Ethiopia’s Etenesh Diro jumps into the water after losing her right shoe in the women’s 3000-meter steeplechase during the athletics competitions of the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, Aug. 13, 2016. After several furtive attempts to put her shoe back on, she threw it onto the field and took a few steps before ripping off her right sock, too. She thus ran the last two laps taking off for the barrier jumps from her bare foot, and landing on the one spike she had left on. This awkward style, coupled with the lost time through the fall, gave her no chance to recover as she crossed the line in seventh place in 9 minutes 34.70 seconds – half a minute off her personal best.
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Praught, who finished eighth in the heat, also briefly went down as a result of a pile-up of runners behind Diro. “You brace because you don’t expect that”.
Diro, a 25-year-old who placed fifth in the event at the 2012 London Games, had been seen as a leading medal contender before her mishap. That’s when I fell.
As for her own shoes, Praught said: “I tie them very tightly”.
Originally only the top three of each of the three heats, plus the six fastest losers, were to go through – making for a 15-woman final; however, there will now be 18 in the final, which is set for the Monday morning session back inside the Olympic Stadium (3.15pm Irish time).
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Sara Louise Treacy of Ireland and Aisha Praught of Jamaica will also run in the final race after appeals from their countries’ teams.
