Sha’Carri Richardson rescues US relay, Belgium’s Nafissatou Thiam seals third Olympic heptathlon gold
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Sha'Carri Richardson (centre), of the US, crosses the finish line to win the women's 4x100m relay final, ahead of France's Chloe Galet and Jamaica's Tia Clayton.
PHOTO: AFP
PARIS – United States sprint star Sha’Carri Richardson struck gold with a relay rescue act as Belgium’s Nafissatou Thiam sealed her place in the pantheon of Olympic greats with a third consecutive heptathlon title on Aug 9.
Another spellbinding night of athletics action at the Stade de France saw the US add to their medal tally thanks to a stunning last leg from sprint star Richardson in the women’s 4x100m relay.
The highly fancied American men’s relay quartet, however, finished empty-handed after a disastrous performance saw them disqualified, with Canada storming to a memorable victory.
In the women’s 10,000m, Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet completed a long distance double with her second gold of the Games, four days after triumphing in the 5,000m.
It was a masterful performance from the diminutive East African known as the “smiling assassin”, who timed her finish to perfection in 30min 43.25sec, ahead of Italy’s Nadia Battocletti (30:43.35) and Sifan Hassan (30:44.12) of the Netherlands.
Said Chebet: “My country has never won a gold medal (in the women’s 10,000m).
“So I said I wanted to be the first woman to win a gold medal in the 10,000m.”
The women’s shot put saw Germany’s Yemisi Ogunleye snatch a dramatic gold with her final attempt of 20.00m which took her past New Zealand’s Maddison-Lee Wesche, who threw 19.86m. Song Jiayuan of China took bronze in 19.32m.
In the men’s triple jump, Spain’s Jordan Diaz won gold with a jump of 17.86m, just 2cm better than Portugal’s Pedro Pichardo’s effort. Andy Diaz of Italy was third with 17.64.
The Dominican Republic’s Marileidy Paulino took the women’s 400m title, while the men’s 400m hurdles saw the US add to their gold tally with Rai Benjamin outfoxing Norway’s Karsten Warholm to finish first.
But Thiam was clearly one of the stars on Aug 9, becoming the first woman in Olympic history to win three consecutive heptathlon gold medals, adding to her titles from Rio in 2016 and Tokyo in 2021.
The Belgian finished with 6,880 points to finish just ahead of Britain’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson, who took silver with 6,844.
In a thrilling finale, Thiam needed to finish within eight seconds of Johnson-Thompson in the last event, the 800m.
Johnson-Thompson dug deep to cross in 2:04.90, but a weary Thiam scraped home in 2:10.62. Another Belgian, Noor Vidts, bagged the bronze with 6,707.
Nafissatou Thiam of Belgium celebrates after winning her third heptathlon gold in a row.
It marked an astonishing return to the podium for Thiam, who was forced to miss the 2023 world championships with an Achilles injury.
“I don’t think I can describe it,” the 29-year-old said after her win. “It’s a mix of everything that I’ve lived. I could use a thousand words.
“If you didn’t live every single day with me for the past two, three, four years, you couldn’t understand what I feel right now.
“But it’s unique, and I think that the main feeling is pride. I’m very proud of myself.”
Earlier, the American women’s 4x100m squad scorched to gold in 41.78sec ahead of Britain in 41.85sec and Germany in 41.97sec.
Richardson had been left with a seemingly hopeless situation, collecting the baton for the final leg in fourth position.
But she raced through the gears and blasted past her rivals to claim gold for herself and teammates Melissa Jefferson, Twanisha Terry and 200m gold medallist Gabrielle Thomas.
“I just remembered trusting my third leg, trusting Gabby, knowing that she’s going to put this thing in my hand and to leave my best on the track,” Richardson said.
But while the women celebrated, the fancied US men’s 4x100m squad were disqualified from the final, the latest in a long line of Olympic flops.
The American men have not won a 4x100m relay medal since taking a silver in Athens 20 years ago. Their latest debacle – a botched first changeover between Christian Coleman and Kenny Bednarek – earned a scathing rebuke from US sprint great Carl Lewis.
“It is time to blow up the system,” said Lewis. “This continues to be completely unacceptable.”
In the men’s 400m hurdles, Benjamin avenged his defeat by world-record holder Warholm in the 2021 Tokyo Olympic final with a victory in 46.46sec to take gold.
Warholm tired badly towards the end of the race, claiming silver in 47.06sec, with Brazil’s Alison dos Santos third in 47.26sec. AFP
