Britain’s Mo Farah became only the second man to retain both Olympic track long distance titles on Saturday, when he produced an utterly dominant performance to add the 5,000 metres gold to the 10,000m he collected a week ago. Nurmi has nine Olympic gold medals from the 1920 and 1924 Olympics, while Zatopek won the 5,000, 10,000 and marathon at the 1952 Helsinki Games.
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Farah will, however, return to the track next summer for the 2017 World Championships in Athletics, which will be held in London.
“I want to keep running”, said Farah.
“All you can see is ahead and not beyond”. I enjoy what I do, and I try to make my nation and country proud.
“The day you feel you can’t see that straight ahead of you, that’s when you have to hang up”.
“My feeling is I want to continue to Tokyo but you have to be honest with yourself”.
“I controlled it and I wasn’t going to let anyone pass me”, Farah said, “and then in the end I just used my speed”.
“I know my career is short and I try and make the most of it”.
Farah admitted his latest success was down to years of hard work and focus and he hopes to race back in London next year, before turning his attention to more road races.
He said: “I can’t really ask for much more than that in my first major final”.
The 25-year-old clocked 1 minute 55.28 seconds to beat Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba by 1.21 seconds. “People were bringing me food in my hotel room”, he told reporters. “It was a totally different pain”. Still none of his rivals can live with it. But also to escape the relentless grind of travelling from city to city and spending prolonged periods on the road or in isolation at training camps overseas while his wife and four young children remain behind. Competing in the marathon would mean less time away from home. Now four years later, to do it again, there are no words.”Mentally, I had to be on top of my game”, said Farah.
Mo had earlier dedicated his two Olympic golds from London 2012 to his twin daughters Aisha and Amani, who were born just after the Games. He’s growing up fast.
But it was a pace that could not be sustained as Farah soon positioned himself at the head of the field and by the time the 33-year-old took the bell there was a sense of inevitability about the outcome.
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The champion athlete, who has become the second person to ever win gold in both races, looked visibly emotional after crossing the finishing line in the the 5,000m race, and greeted his family in the crowd in a sweet moment. It speaks volumes that he regards that race as a disappointment, even though his time is an English record.
