In a thrilling Olympic final, the Somali-born British runner even had time to put his hands on top of his head in the trademark “Mobot” sign, as well-known to distance runners as Usain Bolt’s “to the world” move.
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Not since the Flying Finn Lasse Viren in 1972 and 1976 has a long-distance runner done the 5,000m and 10,000m double at consecutive Olympics. He swept the 5,000 and 10,000 at the last three major championships – the 2012 Olympics and 2013 and 2015 Worlds. “You saw big names go out of the qualification yet again – I was very almost close to being one of them”.
Farah who defended his medal in a time of 27:05.17 despite tumbling at some stage, said: “When I went down on a bend in the race, I thought, ‘Oh my God, that is it.’ I just got up and wanted to stick with the guys and stay strong”. Farah is known for his unmatched finishing kick, so wearing him down is the only way to win.
The second is whether his Kenyan rivals, and particularly Geoffrey Kamworor – who took silver behind Farah at last year’s world championships in Beijing – can write a different script, which takes the Briton out of his comfort zone.
“When I fell down, for a moment I thought my race was over, my dream was over but then I managed to dig deep. We started out pretty fast but that pace wasn’t kept along the way and it didn’t end up happening”, Tola said.
It was about 12 minutes into the race that Farah’s chances took a fall – and not just figuratively.
In the men’s long jump final, Jeff Henderson won gold for the United States of America with a leap of 8.38m. American Tori Bowie lunged at the line for 10.83 and beat Fraser-Pryce by 0.03 seconds.
“It feels good to be in that category, to win that many medals”.
Reigning Olympic champion Andy Murray is also guaranteed a medal after he reached the men’s singles tennis final with victory over Kei Nishikori.
This race didn’t look as easy as the London win, but it was still a gold medal, the third of his career.
The men’s eight of Scott Durant, Tom Ransley, Andrew Hodge, Matt Gotrel, Pete Reed, Paul Bennett, Matt Langridge, William Satch and cox Phelan Hill followed up the women’s success with gold in the final race at the Lagoa. To say I’ve got two Olympic gold medals is pretty wonderful. “I wasn’t going to let that happen”.
“It’s tough, I’m not used to being away”. But Manyonga, who fouled two of his first three attempts, shocked the Brazilian crowd and his competitors with a jump of 8.28 metres in the fourth round.
“It feels fantastic to make history and to be along with Kenenisa and Haile”, he said. I told him to get behind me after that leading back up.
“. I didn’t jump far enough and that’s hard”.
Henderson’s victory was secured with his last jump, overhauling the South African by just one centimetre.
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Unfortunately, that hesitation may have cost Rupp a medal.
