Mo Farah has put his participation at Tokyo 2020 in doubt having completed his Olympic “double double”.
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His legs were exhausted, but Britain’s Mo Farah produced blistering pace in the final straight to become the first man in 40 years to retain the two Olympic distance titles. After a long-drawn out series of appeals and counter-claims, Kenyan-born American Paul Chelimo claimed the silver medal and Ethiopian Hagos Gebrhiwet the bronze.
Team GB’s Andrew Butchart was promoted to fourth after three athletes were disqualified but was then demoted to sixth after two were reinstated.
A week after picking himself off the track following a trip to claim 10,000m gold, Farah avoided any such drama and pulled clear down the home straight to cross the line in 13 minutes 3.30 seconds.
Chelimo was eventually restored to the silver medal placing and Ethiopia’s Hagos Gebrhiwet took bronze ahead of Bernard Lagat of the U.S., with the second British runner Andrew Butchart finishing in a superb sixth place.
In the following race, Britain’s women’s 4x400m relay team pushed Team GB past their London 2012 medal total, with a bronze taking the tally to 66 medals. “It shows I didn’t just fluke it in London”.
A golden night in Rio saw Mo Farah scoop the “double double” as Britain celebrated its biggest Olympic medal haul for more than a century. His arms open wide, his eyes closed in ecstasy, Farah crossed the line as the first runner in 40 years to win back-to-back long-distance doubles at the Olympics.
Farah – who celebrated his win with his trademark Mobot – said the accomplishment was “every athlete’s dream” as he dedicated each of the four medals to his children. “I think that’s what we need to keep doing”.
Gold went to the United States lineup of Courtney Okolo, Natasha Hastings, Phyllis Francis and Allyson Felix – the country’s sixth in a row in the event. I don’t now how I recovered.
He said the success was down to two decades of hard work and investment in British sport.
As usual, Farah started off at the back of the pack, waiting for the race to really get going.
Meanwhile, Felix now has six Olympic gold medals to her name, more than any other female track athlete has achieved.
The double triathlon gold medallist Alistair Brownlee, meanwhile, believes people forget just what a “sports mad nation” we live in.
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Later that afternoon Nicola Adams became the first British boxer to retain their Olympic Games title since 1924 after she beat France’s Sarah Ourahmoune in the women’s flyweight final. The 37-year-old took the gold medal on a countback after being one of four competitors with a best leap of 1.97m.
