Tanui’s beats seasoned runners to earn Kenya silver medal in Rio
What you need to know:
- Tanui's silver medal provided scant consolation for the Kenyan team for yet again coming short against the dominant Farah.
- Karoki finished seventh in 27:22.93 while Kamworor was eleventh in 27:31.94.
- The slow start indeed worked to the advantage of Farah, who before the start of the race gestured to his wrist, a clear hint on a possible attempt at the world record.
Rio de Janeiro
The persistence, determination and ambition of Paul Tanui is what earned Kenya a silver medal in the men's 10,000m final that was won by defending champion Mo Farah early on Sunday morning.
With his more seasoned teammates, Geoffrey Kamworor and Bedan Karoki unable to hang on to the end, the herculean task of taking on Farah on the homestretch fell squarely on Tanui.
He saw the opportunity at the bell and decided to make a clean break with 300m to go.
Farah, who took a tumble at the 4000m mark, read the move well and responded with a trademark kick in the last 200m to cross the line in 27:05.17 for his second Olympic gold medal in the 24-lap race.
Tanui was happy with his performance, which he achieved in a season best of 27:05.64, but said a slow start to the race is what cost him the gold medal.
“We ran a very slow race during the first few laps.
“The actual contest only began after the first 5km. I had hoped that we would stretch the field more and open up the race from the start, but that didn’t happen,” Tanui said.
OLYMPIC DEBUT
While a silver medal for Tanui was a great accomplishment on his Olympic debut, it provided scant consolation for the Kenyan team for yet again coming short against the dominant Farah.
“He is a very tough competitor. But I believe some day one of us will beat him,” Tanui said.
Karoki finished seventh in 27:22.93 while Kamworor was eleventh in 27:31.94.
“We tried hard but coming from an injury wasn’t in tiptop form. I had only trained for three weeks and then again a slow start is let us down,” Karoki said.
The slow start indeed worked to the advantage of Farah, who before the start of the race gestured to his wrist, a clear hint on a possible attempt at the world record.
The Briton, however, ended up running very tactfully.
During the first laps, he bid his time at the tail end of the field and only began his gradual move up field after the first six laps, surviving a fall along the way.
"When I went down, I thought, 'Oh my God, that is it. I just got up and wanted to stick with the guys and stay strong. It's never easy but everyone knows what I can do,” Farah said of the incident.
