The athletics in Rio de Janeiro served up further thrills on Monday with a new world record, another David Rudisha masterclass and joy for the hosts in the pole vault.
Kenyan Ruth Jebet, who now competes for Bahrain, took gold in the 3000m steeplechase plus a handsome $500,000 bonus to boot.
Kenya had more joy in the 800m though with the imperious David Rudisha who successfully defended his 800m crown from London four years ago.
The Kenyan has had injury problems that have affected him since 2012 and lost a few races this year but he put all that behind him to win.
His compatriot Alfred Kipketer got off to a superb start, Rudisha followed before he slowed down only to attack and win the race in a time of 1:42.15 sec.
Only three men in history have ran faster than his 1:42.15 winning time and only two before him won a second 800m Olympic gold.
In the women’s hammer, Anita Wlodarczyk set a new world record of 82.29m to win her first Olympic gold.
Shaunae Miller of Bahamas used unconventional but legal means to deny Allyson Felix gold in the 400m race. Miller dived over the line Felix bearing down on her to just about edge out the America.
It was purely a case of it doesn’t matter how you win, just win and the 22-year-old would be delighted with her effort.
The men pole vault provided the biggest drama of the day. Thiago Braz Da Silva was building a head of steam and, when he matched his 5.93m personal best, found himself assured of a silver medal and in a jump-off against world record holder Renaud Lavillenie.
The Frenchman was enjoying boisterous support of his own, but his Tricolore-yielding fans were losing the battle of the stands by some margin.
It turns out the French would lose the battle of the mind as well: when Da Silva set an Olympic record 6.03m and Lav’ panicked, put the bar up to 6.08m and was unable to clear.
The ensuing noise from the Brazilians, who went absolutely nuts for their new national hero, was deafening.
Source: 3news.com|Ghana
Twitter: @3Newsgh
