Paris 2024: Golden night for Kenya as Kipyegon and Wanyonyi strike gold

Kenya's Faith Kipyegon made history yesterday after becoming the first woman to win three consecutive Olympic 1,500m gold medals with a superb display of middle distance running.

The 30-year-old 2016 and 2020 1,500m champion produced a tactical masterpiece at the Stade de France to take gold in a new Olympic record of 3min 51.29sec.

Earlier in the night yesterday Emmanuel Wanyonyi held off world champion Marco Arop of Canada to win Olympic men's 800m gold.

Wanyonyi clocked a personal best of 1min 41.19sec for victory, Arop taking silver just one-hundredth of a second behind in a North American record.

"This race was tough for me," said 20-year-old Wanyonyi. "I came to Paris, I told myself this race is not easy because it's the Olympics, so I need to run my personal best to win this.

"I felt more pressure because I knew it's not easy. Sedjati is not easy (to beat), he's a tough guy."

Meanwhile, without doubt the indefatigable Beatrice Chebet  alias 'Smiling Assassin' perfectly deserves at least a chapter or so when the history of the Kenyan athletics will be written.

Chebet killed three birds with one stone at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games that concludes today.

First, she became the first Kenyan ever to win a double (5,000m and 10,000) at the event on her debut, then went into the annals of history as the first woman to nag gold medal for Kenya in 10,000m since the race's inception at the 1988 Seoul Games.

And thirdly, Chebet has left the French capital richer after pocketing Sh12.8 ($100,000) in prize money from the recently introduced reward scheme from World Athletics of $50,000 for every gold in Paris.

“My main target coming into this Games was to win 10,000m and not 5,000m. I wanted 10,000m gold because that's the most important medal in my life,” said Chebet.

“It’s the sweetest of the two because as a country, we have never won it. I have made history, and even if someone else wins it in the next Olympic, I will always be remembered as the first Kenyan woman to win it.

She continued: “It's a dream of every athlete to be an Olympic champion, but for me I have no rush for medals as long as I get one title at a time to build my profile. But I feel honoured to have come here and won two gold medals on my debut.”

The golden girl clocked 30:43.25 in front of a roaring crowd at the Stade de France on Friday night to beat Italy’s Nadia Battocletti (30:43.35), who settled for silver, and dethroned champion Sifan Hassan who timed 30:44.12. This was Chebet’s second gold after trouncing another star-studded field in 5,000m final on Monday.

Her Kenyan compatriots Margaret Chelimo (30:44.58) and Lilian Kasait (30:45.04) finished fourth and fifth respectively in a very tactical 24-lap race that evolved from a slower burner to a thrilling finish in the final lap.

Save for the World Championships,  Chebet, who started her competitive career at the World U18 Championships at Kasarani Stadium in 2017, has won a couple of major races including the World Cross Country.

She also shattered the 10,000m world record (28:54.14) in Eugene in May.

Chebet dedicated the 10,000m gold medal to all Kenyans as she narrated her journey to stardom. She credited her participation in cross-country races for her recent success.

“I have come a long way since participating in the World U18 Championships at Kasarani in 2017. The beauty is that I have never rushed myself, it has been one step at a time, and I knew everything would come at the right time,” said Chebet.[Additional reporting by AFP]