Mo Farah put in a stunning performance to become the first British athlete to win three Olympic gold medals on the track as he defended the 10,000m title he won at London 2012 in Rio.
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Surviving a fall when they were approaching halfway, Farah completed the first part of his bid for the Olympics double-double when he used his superior finishing everyone knows about to land the gold in 27:05.17 with Tanui, who took bronze at last year’s World Championships in Beijing upgrading to silver in 27:05.64.
Britain’s Mo Farah, left, and Kenya’s silver medal victor Paul Kipngetich Tanui compete in the men’s 10,000-meter final during the athletics competitions in the Olympic stadium of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, Aug. 13, 2016.
“I wasn’t going to let it go”, Farah said after the race.
“When I went down, I thought, “Oh my God, that is it”, said Farah.
“I thought going into the race an Olympic record could have been broken. When I place that medal in her hands, I’ll be crying”, – an emotional Henderson delights in his long jump triumph. “I just got up and wanted to stick with the guys and stay strong”. I couldn’t believe I did it, I’ve never been like that before.
James, who won the Olympic gold as a 19-year-old at London in 2012, held off 2008 champion LaShawn Merritt in 44.21 in the first of three semifinal heats.
He left Tanui well behind him, taking just one cautionary look and crossed the line to take the 10,000m gold medal for the second time in-a-row. Mo Farah knows how to win and win with class, sometimes it’s nearly like God says if you’re humble you’ll win, but if not keep losing.
While Rutherford was just two centimetres off his golden 2012 performance, this time 8.29m bagged him the bronze as a rollercoaster competition saw him beaten by Jeff Henderson of US and South Africa’s Luvo Manyonga.
Ethiopia’s Yigrem Demelash made a couple of daring efforts to push the pace from the front as the group East Africans were running out of track to attack Farah, who has easily the best finish in distance running.
Farah is back in action for that race on Wednesday.
He added: “It’s important to make my country proud and make history”.
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“I bumped into him”, Rupp said. I told him to get behind me after that and tried to lead him back up. Fraser-Pryce won the bronze with a 10.86 – at least adding some more hardware to her collection, even if it wasn’t gold. “I’m excited I get another shot to go out there and represent the U.S. and have another chance to race”.
