The 33-year-old successfully defended his London 2012 title in what was a tightly-contested race that saw him pushed hard by Kenya’s Paul Kipngetich Tanui and Ethiopian duo Tamirat Tula and Yigrem Demelash.
Advertisement
There was a slight shock in the 11th minute of the race as Farah tumbled after a collision with his training partner Rupp, though the Brit was quickly back to his feet.
Until that moment, the London Olympics 10,000m and 5000m champion had been in complete command of the race, moving from the back of the field to the front easily in a sign of his incredible combination of stamina and speed.
“I knew I had to beat her by about 10 seconds and I knew it was going to be a tough ask. I thought I had it, but he took it from me”, said Manyonga.
“I wasn’t going to let it go”, he said. I was down in fourth and I’ve managed to come out and get myself a medal, but I came into the championships to win, I’m not here to finish third and it’s very frustrating. I thought about my family. “It’s hard mentally when you go down”, an emotional Farah told reporters.
“I bumped into him”.
“There was a lot of pushing, guys slowing down in front, pushing from behind”, Rupp said. “Is the race?” Farah recalled asking himself.
The time of 4.10.236 minutes was enough to finish in front of the Americans by over two seconds and gave Trott her third Olympic title after omnium gold at London 2012 as well as success in the team pursuit.
In a thrilling Olympic final, the Somali-born British runner even had time to put his hands on top of his head in the trademark “Mobot” sign, as well-known to distance runners as Usain Bolt’s “to the world” move. Thompson had the best start of the field and pulled away throughout the race, asserting her dominance over the field as she went on to win in 10.71 seconds, well clear of Team USA’s Tori Bowie, who won silver in 10.81.
All of Farah’s championship victories have come in a similar style, where he tracks his usually Kenyan and Ethiopian rivals before hammering a last lap and kicking in the last 200 metres. Then, after 10 laps, Rupp clipped Farah’s heel and the defending champion was down.
The Briton recovered quickly and flashed the American a thumbs-up as he refound his rhythm behind Tola, Tanui and his teammate Geoffrey Kamworor, the reigning world cross country champion and the victor of the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships earlier this year. I wanted to make sure he was OK first and foremost.
Advertisement
“Galen is a good sportsman and things happen sometimes and it’s so easy to blame people, but I’ve got such a long stride I don’t blame him for anything. I’m just happy that it didn’t affect the outcome for his race”.
