Africa has won her first gold medal at the Rio Olympics thanks to the record breaking effort of Ethiopia’s Almaz Ayana in the women’s 10,000m.
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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.
Competing in the 10,000-meter race for only the second time in her career, the Ethiopian shattered a world record that had stood for almost 23 years by more than 14 seconds.
“2015 world champion Vivian Cheruiyot finished more than 15 seconds after Ayana to earn the silver medal”, NBC Olympics reports.
Paula Radcliffe, the world marathon record holder who set a European 10,000m record of 30.01.09 in 2002, said: “I’m not sure that I can understand that”. Ayana’s 31-year-old teammate Tirunesh Dibaba took bronze. But I’ve got no reason to say everybody who does well is cheating.
It was a bittersweet moment for Dibaba, who had been trying to become the first woman to win three individual Olympic track titles in a row.
In the pool, Joseph Schooling sensationally upset Michael Phelps in the 100m butterfly to seize Singapore’s first ever Olympic gold medal at the Rio Games.
Huddle said she was proud to break the US record and excited about her time, but wasn’t exactly celebrating.
Steadily, the world record became a possibility. “Otherwise, I’m crystal clear”.
It did not help that the record she had destroyed was owned by Wang Junxia, one of several Chinese athletes who rewrote the record books in 1993 under the direction of Ma Junren, a controversial coach who fed them a diet of turtle’s blood and caterpillar fungus.
Winner: Almaz Ayana of Ethiopia crosses the finish line.
“I would liked to have been a bit more competitive but I gave it my all”. Four years ago in London two of the 10 gold medalists, Asli Alptekin of Turkey (1,500 meters) and Yuliya Zaripova of Russian Federation (3,000-meter steeplechase), would later forfeit their gold medals after it was determined that they had tested positive for blood doping and anabolic steroids, respectively.
“I think the Ugandan girl (Juliet Chekwel) ran a lap short and someone ran a lap long”, Wellings said. But the 60,000-capacity Olympic stadium was only a quarter full to see Ayana’s accomplishment.
Current world 5,000m champion Ayana’s sizable achievement is made even more impressive when you consider that it is only the second time she has ever competed at the longer distance.
“No. 3, My doping is Jesus”.
“Getting to this point is a dream come true”, Ayana, 24, said. Asked whether she felt the winning time was legit and the top runners clean, she said, “I feel like I probably shouldn’t comment on that”.
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Ayana will now seek to complete a rare double by lowering the world record in the 5km.
