Eliud Kipchoge wins Rio, photo by Photorun.net
Eliud Kipchoge defeated Kenenisa Bekele and Hicham El Guerrouj when he was 18 years old. Kipchoge has excelled at cross country, track & field and then, transitioned to road running, a discipline he did not like at first. He has dominated the marathon for the past three years and with his Olympic win, has won London twice and Berlin once, as well as Chicago. His interviews are wonderful, with a combination Kenyan and Buddhist feel.
Eliud Kipchoge is the zen master of the Marathon. He is a 'superhero' to many. Just a wonderful guy who can turn on his ability to inflict pain into anyone who dares to race him from 30 kilometers on, Eliud Kipchoge took home his final goal for 2016: the gold medal in Rio in a style that was pure Eliud Kipchoge.
OLYMPIC GAMES 9TH DAY (+ marathon)
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"No, I cannot say I am a super hero. But if that is what you want to say I totally appreciate it. World record is in the back of my mind, but I cannot say when," Eliud Kipchoge.
RESULT OF THE DAY
Rohler 90+ in javelin, 2nd best in olympic history and Kipchoge in great style winning the marathon.
SURPRISE OF THE DAY
Super slow time in men 1500 m final and oldest finalist Beitia winning the high jump.
MEDALS (42 countries)
1. USA 13-10-9, 2. KEN 6-6-1, 3. JAM 6-3-2, 4. CHN 2-2-2, 5. RSA 2-2-0, 6. GBR 2-1-4.
POINTS (69 countries)
1. USA 310, 2. KEN 131, 3. JAM 106, 4. GBR 93, 5. CHN 81, 6. GER 73.
AGENT RANKINGS (by individual gold medal)
Jos Hermens 6, Ricky Simms 6, Paul Doyle 4, Claude Bryan 2, Adrian Laidlaw 2, Karen Locke 2, Daniel Wessfeldt 2, Vera Michallek, Helena Van der Plaetsen, Tyler Kukahiko, Federico Rosa, Peet van Zyl, Czeslaw Zapala, Marc Corstjens, Jose Praia, James Templeton, Ray Flynn, Michel Boeting, John Regis, Caroline Feith, Alfons Juck, Robert Wagner, Alberto Armas, Vladimir Maska, Julia Garcia, Jukka Harkonen.
TITLE DEFENDERS
Yes (6): Farah (2), Bolt (2), Rudisha, Pekrovic, Taylor, Eaton. No (19): T. Dibaba, Adams, Chen Ding, R. Harting, Fraser-Pryce, Rutherford, Ennis-Hill, Rypakova, James, Lavillenie, Kemboi, Reese, Majewski, Spotakova, Tallent, Suhr, Pars, Walcott, Makhloufi
TOP MARKS
WR 3 (Ayana, Van Niekerk, Wlodarczyk), OR 8 (Ayana, Van Niekerk, Wlodarczyk, Thiago, Kipruto, Eaton, Crouser, Cheruiyot), WL 20 (Ayana, Van Niekerk, Harting, Carter, Ibarguen, Jebet, Thiago, Rudisha, Miller, Taylor, Clement, Eaton, Crouser, JAM 4x100, USAw 4x100, USAw 4x400, JAM 4x400, Semenya, USAw 4x400, USA 4x400), World Hept best (Thiam, Johnson-Thompson HJ). Decathlon Olympic best (Warner 100 m).
TOP INDIVIDUAL ATHLETES
Bolt 3-0-0, Felix and Thompson 2-1-0, Farah and Bartoletta 2-0-0, Bowie 1-1-1.
STATS (by Ken Nakamura)
For the first time in the Olympics, man (Clement) and woman (Muhammad) of the same team (USA) won corresponding race of 400mH. The same in marathon by Kenya (Kipchoge and Sumgong.
WHJ: Beitia became 10th European Champion who also won the Olympics in WHJ. For the first time since 1936 all the medalists cleared same height in Olympic WHJ. Last time olympic gold below 2 meters was 1980 Simeoni 197.
JT: 90.30 is the second longest JT in the Olympic Games. Walcott became 11th JT to win multiple Olympic medals. 6cm difference between 3rd and 4th is the shortest ever in Olympic JT.
1500m: The winning time of 3:50.00 is the slowest winning time of Olympic 1500m since 1932. Matt Centrowitz is the third runner with both Olympic and World Indoor Gold in 1500m. Centrowitz became first Olympic 1500m champion from the US since 1908 (Mel Sheppard).
W800m: Semenya became 4th (3rd if you don't count Savinova) W800m runner to win both Olympics and World Championships. First gold for RSA and first medal for BDI in Olympic W800m. 1:55.28 by Semenya is the 5th fastest W 800m time in Olympic history and World lead and NR.
Olympics at W800m
5000m: Farah became only the second man (Viren 1972, 1976) to win back to back 5000m/10000m double at the Olympic Games. 13:03.30 is the third fastest Olympic 5000m. Initially dq-ed Paul Chelimo was reinstated.
W4x400mR: 7th gold, 6 in a row for USA at Olympic W4x400mR; USSR and GDR has two gold, nobody else have more than one.
4x400mR: 0.03 sec is the smallest difference between 3rd and 4th at Olympic 4x400mR. For the 4th time in Olympic history, US won both men's and women's 4x400mR in the same Olympics; USSR won both in 1980. All time best marks for place for 5th and 6th at 4x400mR were recorded. For the first time in history, six team broke 3 min in 4x400mR; previous max was 5 in both 2008 Olympics and 2015 World Champ in Beijing.
