variety of lead changes with perhaps 3 laps to go Bob Soth has taken on a strange running gait and appears to be running while leaning backwards.  Eventually that becomes a dance and a spin and he falls down into the dirt.   He was not aided off the track and he got up, repeated the dance and fell down again.  Finally, he was helped off the track.  At that point the Russians had 1st and 2nd and they were a few laps from finishing, Truex, the remaining American, paced himself, still behind.  However, when nearing the finish, a Russian runner collapsed in very much the same way.   Ultimately, the officials on the track, amongst the chaos, lost track of the lap count and convinced the 2 remaining runners that they should run an additional (26th) lap.  And although the fallen Russian had not completed the 26 lap, he was still awarded 2nd place.

The Long Story from the blog: Onceuponatimeinthevest Vol 1 #62 

The temperature was 85 degrees with the humidity at 58% when the four runners toed the line. The Russians are Aleksey Desyatchikov and Hubert Pyarnakivi (hereafter referred to as Desy and Pyar). Our guys are Max Truex and Bob Soth. Scoring is on a 5-3-2-1 basis and the Russians are predicted to go 8-3. That will not happen. They run together through miles of 4:36 and 9:21 where Soth takes the lead and Truex begins to drop off the pace. Soth continues to lead, but the pace has dropped to five minutes as the 3M mark is reached in 14:24. On the next lap Dezy takes over with Pyar and Soth in close attendance. Truex trails by 24 seconds. Dezy picks up the pace, passing 4M in 19:17, opening up a margin of 8 seconds on Pyar and 10 on Soth. On the backstretch of the 17th lap Soth passes Pyar to the delight of the crowd. At the end of 18 laps Dezy laps Truex. Soth passes his teammate at the start of the 19th lap. Pyar is falling back, running 80 second laps, but still putting distance between himself and Truex who is cranking out 90s. Dezy is 24:04 at 5M with Soth 20 seconds behind. Pyar trails Soth by 69 seconds. Truex is 2:06 behind him. Ugly? Hey, we are just getting started.
On the next lap “Soth started the weird and shocking high-stepping backward lean of a runner who is in serious trouble.” On the 22nd lap Dezy passes his teammate and Truex, running a 1:40 lap, passes the staggering Soth who is running 2:06. Still little Max is still nearly a lap down to his teammate. Regarding Soth, George Grenier writes, “It is so characteristic of impending complete physical collapse that it indicates that officials are unaware of what happens to athletes. It verges on the sadistic when you consider Soth ran three and a half laps in his debilitated state and no one moved to help.” It would seem US coaches and medical staff should also share this responsibility.
At six miles the timers move from the starting line to the finish to record Dezy’s winning time. When the Russian hits the finish line, the gun is fired for the last lap. Dezy obediently goes another lap. His time for 10,000 is 30:29.9. With one more lap, it is 31:40.6. Truex, who has just completed 6M with a 90 second lap, hones in on the second Russian and comes to life with a 50 second 376 yard finish, passing the seriously depleted Pyar who takes 1:54 for the same distance. Truex finishes in 32:49 with Pyar third in 33:13 or at least that’s the way it looks from the stands. When Truex finishes, Horace Ashenfelter, smelling the reek of the officials’ incompetence, advises him to go one more lap just to be safe. That he did so speaks worlds for Max’s tolerant nature. To sum up: Dezy and Truex run an extra lap. Pyar runs the correct distance. Soth does not finish.
The officials (when we cast the movie, I’m thinking The Three Stooges.) count the 26 lap times for Dezy and Truex, making the finishing order Dezy, Pyar and Truex. The American coaches protest, but it is American officials who have made the mistake and it stands. There is no film to use as reference? Hey, if we have only one tape over 50 feet, you aren’t going to get a film of the race.
Soth and Truex are taken to the hospital where they are given 3500 cc of glucose-saline solution. Pyar is offered hospital treatment, but the Russian doctors decline. “Soth’s heartbeat after the collapse is 172. His first words on regaining consciousness are: ‘Did I finish the race?’ He has no recollection of falling to the ground or the shouted words of advice to walk.” 10,000 meter score: Russia 8, US 2.