Beatrice Chebet of Kenya celebrates with her national flag after winning gold in the Women's 5000m Final - Stade de France, Saint-Denis, France on August 05, 2024.
Kenyans will be keenly following the outcome of the final of the women’s 10,000m race from exactly 9.57pm (Kenyan time) in Paris on Friday as world record holder Beatrice Chebet renews rivalry with reigning world champion in the distance, Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia.
There are many sub-plots in the contest, which make for a mouth-watering contest. Top on the list is Chebet’s desire to be the first Kenyan women to win gold over the distance, and the quest for ‘revenge’ against Guday, who is seen in the Kenyan camp as the athlete responsible for the problems that multiple Olympics and world champion Faith Kipyegon faced in the final of women’s 5,000m on Monday in Paris. A teary-eyed Kipyegon left the stadium devastated, and it took an appeal by the Kenyan officials for her silver medal to be reinstated.
Still, Chebet and Gudaf have unfinished business from the 2024 Prefontaine Classic Diamond League in Oregon, where the Kenyan breezed past the Ethiopian to win in a world record time.
Chebet has spoken of her desire to end the medal drought for Kenya in the race, which stretches back to the time the race was first introduced in the Olympics roster in 1988.
Chebet of Kenya will team up with the 2022 World Athletics Championships bronze medalist in 10,000m, Margaret Chelimo, and the 2019 Africa Games 5,000m champion Lilian Kasait.
Medal dry spell
Since the race became part of the Olympics in the 1988 edition in Seoul, Kenya has never won a gold medal, which puts more pressure on the three to deliver.
Sally Kipyego won the first Olympics medal for Kenya over 10,000m at the 2012 London Olympics, the lanky athlete claiming silver ahead of former world champion Vivian Cheruiyot who took bronze medal in a race won by Ethiopia’s Tirunesh Dibaba.
At the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, Kenya claimed a silver medal through Vivian Cheruiyot in a race won by Ethiopia’s Almaz Ayana, while another Ethiopian, Tirunesh Dibaba, finished third.
Kenya didn’t win a medal at the delayed 2020 Olympic Games which were held in 2021 after Dutch runner Sifan Hassan claimed the gold medal in 10,00m ahead of silver medalist Kalkidan Gezahegne of Bahrain, and Letesenbet Gidey from Ethiopia who took bronze.
Yet this is the race Chebet wants to win badly to become the first Kenyan woman to claim a gold medal over the distance.
“I want to make history. If I win the gold medal in the distance, it shall remain in history books that I was the first Kenyan woman to bring home the elusive gold. It shall be a tough race but I believe in my training and we just need to focus as a team and deliver the medals on offer,” she told Nation Sport before leaving for Paris.
In many respects, Chebet who is the current world record holder in the 10,000m, will be out to avenge what has become known as ‘Kipyegon’s misfortune in Paris.”
On Monday, multiple Olympics and world gold medalist Kipyegon was involved in an altercation with Gudaf in the women’s 5,000m final in Paris. Kipyegon came out worse off in the pull and push between her and Gudaf, leading to the cancelation of the Kenyan athlete’s silver medal.
Afterwards, Kipyegon, 30, broke down, was devastated, cut short the media interviews and was escorted away, still draped in the Kenyan flag.
Immediately, Kenya’s officials paid the mandatory $100 (Sh13,000) appeal fee and launched a protest with the competition’s Jury of Appeal taking over one and a half hours to deliberate on the incident before releasing a statement two hours and one minute after the race, indicating they had rescinded the decision to disqualify the Kenyan star and reinstated her silver medal.
“The jury of appeal has reviewed all available evidence and agreed there was significant contact between, and by two athletes (Kipyegon and Tsegay),” the competition’s Jury of Appeal said in their ruling. The jury concluded that the incident did not warrant a disqualification. The Jury wishes to make clear that jostling of this nature is never acceptable and therefore recommends that Faith Kipyegon receives a disciplinary yellow card which would carry through the remainder of the Games,” International Olympics Committee said in a statement afterwards.
The Jury of Appeal has reinstated Kenyan athlete Faith Kipyegon to the silver medal position in the women’s 5,000m,” the statement concluded. Dutchwoman Sifan Hassan -- entered in the 5,000m, 10,000m and the marathon at these Games – had, temporarily, been elevated to silver after Kipyegon disqualification and Italy’s Nadia Battocletti, who came home fourth, promoted to bronze medal position.
The third sub-plot is from the May 23 Prefontaine Classic Diamond League in Eugene, Oregon in the US where Chebet upstaged Gudaf. The Ethiopian had been seeking a world record pace.
In the race, Chebet closely trailed Gudaf for the better part of the race and upon realising that the Ethiopian could no longer react to her moves, surged forward and led the race to the tape, breaking the world record time in 28 minutes and 54.14 seconds, becoming the first woman to run the race in under 28 minutes.
The Iten-based Chebet had effectively broken the record held by Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey of 29:01.03.
If you bring the 5,000m Olympics bronze medalist Sifan Hassan from the race into the equation, you have a mouth-watering contest.
Under Gudaf’s challenge, Hassan also suffered a similar fate as Kipyegon last year in the final stretch of the 10,000m race at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest. She will be keen to exact her revenge on Guday tonight.
Hassan, who is also the Chicago Marathon champion, will also be featured in the women’s marathon race on Sunday.
