| Rank |
Lane |
Name |
Nationality |
Time |
Notes |
| 1 |
3 |
Nicolas Rostoucher |
France |
15:00.58 |
|
| 2 |
5 |
Mads Glaesner |
Denmark |
15:03.33 |
|
| 3 |
2 |
Tom Vangeneuden |
Belgium |
15:11.04 |
|
| 4 |
4 |
Maciej Hreniak |
Poland |
15:16.16 |
|
| 5 |
1 |
Dragos Cristian Coman |
Romania |
15:24.05 |
|
| 6 |
7 |
Fernando Costa |
Portugal |
15:26.21 |
|
| 7 |
8 |
Ricardo Andres Monasterio Guaimare |
Venezuela |
15:45.98 |
|
| - |
6 |
Christian Kubusch |
Germany |
DNS |
|
Heat 3
| Rank |
Lane |
Name |
Nationality |
Time |
Notes |
| 1 |
5 |
Ryan Cochrane |
Canada |
14:40.84 |
Q, OR |
| 2 |
4 |
Yuriy Prilukov |
Russia |
14:41.13 |
Q, ER |
| 3 |
3 |
David Davies |
Great Britain |
14:46.11 |
Q |
| 4 |
6 |
Park Taehwan |
South Korea |
15:05.55 |
|
| 5 |
7 |
Takeshi Matsuda |
Japan |
15:09.17 |
|
| 6 |
1 |
Sergiy Fesenko |
Ukraine |
15:13.03 |
|
| 7 |
8 |
Richard Charlesworth |
Great Britain |
15:17.27 |
|
| 8 |
2 |
Sebastien Rouault |
France |
15:21.14 |
|
Heat 4
| Rank |
Lane |
Name |
Nationality |
Time |
Notes |
| 1 |
6 |
Oussama Mellouli |
Tunisia |
14:47.76 |
Q |
| 2 |
2 |
Sun Yang |
China |
14:48.39 |
Q |
| 3 |
4 |
Mateusz Sawrymowicz |
Poland |
14:50.30 |
|
| 4 |
5 |
Federico Colbertaldo |
Italy |
14:51.44 |
|
| 5 |
3 |
Craig Stevens |
Australia |
15:04.82 |
|
| 6 |
7 |
Samuel Pizzetti |
Italy |
15:07.02 |
|
| 7 |
8 |
Marco Rivera |
Spain |
15:18.98 |
|
| - |
1 |
Luka Turk |
Slovenia |
DNS |
|
Heat 5
| Rank |
Lane |
Name |
Nationality |
Time |
Notes |
| 1 |
5 |
Grant Hackett |
Australia |
14:38.92 |
Q, OR |
| 2 |
6 |
Zhang Lin |
China |
14:45.84 |
Q, AS |
| 3 |
3 |
Larsen Jensen |
United States |
14:49.53 |
Q |
| 4 |
4 |
Peter Vanderkaay |
United States |
14:52.11 |
|
| 5 |
1 |
Spyridon Gianniotis |
Greece |
14:53.32 |
|
| 6 |
8 |
Gergo Kis |
Hungary |
15:09.67 |
|
| 7 |
7 |
Troy Prinsloo |
South Africa |
15:12.64 |
|
| 8 |
2 |
Nikita Lobintsev |
Russia |
15:35.47 |
|
Final
| Rank |
Lane |
Name |
Nationality |
Time |
Notes |
| |
7 |
Oussama Mellouli |
Tunisia |
14:40.84 |
AR |
| |
4 |
Grant Hackett |
Australia |
14:41.53 |
|
| |
5 |
Ryan Cochrane |
Canada |
14:42.69 |
|
| 4 |
3 |
Yuriy Prilukov |
Russia |
14:43.21 |
|
| 5 |
8 |
Larsen Jensen |
United States |
14:48.16 |
|
| 6 |
2 |
David Davies |
Great Britain |
14:52.11 |
|
| 7 |
6 |
Zhang Lin |
China |
14:55.20 |
|
| 8 |
1 |
Sun Yang |
China |
15:05.12 |
|
|
