by Alfonz Juck
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I’m so happy. To do the 5000m and 10,000m is not something easy. But just focus, and know that you can achieve. Just believe in yourself. I believed that I can do it. I just wanted to win the 10,000m for my country. My country has never won a gold medal (in the women’s 10,000m). So I said I wanted to be the first woman to win a gold medal in the 10,000m. My grandmother… I stayed with her since I was young. She used to motivate me, help me in everything. When she realised that I have a talent, she got me everything I required. She always prays for me,” Beatrice Chebet.
“I don’t think I can describe it. It’s a mix of everything that I’ve lived. I could use a thousand words. If you didn’t live every single day with me for the past two, three, four years, you couldn’t understand what I feel right now. But it’s unique, and I think that the main feeling is pride. I’m very proud of myself, and I’m grateful.”“Emotional, it’s also all my body, all the nerves from the past few days trying to keep it all together. Now it’s done, and my body is like, ‘OK, you can let it go.’ I also feel very tired. It’s hard for me to even talk. I’m out of breath, my body is down. I’m done, ” Nafissatou Thiam.
RESULT OF THE DAY
Nafissatou Thiam became the first woman with three Olympic titles in the heptathlon. She crowned her title with a PB in the 800m (2:10.62).
Marileidy Paulino highlighted her 400m Olympic title with a new OR of 48.17, fourth fastest time in history.
SURPRISE OF THE DAY
Yemisi Ogunleye won the Olympic title on her last throw with 20.00, throwing only 19.53 so far this outdoor season. She’s the first German woman since 1996 to bring home Olympic gold in the shot put.
MEDALS (37 countries)
USA 11-10-8; CAN 3-0-1; KEN 2-1-3; ESP 2-1-1; GBR 1-4-2; JAM 1-3-2; GER 1-2-1; AUS 1-1-4; CHN 1-1-2.
POINTS (68 countries)
USA 270; GBR 72; JAM 70; KEN 67; ITA 58; GER 51; NED 45; CAN 44; ETH 43; AUS 42.
Yes (7): Crouser, Allman, Duplantis, Tentoglou, El Bakkali, McLaughlin-Levrone, Thiam
No (24): Stano, Palmisano, Barega, POL (4×400 mixed), Warner, Nowicki, Jacobs, Hassan (2x), Ingebrigtsen, Wlodarczyk, Chemutai, Moon, Stahl, Mihambo, Chopra, De Grasse, Parchment, JAM (4×100 women), Gong Lijiao, ITA (4×100 men), Miller-Uibo, Pichardo, Warholm
NC (6): Rojas, Thompson-Herah (2x), Lasitskene, Mu, Gardiner (DNS)
TOP MARKS
WR (3+1): 3:07.41 mixed 4x400m USA (230th WR at Olympic Games); 625 pole vault Duplantis; 50.37 400m hurdles McLaughlin-Levrone, world best 2:50:31 marathon race walk mixed relay ESP (WR not yet set)
OR (10): 3:07.41 mixed 4x400m USA; 26:43.14 10,000m Cheptegei; 625 pole vault Duplantis; 3:27.65 1500m Hocker; 8:52.76 steeple Yavi; 2:50:31 marathon race walk mixed relay ESP; 70.00 discus Stona; 92.97 javelin Nadeem; 50.37 400m hurdles McLaughlin-Levrone; 48.17 400m Paulino
WL (10+1+1): 3:07.41 mixed 4x400m USA; 625 pole vault Duplantis; 8:52.76 steeple Yavi; 43.40 400m Hall; 2:50:31 marathon race walk mixed relay ESP; 92.97 javelin Nadeem; 50.37 400m hurdles McLaughlin-Levrone; 2:57.76 men’s 4x400m 2:57.76; 48.17 400m Paulino; 6880 heptathlon Thiam; outdoor Lafond 15.02; equalled Benjamin 46.46
AR (16): 5 – Europe; 4 – NACAC; 2 – Africa, Oceania, South America; 1 – Asia
AGENTS (individual gold medals)
4 – Paul Doyle; 3 – Federico Rosa, Mark Wetmore; 2 – John Regis; 1 – Pascal Bureaux, Sekou Clarke, Mark Corstjens, Caroline Feith, Ray Flynn, Stale Jan Froynes, Jos Hermens, Alfons Juck (with Andrew Maulseed hammer winner), Aivar Karotamm, Carine Messerschmidt, John Nubani, Juan Pedro Pineda de la Losa, Henry Rolle, Alberto Suarez Bermudez, Kim Vanderlinden, Robert Wagner, Daniel Wessfeldt. Nadeem and Lafond are representing themselves and not known for walking winners.
