Ethiopia’s Almaz Ayana celebrates winning the women’s 10,000-meter final during the athletics competitions of the 2016 Summer Olympics at the Olympic stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday, Aug. 12, 2016.
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Ayana’s winning time of 29min 17.45sec sliced almost 14 seconds off the previous world best of 29:31.78 set by Wang Junxia in 1993 during the era of notorious Chinese coach Ma Junren.
She was 15 seconds in front of 2015 world champion Vivian Cheruiyot, who took silver, and 25 seconds ahead of countrywoman Tirunesh Dibaba, who claimed bronze.
– Despite track and field events attracting huge global interest, the Olympic Stadium was sparsely populated for the opening session and organisers will hope to see that change in the coming days.
Compatriot superstar David Rudisha, the multiple world and 2012 Olympic champion, whose world record run of 1:40.91 was one of the highlights of the London 2012 Games, led the 800m heats in 1:45.09.
What it got was a 10,000-meter world record from an Ethiopian who considers it her second-favorite distance, and a race that will go down as one of the best ever run at the Olympics.
An early-morning rain and cool temperatures meant conditions were favorable, but after the race some runners needed time to process Ayana’s blazing time. “We’ll just see, I guess”. Still, it raised some inevitable question marks, and questions, the Swedish runner Sarah Lahti, who finished 12th in a national record of 31:28.43 (improving her best by 26 seconds), immediately expressing her doubts over whether or not Ayana was running clean.
Athletes in the race mentioned that Ayana was coughing and did not look like a runner poised for victory when she was spluttering in the call room moments before the gun fired. “I can not say that she is not clean, but there is little doubt”. I never thought that this would happen.
Phelps makes history, world record boost for Ayana as athletics begin was posted in Sports of TheNews International – https://www.thenews.com.pk on August 13, 2016 and was last updated on August 13, 2016.
“I had to be really positive and be as aggressive as I could, and I think that worked”.
Michael Phelps of the United States won the Olympic 200 metres individual medley here on Friday to capture the 22nd gold medal of his career and become the first swimmer to win the same event at four consecutive Games. “Nothing otherwise, I am crystal-clear”, Ms. Ayana said through a translator after the race.
“My doping is my training, my doping is Jesus”, Ayana said.
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– Greg Rutherford, the victor of the men’s long jump at London 2012, squeezed through to Saturday’s final as the 10th-best qualifier, after two no jumps had put him under huge pressure. Two other medals are to be awarded later Friday: the men’s 20 kilometers walk and women’s shot put.
