Kenyan Emmanuel Wanyonyi won gold in the men’s 800 metres final on the penultimate evening of the Olympics on Saturday.
Wanyonyi claimed a personal best 1:41.19 ahead of world champion Marco Arop of Canada with the bronze going to Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati.
Speaking to journalist after the race, Wanyonyi said he was inspired by the former 800 metres champion David Rudisha who told him that he must win a gold in the Olympics final.
“This race was a lot of pressure for me for this Olympics. I talked with (David) Rudisha yesterday and Rudisha told me ‘you’re supposed to defend this title because Kenyans (won) the event last time in Tokyo (Games). So, I feel it’s a lot of pressure for me so I thank God that I can get it,” said Wanyonyi.
Other athletes namely Masai Russell and Jakob Ingebrigtsen also shared in the glory on the final night of athletics in Stade de France at Paris 2024.
Russell was quickest in the women’s 100m hurdles, finishing ahead of Cyrene Samba-Mayela and Jasmine Camacho-Quinn.
Immediately following, Ingebrigtsen collected his second Olympic gold, finishing strongly in the men’s 5000m, ahead of Ronald Kwemoi and Grant Fisher.
Leading almost from start to finish, Wanyonyi, who was second at the World Championships in Budapest last year, held off the comeback of Canadian Marco Arop, beating him by just one-hundredth of a second (1:41.19 versus 1:41.20)! Behind the duo, Algerian Djamel Sedjati snatched the bronze with a time of 1:41.50.
The 800 meters no longer escapes Kenya. With Wanyonyi’s title, it’s the fifth consecutive time a Kenyan has won the distance at the Olympics, following Wilfred Bungei (2008), David Rudisha (2012, 2016), and Emmanuel Korir (2021)