400mH – men: Benjamin 46.46 is third fastest at Olympics and fourth ever; second medals for Benjamin (silver in Tokyo), Warholm (gold in Tokyo) and Dos Santos (second bronze); only for the second time both 400mH races to one country (also USA in Rio).
HEP: Third Olympic title for Thiam (surpassing Joyner-Kersee with 2); best ever mark for place 5; two medals for single nation (BEL) only third time in history; BEL (3-0-1) moved to second in medal ranking ahead of USA (2-2-0), GBR (3-3-3) remained first.
400m – women: Paulino won first gold for DOM, clocking new OR 48.17, fourth in all-time list; Naser 48.53 fourth best Olympic time; for the first time ever all 8 finishers sub-50, best ever marks for places 4-8; second medal for Paulina (after silver in Tokyo), first medal for BRN.
TJ – men: First (gold) medal for ESP; J.Díaz 17.86 tied fourth best Olympic mark, Pichardo 17.84 is sixth; 2cm difference between 1-2 is the lowest; best marks for place for 3rd to (at least) 6th in Olympic; second medal for Pichardo (after gold in Tokyo); Jordan Diaz became first TJ to win Olympics, World Junior and World Youth and European championships; He is also second to win World Youth and Olympics, 4th to win WOrld Junior and Olympics, 7th to win Euro Champ and Olympics.
4x100m – men: CAN became fifth nation with multiple titles (after USA, JAM, GBR and URS); 0.11 difference between 1-3 is the lowest at Olympics; best marks for Olympic places 3-6; first medal for RSA.
SP – women: GER (2-4-3) moved ahead of NZL (2-2-1) to third in medals ranking; 20.00 is the shortest winning distance of Olympic WSP since 2004.
4x100m – women: 0.19 difference between 1-3 is the lowest at Olympics.
800m – men: Wanyonyi’s 1:43.32 is the fastest semifinal time at the Olympics (replacing 1:43.79 by Tellez from Atlanta 1996); Crestan’s 1:43.72 is the fastest Olympic non-qualifying time.
100mH : 12.50 by Amusan and Skrzyszowska is the fastest non-qualifying Olympic time (replacing 12.60 by Ennis-London in Athens 2004).
4x400m – men: Botswana’s 2:57.76 is the fastest 1st round time at the Olympics (replacing 2:57.77 by USA from Tokyo).
PARIS (FRA): Bashir Abdi has described the marathon course for Paris 2024 as the toughest he has ever faced, informs sporza.be. “Up until the 14th kilometre it is a classic course that I am not very worried about. But from then on it becomes a different way of running on a tough course with many hills. The heat will also play a role. I’ve run 11 marathons so far and I’ve never seen a course as tough as this. But that’s the same for everyone of course,” he said.
PARIS (FRA): Anouk Vetter was a DNF in the heptathlon due to a hamstring injury. She withdrew from the competition before the javelin.
PARIS (FRA): Bryce Hoppel has said he will be “disappointed with anything less than gold” after the 800m semifinals, informs LetsRun.com. “I want it to be fast just because I’ve had to sit on the sidelines watching guys run 1:41. I think it’s my turn for that. It’s time for a medal on the Olympic stage, and honestly, I’d be disappointed with anything less than gold,” he said.
PARIS (FRA): Fastest splits from the women’s 4x400m relay heats. Little was the fastest in 49.22 ahead of Mawdsley (49.74) and Klaver (50.27), Claes ran the fastest first leg (50.61). In the men’s heats, Samukonga was super-fast in 43.19, Norwood (43.54) and Hudson-Smith (43.87), on the first leg Tebogo (44.33).
PARIS (FRA): Malaika Mihambo left the Stade de France in a wheelchair after the long jump final, informs Leichtathletik.de. Mihambo contracted coronavirus after winning gold at the European Championships in Rome. “Corona is not just like a cold or a little flu for everyone,” she said.
PARIS (FRA): Femke Bol described her performance in the 400m hurdles as “one of her worst races” of her career informs NOS. “I came here for the best race of my life. And I ran one of my worst. I really don’t get it. After 250 meters it really didn’t work anymore. It was an extra blow that someone then also came over me. I really didn’t expect that. At the last hurdle I suddenly took an extra step, which is just stupid. I’m just annoyed about this. But that I was not able to show the best Femke here is perhaps even worse,” she said.
PARIS (FRA): Several former athletes today received their Olympic medals from the 2012 London Games. The rankings changed after the disqualifications of the original medallists from Russia. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) finally confirmed the redistribution of medals last March.
PARIS (FRA): Eritrean marathon runner Kibrom Weldemicael has been provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) after testing positive for EPO and Furosemide. He was selected to compete in the marathon in Paris 2024.
