Not surprisingly, Pamela Jemilo won the 800m in Beijing. © www.photorun.net
It was the day of days for Kenyans in Beijing—within 20 minutes on Monday evening, they won two golds as well as another two medals. Ninety thousand spectators celebrated the athletes’ achievements even after facing a huge disappointment in the morning, when hometown hero Liu Xiang withdrew from the 110m hurdles, and shocked the entire nation.
For the seventh Olympics in a row, a Kenyan man won the gold medal in the steeplechase. This time Brimin Kipruto, silver medalist at the Athens Games in 2004, came through for victory. The 23-year-old crossed the line in 8:10.23 after going into the last lap a couple of meters behind the six-strong leading group. But there was no stopping the Kenyan over the last 400 meters.
“I think they’ll be celebrating this victory in Kenya today,” said Kipruto, who finished ahead of the surprisingly strong Mahiedine Mekhissi Benabbad. The 23-year-old Frenchman was the surprise of the race and ran a personal best of 8:10.49 in the Olympic final. “I had no idea who this Frenchman was,” said Kipruto.
Kenya’s Richard Mateelong took third in 8:11.01, while the defending champion Ezekiel Kemboi (Kenya) dropped back to seventh in 8:16.38 in the final sprint. “I tried to stay calm during the race and run behind the leaders—that worked out well today,” said Benabbad. “I’m proud to have won a medal for France—I can hardly believe it at present.”
Pamela Jelimo wrote a piece of Kenyan sports history in the women’s 800m, which followed the steeplechase final. She is the first Kenyan woman to win this event at the Olympics. Behind her, last year’s world champion, fellow Kenyan Janeth Jepkosgei, was second. Jelimo, only 18 years old, once again improved her personal best, running 1:54.87 to better her own world junior record and African record. The Moroccan Hasna Benhassi ran 1:56.73 for the bronze medal.
“I’m happy with second place—silver for me is like a gold medal,” explained Janeth Jepkosgei and added: “Pamela is a better runner than me and we are good friends.”
