Ethiopian phenomenon Kenenisa Bekele completed a stunning double Olympic title triumph as he eased home in the men’s 5,000m yesterday to add to his 10,000m victory on an evening when doubles were very much the trend.
The 26-year-old emulated compatriot Tirunesh Dibaba’s performances in the women’s events and he was the first male athlete to do the double since another Ethiopian, Miruts Yifter, achieved the same feat in the boycotted 1980 Games in Moscow.
Kenya also enjoyed a double gold in the final full session of the track and field program as they took the men’s 800m and the women’s 1,500m.
PHOTO: AP
Wilfred Bungei gave Kenya their first men’s 800m Olympic title since William Tanui in 1992.
Virtual unknown Nancy Langat then celebrated her 27th birthday a day late and handed Kenya’s women their second title of the athletics — and their second ever — when she cantered to an easy victory in the 1,500m.
The Americans regained some pride after an underwhelming competition with golds in both the 4x400m relays, while Norway’s Andreas Thorkildsen won his second consecutive Olympic men’s javelin title.
PHOTO: AP
Belgium’s Tia Hellebaut won the women’s high jump to give her country their first ever Olympic track and field title.
Bekele stepped on the gas when the bell sounded for the final lap, building up an insurmountable 25m lead over Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge down the far stretch.
As he rounded the corner into the final straight, Bekele wagged his finger and grinned broadly as he saw the gap he had built up.
Bungei produced a fine front-running performance to land the gold (1 minute, 44.65 seconds) and prove he can win major titles outdoors as he did indoors when he won the world title back in 2006.
Bungei, who was fifth in the 2004 final, edged home ahead of Ismail Ahmed Ismail, who gave Sudan their first ever track and field Olympic medal, while another Kenyan Alfred Yego was third.
“I came here as the underdog because of the times I ran so far this year,” the 28-year-old Bungei said. “It’s been a good night for Kenya. We have done something good here for our country.”
Langat ran a tactically astute race as she waited for race favorite and world champion Maryam Yusuf Jamal of Bahrain to make her move to the front, which she did with 500m to go.
Jamal initially looked to have the measure of the Kenyan, but down the backstretch the Ethiopian-born Asian Games champion had no answer when Langat passed her.
Coming round the bend there appeared a brief hope the 23-year-old could claw back the ground, but Langat, who was a semi-finalist in the 2004 Games, accelerated as she bettered her personal best by over two seconds (4 minutes, 0:23 seconds).
“I knew she [Jamal] would be very strong and I had to work hard to win,” Langat said.
Jamal looked round her desperately as she tried at least to hold on for a minor medal, but was passed by both Ukrainian duo Iryna Lishchynska and Nataliya Tobias and eventually finished fifth.
The American men were runaway winners of their relay, the result never in doubt once individual Olympic champion LaShawn Merritt handed over to second leg runner and 400m hurdles winner Angelo Taylor.
By contrast the American women looked to be down and out going into the final leg of their race.
But a stunning performance by Sanya Richards saw her overhaul Russian Anastasia Kapachinskaya to provide some consolation for only taking bronze in the individual event.
Japan’s Shohei Ohtani is the record-breaking baseball “superhuman” following in the footsteps of the legendary Babe Ruth who has also earned comparisons to US sporting greats Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. Not since Ruth a century ago has there been a baseball player capable of both pitching and hitting at the top level. The 30-year-old’s performances with the Los Angeles Dodgers have consolidated his position as a baseball legend in the making, and a national icon in his native Japan. He continues to find new ways to amaze, this year becoming the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Taiwan’s Tony Wu yesterday beat Mackenzie McDonald of the US to win the Nonthaburi Challenger IV in Thailand, his first challenger victory since 2022. The 26-year-old world No. 315, who won both his qualifiers to advance to the main draw, has been on a hot streak this month, winning his past nine matches, including two that ensured Taiwan’s victory in their Davis Cup World Group I tie. Wu took just more than two hours to top world No. 172 McDonald 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to win his second challenger tournament since the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger in 2022. Wu’s Tallahassee win followed two years of
Taiwanese martial artists bagged one gold, four silver and three bronze medals at the World Junior Wushu Championships in Brunei, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Brunei Darussalam said yesterday. Liu Yu-tzu won the gold medal in the girl’s taijiquan A group and also picked up a silver medal in the girl’s taijijian A group. Hu Hsin-ling, Yu Min-hsun and Chen Chao-hsiang each won a silver medal in the girl’s jianshu B, boy’s nangun B and boy’s taijijian A groups respectively. Hu also won a bronze medal in the girl’s qiangshu B group, while Yu and Lin Shih-hung picked up bronze medals
RSS