The 2023 World Athletics Championships silver medalist, champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi has extended Kenya’s supremacy over 800 metres at the Olympics to 16 years after striking gold at the Paris 2024 Olympics at Stade de France on Saturday night.
Wanyonyi, 20, won silver at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary last year behind Sudan-born Canadian Marco Arop.
Djamel Sedjati (Algeria), Wanyonyi (Kenya), Gabriel Tual (France) and Mohamed Attaoui (Spain) arrived at the Paris 2024 Games with the fourth fastest times this year in men’s 800m of 1:41.46, 1:41.58, 1:41.61 and 1:42.04, respectively.
But, it was Wanyonyi who emerged victorious in 1:41.19 followed by Arop (1:41.20) and Sedjati (1:41.50).
Wanyonyi, who prayed before the final and his prayers were answered after his tactics of running from the front yielded fruits.
Wanyonyi, who had to use a powerful finishing kick, is now the 12th different Kenyan man to win a medal in 800m at the Olympics since Wilson Kiprugut gave the country its first medal – a bronze – in the two-lap race in 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Kiprugut went on to bag silver in 1968 in Mexico. Mike Boit clinched bronze in 1972 in Munich, Germany before Kenya struck its first gold medal through Paul Ereng at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
William Tanui and Nixon Kiprotich swept 1-2 at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain followed by Fredrick Onyacha’s bronze at the 1996 Atlanta Games, USA.
Kenya dominated the last four editions of Olympics through Wilfred Bungei (2008 Beijing), David Rudisha (2012 London and 2016 Rio de Janeiro) and Emmanuel Korir (2020 Tokyo). Ferguson Rotich took silver at the 32nd edition in Tokyo. Alfred Kirwa and Timothy Kitum also clinched bronze at the 2008 and 2012 Games, respectively.
