While a silver medal for Tanui was a great accomplishment on his Olympic debut, it provided scant consolation for the Kenyan team for yet again coming short against the dominant Farah.
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With just six laps to go Farah was sitting on the shoulder of Kamworor and a brief trip to the front for the Brit saw the likes of Demelash and Tola retake the lead.
‘I knew (silver medallist Paul) Tanui well but I didn’t know the Ethiopian guys so was thinking, ‘What can they do?’, and try and make sure I had something after the end.
Lucky to have not caused anyone else to fall in the process, Farah got back on his feet and regained his stride. “For me, one of the things that keeps me going is winning medals for my country and making my nation proud”.
Farah has three Olympic gold medals now from two Olympics and is preparing for the defence of his 5,000 title next week.
Henderson’s victory was secured with his last jump which edged out the South African by one centimeter.
“When I fell I thought the dream was over, I dug deep”, said Farah, who has now racked up eight successive wins in the 5,000 or 10,000m at a world championships or Olympics since 2011.
“Ultimately I didn’t jump long enough today and that’s very hard for me to take”, he said.
“I never thought in my career I’d be disappointed with a bronze medal but I’m gutted”, the 29-year-old told reporters, tears streaming down his face.
The only gold medal decided in the early session on Saturday went to Christoph Harting from Germany in the men’s discus. Should the 33-year-old manage it he would emulate Finnish great Lasse Viren, now the only man to complete the distance “double double”, by retaining the Olympic 5,000 and 10,000m titles.
Farah victory also fulfilled a promise to his daughter, who asked her father to win a gold medal for her. Farah already has plenty of gold to go around.
Long-distance runner Farah defended his London 2012 title in the 10,000 metres and cyclist Trott, along with team mates Joanna Rowsell Shand – who trains at Manchester’s Velodrome and Middleton Arena – Katie Archibald and Elinor Barker, won a gold medal in the women’s team pursuit.
“I wasn’t going to let it go”. That is all I was thinking about – her. “I believed in myself”.
“It’s insane. I wasn’t expecting that – maybe top eight, but not the gold”.
The 33-year-old overcame a mid-race fall and powered clear of the field in the final 100m to win in 27 minutes five seconds.
Ennis-Hill, 30, was beaten by Belgian Nafissatou Thiam despite winning the final event, the 800m. I thought about all the hard work and that it could all be gone in a minute.
The Briton’s personal best was 9.47 seconds better than Thiam’s but the new mother likes to measure her performances these days in terms of PBPBs – post-baby personal bests – and it always looked too big a gap. “I guess my life is going to change, I am still at university so maybe I have a decision to make”.
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Canada’s Brianne Theisen-Eaton claimed bronze after a strong second day.
