Briton Mo Farah survived another stumble to get through to the final of the 5,000 meters and remain on course for the prized Olympic distance double-double.
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Farah defended his 5,000-meter Olympic crown in the Estádio Olímpico Joao Havelange, edging out Paul Kipkemoi Chelimo of the United States in second and Ethiopia’s Hagos Gebrhiwet in third, to add to his earlier successful defense of the 10,000m title he first won at London 2012.
“I dreamed of becoming Olympic champion once”, said Farah, who has already achieved the world double-double, at the 2013 and 2015 championships in Moscow and Beijing.
“After the 10,000 my legs were a bit exhausted and I don’t know how I recovered, I just had to stay in my room and people had to bring me food in my room and I just had to rest up”, he told BBC Sport.
Asked if the win was his most satisfying, Farah replied: “Yeah, definitely”.
Farah, who trains in OR under ex-marathon great Alberto Salazar, said watching Ethiopian distance legend Kenenisa Bekele medalling had been an inspiration.
He said: “I just want to go home now and see my attractive kids and I just want to hang the medals around their necks”.
Farah started in typical fashion, sitting at the back of the field, but he moved through to the front with less than 2,000m remaining and controlled the pace from that point.
Farah is bidding to become only the second man, after “Flying Finn” Lasse Viren, to complete the long-distance double at two Games. Once they reached the bell he refused to yield his inside lane position in a determined duel with Chelimo and, as so often before, had just too much pace over the final 120 metres.
He added: “You’ve got to do your homework [on your opponents]”. “I did it in London and that was incredible and now four years later to do it again, there’s no words”.
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.
Ethiopia’s Hagos Gebrhiwet followed him home to take silver with Bernard Lagat of the United States grabbing bronze in third. That’s the only thing that really gets me down or makes me think twice about what I do, but is been worth it. “I haven’t recovered (from the 10,000m) as well as I’d wanted”, Farah said.
“I do watch races and I do try and learn something about it, look at it, see what I could do”.
But there were contrasting emotions for Cindy Ofili in the 100 metres hurdles as the Michigan-born 22-year-old missed out on a medal by two hundredths of a second. “I hate to lose”.
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Victory made him the first British track and field athlete in history to win four Olympic gold medals.
