Quickly Morocco's Khalid Skah and Brahim Boutayeb, Ethiopia's Fita Bayisa, Germany's Dieter Baumann, and Portugal's Domingos Castro positioned themselves behind the surging Kenyan runner.
During the fourth kilometre, the Kenyan's brutal early pace started to take its toll on his legs, but neither Bayisa nor Boutayeb was able to appreciably close in on him.
Slightly behind this trio ran Britain's Rob Denmark, who also passed his badly exhausted team mate Staines.
Although he sprinted the home straight visibly faster than the fading Ondieki, Bayisa still lost to the Kenyan World Champion by over two seconds.
(See the following YouTube video about this final race: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJNXxbX8X4w 3705 World Track & Field 1991 5000m Men (the user: Basil Sage).)