A perfectly timed Chepte-gold
That sweet moment. Cheptegei savours every moment with his gold medal at the Tokyo Olympic Stadium on August 6. PHOTO/AFP
What you need to know:
- The 24-year-old also joined Leo Rwabwogo as the only other Ugandan to win more than a medal at the Olympics.
Joshua Cheptegei affirmed his mark as the world’s best long-distance athlete on track after he powered to the 5000m title at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in Japan yesterday.
The global track icon overcame last Friday’s 10000m failed gold attempt by oozing tactical perfection to beat a field of 16 men to the gold over the 12-and-a-half lap race in a time of 12 minutes and 58.15 seconds.
He had been immensely helped to Uganda’s 11th medal in Olympic history by his younger counterpart Jacob Kiplimo, who finished fifth in 13:02.40, to break down the field. Then, teenager Oscar Chelimo finished 16th in 13:44.45 on his Olympic debut.
It is surely a mission accomplished for Cheptegei. Olympic gold was the only missing piece of silverware in his trophy cabinet and he now settles the debate for who is Uganda’s greatest athlete of all time.
“It’s really a great moment,” said Cheptegei after the race. “I made a small mistake and I was regretting [having] to become a silver medallist (10, 000m). I came here to become an Olympic champion and my dream has been fulfilled today in a beautiful evening.”
By adding the 5,000m gold, it means that Cheptegei became the first Ugandan in history to win more than one medal at the same edition of the Olympics.
The 24-year-old also joined Leo Rwabwogo as the only other Ugandan to win more than a medal at the Olympics.
Rwabwogo bagged flyweight bronze at the Mexico 1968 Games before upgrading to silver four years later at the Munich Games in Germany.
Uganda paints Tokyo
An hour after his triumph, there was Ugandan poetry in motion at the medal ceremony as Cheptegei received the medal from International Olympic Committee (IOC) Member countrymate William Blick and the bouquet from World Athletics Council Member Beatrice Ayikoru, Team Uganda chef de mission, all accompanied by splendid commentary from BBC’s Rob Walker.
Then the national anthem played as the Uganda flag went up for only the fourth time at the Olympics, after John Akii-Bua’s 400m hurdles delight on September 2, 1972, Stephen Kiprotich’s marathon class on August 12, 2012 and Peruth Chemutai’s 3000m steeplechase elegancy on August 4, 2021.
The journey has been so long for Cheptegei since his early days in elite running back in 2014 to the top of the blue Olympics podium last evening.
After last Friday’s 25-lap mishap where he didn’t charge which led to a slow cumbersome race, Cheptegei duly rose from the failure with a well-controlled race.
“Perfect race,” his coach Addy Ruiter described the 5000m win. “... with these (hot) conditions first from the beginning with some help from Kiplimo and tactical intelligence at the end. He is the best long-distance runner in the world on the track.”
Unlike last week when his training partner Stephen Kissa led, Cheptegei this time hit the front upon the bell. Then, 10000m bronze medallist Kiplimo took over to take the field past the 1000m mark in 2:38.00.
A keen Cheptegei relaxed in third position and even briefly to fifth but Kiplimo maintained the high pace to take the rest, including American Paul Chelimo, Ethiopian Milkesa Mengesha and Kenyan Nicholas Kimeli, through 2km in 5:14.10.
The reigning world cross-country and 10000m champion Cheptegei returned to control the race briefly and raised the tempo to go through 3km in 7:55.3. At this stage, Oscar was at the back of the whole pack.
With four laps left, American Chelimo hit the front and he pulled away three others, before Cheptegei, Canadian Mohammed Ahmed and Kiplimo joined in.
With two laps to go, Cheptegei and Kiplimo came forward from out in lane 3 and the former led at the bell. Cheptegei did not offer any room for error until the tape to celebrate by popping his tongue out, kneeling to say a short prayer and then mimicking a gorilla chest-thumping in his celebration.
Ahmed took silver in 12:58.61 ahead of Chelimo, who pipped Kimelli to the bronze he added to his silver at the Rio 2016 Games.
Meanwhile, Cheptegei’s colleague Winnie Nanyondo finished in seventh place with a season best time of 3:59.80 over the 1500m final in a race Kenyan Faith Kipyegon retained her title by beating the field in an Olympic record of 3:53.11.
