“I remember seeing Haile Gebrselassie and Paul Tergat in Sydney and wondering if I could become Olympic champion at the time”, said Farah of the battle between the Ethiopian and the Kenya at the 2000 Olympics, which Gebrselassie won by ninth hundredths of a second. Farah said after the race.
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“The guys pushed on and at the beginning I felt a little bit exhausted and was thinking: “Oh no”, and then I got going again”.
“It has been a long journey, but if you dream of something, have ambitions and are willing to work hard then you can get your dreams”. The guys pushed on and on.
“I’m so looking forward to seeing my son, who’s already got his teeth through”. “I thought it was going to be a slow race”.
Starting at the back, the experienced runner slowly made his way up and found himself in an ideal position with two laps to go, hugging the inside of the track and with only open space ahead of him.
“I have that drive, it is just me”.
Mo Farah is Britain’s greatest ever track and field athlete. “London 2017 definitely – I owe it to the people and after that maybe a couple of road races, maybe marathons”.
Just as he did in London four years ago Farah has followed up his gold in the 10km with gold in the 5km in Rio.
GB women’s 4x400m relay squad took the bronze behind the United States of America and Jamaica. Emily Diamond gave GB the advantage on the third leg and Christine Ohuruogu was able to stay away from her rivals on the last 400m to take the medal in a time of 3:25.88 minutes. Today has been a whirlwind. “My legs were a bit exhausted after the 10k”. My mum’s been in tears.
“They said it was just pushing”, said Chelimo.
“We came into this knowing we had a shot at bronze”.
“I called my mother before, when I won the synchronised event, but she said, “It’s so late, why are you calling?” And we did that.
Arriving in Brazil to political crisis, economic strife and fears over Zika virus, Team GB smashed the target of 48 medals to make Rio 2016 its best “away” Games.
This moved Gebrhiwet up to second and a silver medal in 13:04.35, with a second American in 41-year-old Lagat benefiting to claim bronze in 13:06.78 at his fifth Olympics.
The 25-year-old has hyperandrogenism – meaning elevated testosterone levels – and there has been public and often bitter controversy about whether she should be competing in female athletic events.
In one of the feel-good stories of the Games, Caster Semenya got the gold medal she so desired in the women’s 800, giving her closure after a post-London knee injury had sidelined her for nearly a year as the story around her gender identity persisted.
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Centrowitz also trains under Salazar, at the Nike Oregon Project (which means he’s now responsible for the winners of the men’s 1,500m, 5,000m, and 10,000m), although the subject of their relationship wasn’t explored in any detail.
