Mucheru, who went into the race with personal best 48.89, becomes the third Kenyan to win an Olympic medal in sprints after Julius Sang, who won bronze in 400m at the 1972 Munich Olympics and Samson Kitur, who also won bronze in 400m at 1992 Barcelona.
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Clement finished in a season-best 47.63 seconds, just ahead of a fast-closing Boniface Mucheru Tumuti of Kenya (47.78) and Yasmani Copello of Turkey (47.92). “Fourth is the worst place, as you are so close”.
Kerron Clement of the United States stormed to victory in the men’s 400m hurdles on Thursday (Aug 18), holding off a furious late challenge from Kenya’s Boniface Tumuti to take gold.
He finished 35th in 400m hurdles at 2012 London Olympics and 15th in 4x400m at 2014 World relays before settling sixth in 400m hurdles at 2014 Commonwealth Games.
“I’m going to Rio for redemption”, he said after coming from behind to win the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Track and Field. Clement won silver in the same event in Beijing in 2008. I was focused and my mind was set.
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Puerto Rico’s Javier Culson, a bronze medallist in London, was disqualified for a false start. He then failed to medal at any major competition from 2011 through 2015, leading to questions about whether his run as a contender for gold was over.