SPLITS
In men 4x400 m best splits by Kevin Borlee 43.67, Javon Francis 43.78 and Steven Gardiner 43.79 followed by LaShawn Merritt 43.97 and Karabo Sibanda 43.9. On the women side Natasha Hastings 49.2, Shericka Jackson 49.67, Allyson Felix 49.66 and Phyllis Francis 49.82.
OTHER NEWS
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA): Abbey D'Agostino and Nikki Hamblin have received Fair Play awards from the The International Fair Play Committee (CIFP), informs the IOC. D'Agostino and Hamblin were both involved in a mid-race fall in the 5000m heats which saw D'Agostino help Hamblin to her feet before finishing the race despite an ACL tear. The trophies were presented by IOC Vice-President and IAAF Council Member Nawal El Moutawakel.
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA): Ashton Eaton has said he won't defend his Olympic decathlon title in 2020, informs AP. Eaton became just the third decathlete in history to win back-to-back Olympic titles in Rio.
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA): Evgenia Kolodko has been officially stripped of her shot put silver medal from the 2012 Olympics after retroactively testing positive for turinabol and ipamorelin, informs AP. China's Gong Lijiao moves up to silver and her team-mate Li Ling moves from fourth to bronze.
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA): Almaz Ayana has hit back at critics who have accused her of doping, informs Reuters. "There are many who suspect doping to have taken place whenever a race is won or a record is broken. I don't accept this. Through hard work, anyone can succeed," she said. Her agent Jos Hermens informed she was not running well in 5000 m due to stomach problems.
PARIS (FRA): Eight Olympic champions have been confirmed for the Paris Diamond League on 27 August: Kerron Clement, Ryan Crouser, Elaine Thompson, Brianna Rollins, Tianna Bartoletta, Faith Kipyegon, Ruth Jebet and Sandra Perkovic. The complete podiums from the men's shot put, women's steeplechase, women's discus and 100m hurdles will be in action with Rollins set to go head-to-head with word record-holder Kendra Harrison. Christophe Lemaitre and Jimmy Vicaut will be in action over 100m while Renaud Lavillenie takes on Sam Kendricks in the pole vault.
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA): German Athletics federation president Clemens Prokop was critical about the performance of German athletes in Rio. "It was not good but it does not mean we are on the way down, " he said. Germany
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA): The athletics programme of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games was contested by 200 teams, 199 from National Olympic Committees, plus the Refugee team. The past eight days was marked by three world records and further highlighted by Usain Bolt's unique triple Olympic sprint treble. Ethiopia's Almaz Ayana's 10,000m world record opened the first session, South Africa's Wayde van Niekerk's 400m run from lane eight so nearly upstaged Usain Bolt on 100m final night, while Poland's Anita Wlodarczyk improved her own hammer throw mark. IAAF President Sebastian Coe commented: "Rio's remarkable record week of athletics has enthralled and entertained, capturing the global imagination. This has been world-class athletics at its finest. The mass chant of 'Usain Bolt, Usain Bolt' which reverberated around the Olympic stadium will echo for decades to come. Historians will not fail to make the comparison with the crowd lauding another legend in the 1952 Olympics with 'Zatopek, Zatopek'!" As of the end of Thursday (18), the IAAF website - iaaf.org - had seen a huge increase in users and usage compared with the same period during London 2012 Olympic Games with 91% more website users and 58% more user sessions.
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA): IAAF Council on Saturday discussed three key issues which concern the integrity of competition and established new working groups chaired by Council members to consider the existing rules which govern them. Transfer of Allegiance will be lead by Hiroshi Yokokawa, Age Manipulation by Adille Sumariwalla and Performance/Results Manipulation by Bernard Amsalem. The arrival of CEO Olivier Gers marks an important moment in the transition of the federation both in terms of its organisation structure and its governance. Council gave approval in Rio to the proposals for the IAAF Governance Structure Reform. This autumn IAAF teams headed by Sebastian Coe will be taking the proposals to all six areas ahead of a special IAAF Congress at the beginning of December. The four key platforms of governance reform are Redefining roles and responsibilities, Greater athlete representation, Establishing gender balance and New tribunal and disciplinary processes.
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA): The reinstatement of the Russian athletics federation is a priority. The IAAF Taskforce met in Rio (16) during the Games and hopes to resume discussions with the Russian Olympic Committee's Interim Coordination Committee to establish a clean safe environment for its athletes so that its federation and team can return to international competition.
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA): Council decided to discontinue the World U18 Championships after the next edition in Nairobi (KEN). The IAAF will work with Area Associations to find a more appropriate competition structure for assisting the career development of U18 age group athletes. Mixed Relay will be added to World CC Champs as new event in Kampala 2017. At IAAF World Relays in Bahamas 2017 (which will continue also in 2019 in Bahamas) Distance Medley Relays will be replaced by Mixed 4x400 m relay. Date of World Half Marathon Champs in Valencia was set for March 24, 2018. Added will be Mile or 5 km road race into the programme. Council decided to remove the IAAF World Race Walking team championships from Cheboksary and will reopen the bidding process in September 2016 to decide on a new host in December 2016. In the programme of IAAF Continental Cup Ostrava 2018 council decided to Council decided to selete the 5000m races for both men and women and replace the men's and women's 4x400m Relay with a Mixed 4x400m Relay composed of two men and two women per team running in any order. New meet in IAAF World Challenge 2017 will be Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku.
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA): Team Global Sports Communication headed by Jos Hermens looks back on very successful Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Their athletes have won a total of 15 medals, from which 6 gold, 6 silver and 3 bronze. The Olympics in Rio de Janeiro were our most successful Olympic Games after Sydney 2000.
CORRECTION
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA): Please add to fastest splits in 1st round in men 4x400 m Nathon Allen from Jamaica 43.52.