In an interview with NBC after the race, Centrowitz viewed the reaction of his family as he came down the stretch.
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“Doing my victory lap, I literally kept screaming …”
Britain’s double 1,500 Olympic champion Sebastian Coe, the current IAAF President, awarded the gold medal to Centrowitz.
The U.S. finished in 3 minutes 19.06 seconds.
Nate Brannen, 33, running for his native Canada though now based in OH, didn’t finish in the top five in the opening heat but advanced based on his 3:40.20 clocking, which ranked 11th.
“I’m a confident guy”, Centrowitz explained. He won the NCAA 1500m title, as well as his first US 1500m title in 2011.
“Just happy to stay out of trouble really”, said Matt Centrowitz, who just missed a medal in London in 2012, but had the third-fastest semifinal time Thursday.
“I have a lot of respect for everyone in that field”, Centrowitz said. He also won the 1500m at World Indoors in March before missing time this spring with a stress reaction.
Semenya won in a South African national record 1:55.28, while Niyoinsaba of Burundi was 1.21 seconds behind.
Farah is only the second man to achieve the feat after Finn Lasse Viren in 1972 and 1976.
Kiprop made a decision to move, and motored up through the field as the pace accelerated.
Paul Chelimo of the United States was one of the three runners disqualified, allowing 41-year-old American Bernard Lagat to win the bronze.
The winning time is the slowest in an Olympic final since 1932, when the men’s world record in the mile was 4:09. The Americans were challenged the entire race by Botswana, which were leading halfway through and only fell off in the final 500 meters. Neymar then stepped up to coolly fire home the title victor and send the capacity crowd wild. After college, he qualified for the 1980 Olympic Team at 5,000 meters and won four consecutive national titles from 1979-1982.
The only American woman to win more gold medals than Felix is swimmer Jenny Thompson, who has eight.
The race for the other medals was wild, as Javon Francis ran a terrific final 100 meters to pass three teams for silver and avoid disappointment for Jamaica.
Chris Lotsbom, a journalist from Race Results Weekly in Boston, was jotting down handwritten notes during the race when he suddenly wrote “HOLY SHIT” in capitals as Centrowitz crossed the line. Keep reading for all the details of this epic Olympic event. Kenya’s Margaret Wambui took bronze in 1:56.89. He won the silver medal in 2008 but was a disappointing ninth in London.
He was motivated by a good-luck e-mail from running great Jim Ryun, a silver medalist in the 1,500m in 1968.
The last U.S athlete to win an Olympic 1500m gold medal was Mel Sheppard in 1908.
Jorgensen has dominated the sport over the last two years but usually wins her races by chasing down the stronger bikers during the 10k run. Brazil was also coming off a demoralizing elimination in the group stage of this year’s Copa America and struggled in early group play in the Olympics.
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“This kid has very seldom lost in his life, he’s been youth Olympic champion and he’s won everything”. Not many experts would have predicted the finish to this one. That method has now been disabled.
