Gebrhiwet tried to stay with him as his two countrymen faded but a 52.83 second final lap from Farah was enough – Paul Chelimo snuck through to snatch silver in the end – but all eyes were on the victor.
Advertisement
However, the decision was eventually reversed, pushing Ethiopia’s Hagos Gebrhiwet down into bronze and Lagat off the podium all together.
While Usain Bolt said goodbye to the Olympics with a ninth gold medal on Friday night, completing his “triple triple”, this, sealing the “double double”, was Farah’s last track race at a Games.
“It’s pretty wonderful. I never, ever dreamed of someone calling me the greatest”, Farah told Australia’s Channel 7 after the 5,000-meter race. And then four years later to do it again – there are no words to really describe it.
The South African star showed the world that as an athlete she was unparalleled over the distance, finishing in 1:55.28, 1.21 seconds ahead of Burundi’s first female Olympic medalist Francine Niyonsaba and Kenya’s Margaret Nyairera Wambui.
“There was pushing but that is part and parcel of the race”.
After another 200m, Farah moved to the front and with four laps to go he led from Kenyan-born Bahraini Albert Rop and the third Ethiopian in the field, Muktar Edris.
He finally hit the front with just under 2,000m to go and from there it was the same old story for his rivals.
Team-mate Andrew Butchart finished an impressive sixth in a personal best 13:08.61. I just have to get myself back in that frame of mind and just get ready. The guys were out there to get me.
“I wasn’t expecting a 3:50, but you never know in the 15 [00]”, Brannen told CBC.
“I got my rhythm back and just thought, “Don’t panic, don’t panic, don’t panic, you can get through this”.
“I do watch races and I do try and learn something about it, look at it, see what I could do”.
There was disappointment to follow for Chelimo, who would have been the first American since 1964 to take silver in the 5000m, as he was stripped of the silver medal.
Great Britain’s Mo Farah has revealed that he is planning to end his track career after next year’s World Championships on home soil in London. And, boy, will he be missed.
Now the youngest member of the Farah family, Hussein, will have a gold of his own too.
Britain’s Mo Farah won the men’s 5,000-metre final on Saturday, his second gold medal of the Rio Olympics. “I’m going to line up, no matter what, half injured or whatever”. “All I used to think as a kid was, “man, if only I could have one medal” and now I’ve got four medals”.
Mo memorably won both long-distance events at the London 2012 Games, and repeating the feat – dubbed the “double double” – makes him the world’s most successful distance runner in terms of major medals.
Advertisement
Team GB were hailed as a “sporting superpower” by UK Sport boss and Farah was backed for a knighthood.
