(Mohammed Benchrif)
On the 9th day of athletics events at the Tokyo games, African athletes claimed one gold (in the women’s marathon), two silver and two bronze medals.
And so it was that Kenyan, Peres Jepchirchir, became the Olympic marathon champion on Saturday in Sapporo (north Japan), taking first place in 2 hours 27 minutes 20 seconds.
Jepchirchir outpaced her compatriot Brigid Kosgei, the world record holder over this distance (2:14:04) by 16 seconds and was 26 seconds ahead of American Molly Seidel, who took bronze.
Jepchirchir left Kosgei in her wake just after the 40km mark to ensure a Kenyan double and outclass the American athlete.
With this victory, Jepchirchir followed in the footsteps of compatriot Jemima Sumgong, the gold medal winner at the Rio games.
The main surprise of the race came in the form of the third Kenyan, world champion Ruth Chepngetich, who lost touch with the leading pack of around ten runners just before the thirty-kilometre mark and was subsequently forced out of the race.
The first African athlete to be crowned Olympic marathon champion was Ethiopian Fatuma Roba in 1996 at the Atlanta games, a few short months after winning the international marathon title in Marrakech.
Since 1996 Africa has collected four gold medals, as many silvers and two bronzes.
10,000m bronze for Ethiopian Letesenbet Gidey
Dutch athlete Sifan Hassan, already a gold medal winner over 5,000m as well as bronze medallist over 1500m, was crowned Olympic champion in the 10,000m taking victory in 29 min 55 sec and 32/100, after a breath-taking race.
Ethiopian Letesenbet Gidey, world record holder, imposed a blistering pace, but was unable to shake the close attentions of her two rivals before being overtaken in the final lap. She then had to settle for third place (30:01:72) just behind Bahraini athlete of Ethiopian extraction, Kalkidan Gezahegne, who clinched the silver (29:56:18).
At the age of 23, Gidey, who had broken the world record over the distance set by Sifan, which only stood for two days, therefore failed to add a first major title to her medal collection.
- Timothy Cheruiyot Olympic silver medallist over 1500m
Kenyan Timothy Cheruiyot, 2019 world champion in Doha, secured the 1500m silver medal by covering the distance in 3 min 29 sec 01/100.
Timothy was unable to match Norwegian prodigy Jakob Ingebrigtsen (20), the youngest of the Ingebrigtsen brothers, who continues to write his own legend. After a European double in the 1500 and 5000m aged just 17 in Berlin in 2018, on Saturday Jakob Ingebrigtsen completed the greatest feat of his career so far by taking the 1500m medal at the Tokyo games in a time of 3 min 28 sec 32/100, thereby setting a new Olympic record.
The bronze medal was taken by British runner Josh Kerr (3 min 29 sec 05/100).
Having been fourth choice in the Kenyan selection, Cheruiyot eventually made the cut as the second athlete picked for the race, Kamar Etyang, didn’t meet the selection criteria after failing to attend three out of competition anti-doping tests in the last ten months.
It’s worth remembering that the first African Olympic champion over 1500m was Kenyan Kipchoge Keino at the 1968 Mexico games who also took gold in the 3000m steeplechase and silver in the 1500m in 1972 in Munich.
In the 1500m, where the legendary Hicham El Guerrouj has held the world record (3 min 26 sec) since setting it on 14th July 1998 in Rome, African athletes have collected 8 gold medals, 5 silvers and 3 bronzes.
The current president of World Athletics, British former athlete Sebastian Coe, is the most decorated competitor over 1500 with two gold medals (1980 in Moscow and 1984 in Los Angeles) followed by Hicham El Guerrouj and Algerian Taoufik Makhloufi who each hold a gold and silver medal.
A bronze medal worth its weight in gold for Botswana in the 4x400 relay
The Botswanan men’s 4x400 relay team has caused no end of excitement in each of its races.
The Botswanan quartet (Isaac Makwala, Baboloki Thebe, Zibane Ngozi, Bayapo Ndori) has for a long time been left chasing American shadows until the final relay. They then completed a remarkable achievement on Saturday by reaching third place on the podium and crucially setting a new African record in the process, 2:57:27, thereby smashing the record they themselves had set in the semi-final on Friday (2:58:33).
The Botswanan 4x400 team qualified for the final after setting the second-best time across the two qualifying heats behind the Americans (2:57:77).
The gold medal was won by the American quartet in 2 min 55 sec 70/100, ahead of the Dutch team (2:57:18).
The US team thereby retained their title despite a complete overhaul of their quartet. This is the eighteenth American title in the twenty-four races in which they have competed.
African medals
After nine days of events, Africa has collected a total of 22 medals (7 of them gold, 7 silver and 8 bronze).
Country Gold Silver Bronze
Kenya 3 4 2
Uganda 2 1 1
Ethiopia 1 1 2
Morocco 1 0 0
Namibia 0 1 0
Nigeria 0 0 1
Burkina Faso 0 0 1
Botswana 0 0 1