Cheruiyot stuns Ayana to win long-awaited gold

Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya celebrating after winning gold in the 5,000 metres.
Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya celebrating after winning gold in the 5,000 metres. PHOTO: REUTERS

RIO DE JANEIRO • Vivian Cheruiyot, Kenya's most decorated athlete, finally got her hands on an Olympic gold medal after winning the women's 5,000m on Friday by upsetting favourite Almaz Ayana of Ethiopia in the final.

Cheruiyot, 32, had been the nearly woman in her last three Olympic finals, winning two silvers and a bronze, but she ran a superb tactical race to outwit 5,000m world champion Ayana in a Games-best time of 14min 26.17sec.

"It was my fourth Olympic Games and I had not had gold," said Cheruiyot, who added that now she would switch to road racing.

"I'm so happy. This might be the last Olympics for me so I thought maybe God might give me gold."

Ahead of the race, all eyes were on Ayana, who last week shaved 14 seconds off the 10,000m world record in one of the greatest-ever long-distance races.

The Ethiopian looked to be on the way to another dominant victory after surging into a huge lead four laps into the race but she wore out in the closing stages and was unable to hold off Cheruiyot's late burst.

Cheruiyot, a four-time world champion over 5,000m and 10,000m, had to settle for silver over the longer distance but afterwards said she would be Olympic champion one day.

She stayed true to her word in the 5,000m and did not panic when Ayana burst into the lead, winning Kenya's first-ever women's medal over the distance and cementing her legacy as a Kenyan long-distance great.

"Almaz got ahead but then I thought, 'She's not moving' and I went past her," said Cheruiyot.

Cheruiyot's compatriot Hellen Onsando Obiri clocked a personal best of 14:29.77 to take silver.

"Ethiopia were very strong. We decided to go for teamwork," Obiri said. "We already knew that Kenya was going to win the gold. It was just who would it be."

Ayana (14:33.59) had to settle for the bronze.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Sunday Times on August 21, 2016, with the headline Cheruiyot stuns Ayana to win long-awaited gold. Subscribe