United States’ Clayton Murphy places second in a men’s 800-meter semifinal during the athletics competitions of the 2016 Summer Olympics at the Olympic stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, Aug. 13, 2016.
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Though a world record was not paced, Rudisha’s 1 minute 42.15 run was his season best.
With a time of 1:42.93, the Preble County, Ohio, native became the first American to medal in the event since Johnny Gray in 1992. “At that point I was far away from Rudisha”, he said. Taofik Makhloufi of Algeria took silver, while Murphy passed Frenchman Pierre-Ambroise Bosse in the stretch for a very satisfying bronze. “They were like, ‘Hey, you can smile!’ It hasn’t sunk in yet. I’m sure it’s not going to sink in for a while”.
Between the two middle distance champions, Rudisha never gave the Algerian a chance and won in 1 minute, 42.15 seconds, over a second of the time he set at the Olympics four years ago.
Murphy is a graduate of Tri-Village High School, which is about 40 miles east of Dayton.
OH has a bronze medal.
He was a low-profile recruit who went north to Akron – a good program, but not exactly a national powerhouse. He continues to train with his college coach, Lee LaBadie.
“He told, ‘The time’s will come”. Rudisha is also the first to repeat as Olympic champion in the 800 since Peter Snell of New Zealand did so in 1960 and 1964.
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Right now, Mark Murphy is probably just fine with that decision.
