Mo Farah became the first British track and field athlete to win three Olympic gold medals by retaining his 10,000 metres title, but Great Britain could not celebrate a repeat of “Super Saturday” as Jessica Ennis-Hill and Greg Rutherford surrendered their crowns.
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Kenyan Paul Tanui won silver in 27:05.64 with Ethiopian Tamirat Tola third in 27:06.26.
RIO DE JANEIRO Ten of 25 laps into the Olympic Games 10,000-meter final and a night when Great Britain’s Mo Farah was chasing the likes of Zatopek, Viren and Gebrselassie through history, the unthinkable happened.
Like the line in many songs go, “When you fall just get back up again” this had to be in Mo Farah’s mind.
When you’re unlucky enough to fall over near the start of a 10,000m run, it’s one thing to be able to get up and finish the race.
“I got my rhythm back and just thought, “Don’t panic, don’t panic, don’t panic, you can get through this”, said a Muslim African immigrant representing the UK. “When I place that medal in her hands, I’ll be crying”, – an emotional Henderson delights in his long jump triumph. I had to be strong and not panic and just gradually work my way through close to the pack. I managed to dig deep, told myself “don’t panic”.
Trott is now the first British female athlete to win three gold medals at the Olympics.
Trott, and team mates Joanna Rowsell Shand, Katie Archibald and Elinor Barker, won a gold medal in the women’s team pursuit, beating the U.S. with a world record time of 4 minutes, 10.26 seconds.
“Mo Farah! The man with the plan!” tweeted Hollywood star Samuel L Jackson.
The medal marks a remarkable recovery for the 24-year-old after she recovered from a career-threatening knee injury and a cancer scare.
The 33-year-old went into the race as the overwhelming favourite and looked supremely confident having not been beaten at a major competition in the distance since the 2011 World Championships.
“As each lap went down I was getting more confidence, confidence, confidence”, he said. “A lot of laps were still left”, said Farah.
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The one hole in Farah’s resume is that he has never held the world record in the 5,000, 10,000 or 3,000, a non-Olympic distance that is often run in the Diamond League. I came here to win but couldn’t quite get it together. American Tori Bowie took silver in 10.83 and Fraser-Pryce was third in 10.86.
