The eighth day of athletics competitions at the Tokyo Olympic Games was defined by the crowning of Kenyan Faith Kipyegon over 1500m, the Ugandan Joshua Cheptegei over 5000m and the stunning qualification of Botswana for the final of the men’s 4x400m relay.
Kenyan Faith Kipyegon, the title holder, retained her Olympic crown in the 1500m with victory in 3 min 53 sec 11/100 ahead of British athlete Laura Muir (3 min 54 sec 50) and Dutch star Sifan Hassan (3 min 55 sec 86).
In so doing, Kipyegon demolished the Olympic record which has stood since Romanian Paula Ivan’s exploits at the 1988 Seoul Olympics (3:53:96).
With an initial head-to-head victory a few weeks earlier in Monaco already under her belt, Kipyegon then put an end to Sifan Hassan’s dream of completing an unprecedented 1500, 5000 and 10,000m triple. Hassan, who took victory in the 5000m on Monday 2nd August, will nevertheless contest the 10,000m final on Saturday, a race in which she holds the world title and where she will go shoulder to shoulder with the world record holder over the distance, Ethiopian Letesenbet Gidey.
The result of the 1500m also brought Kipyegon revenge for defeat at the 2019 Doha World Championships.
Sifan Hassan was unable to match the unrelenting pace of the Kenyan, who achieved world champion status at the 2017 London championships, and saw her hopes go up in smoke on Friday over the shortest of the distances she will attempt.
This means that African athletes have now secured the women’s 1500m Olympic title on four occasions through the efforts of Algerians Hassiba Boulmerka (Barcelona 1992) and Nouria Mérah-Benida (Sydney 2000) before Kenyans Nancy Langat (Beijing 2008) and Faith Kipyegon (Rio 2016).
The medals for the 1500m were presented to the winning trio by Hamad Kalkaba Malboum, president of the African Athletics Confederation (CAA) and legend of international athletics, Paul Tergat, president of Kenya’s National Olympic Committee.
Ugandan Joshua Cheptegei, 10,000m silver medallist, gained his first Olympic title yesterday with a convincing victory in the 5000m stopping the clock on 12 min 58 sec 15/100.
Cheptegei outpaced Canadian, Mohammed Ahmed, 12:58:61 and American Paul Chelimo, 12:59:05 (of Somalian and Kenyan origins respectively).
Surprised in the 10,000m final, on Friday 30th July, by Ethiopian Salemon Barega, the double world record holder (over 5000 and 10,000m) seized the initiative and eclipsed his competitors thanks to the hard work laid down by his compatriot Jakob Kiplimo, who imposed a demanding pace during the first three kilometres.
On 14th August 2020 in Monaco, Cheptegei broke the 5000m world record of 12 min 35 sec 36 set by Ethiopian legend Kenenisa Bekele. He then went on to do the same over 10,000m in October 2020.
With Cheptegei’s gold, Uganda brings its tally to four medals, two of them gold, one silver and one bronze.
African athletes have taken the men’s 5000m title on eight occasions since 1968, including five clean sweeps.
The eight titles were the work of Tunisian Mohammed Gammoudi (Mexico 1968), Ethiopians Miruts Yifter (Moscow 1980), Million Wolde (Sydney 2000) and Kenenisa Bekele (Beijing 2008), Moroccans Said Aouita (Los Angeles 1984) and Hicham El Guerrouj (Athens 2004), Kenyan John Ngugi (Seoul 1988) and Burundian Vénuste Niyongabo (Atlanta 1996).
Athletes representing Africa took up all podium positions in the men’s 5000m on five occasions in 1968, 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008.
African Record in the 4x400m
Early on Friday morning, Polish athlete Dawid Tomala triumphed in the final 50km Olympic title in Sapporo in 3h 50min and 8sec, while South African Marc Mundell finished in 40th place (4:14:37).
The 50km race walk is to be removed from the Olympic programme as of the Paris 2024 games, making way for a mixed team walking event.
Elsewhere, the Botswanan quartet (Isaac Makwala, Baboloki Thebe, Zibane Ngozi, Bayapo Ndori) caused a dramatic stir when they secured second place in the first heat of the 4x400m with a time of 2 min 58 sec and 33 /100, thereby setting a new continental record. The Botswanan 4x400 team therefore qualified for the final, coming up with the second-best time across the two qualifying heats behind team USA in the process (2:57:77).
By contrast, The South African quartet (Lythe Pillay, Zakhiti Nene, Ranti Marvin Dikgale, Thapelo Phora) could do no better than 7th place in the second heat.
African medals
After eight days of events, Africa has collected a total of 17 medals (6 of them gold, 5 silver and 6 bronze).
Country Gold Silver Bronze
Kenya 2 2 2.
Uganda 2 1 1.
Ethiopia 1 1 1.
Morocco 1 0 0.
Namibia 0 1 0.
Nigeria 0 0 1.
Burkina Faso 0 0 1.