By C. J. De Mel, Jadetimes News
Faith Kipyegon beamed with joy following her Olympic record setting run to win her third consecutive gold medal in the Women's 1,500m at the Paris 2024 Games. It sealed an extraordinary day for African athletes at the games, whom Kipyegon's fellow Kenyan, Emmanuel Wanyonyi, won the men's 800m final to add another to the continental medal count.
The triumph in the 1500m was the second sensational medal—silver in the dramatic 5000m earlier in the week—a race that saw the 30 year old initially disqualified for obstruction before she was reinstated following a successful appeal. Reflecting on the performance, Kipyegon said, "It's a big achievement to me. I was determined to defend my championship, and accomplishing this dream is great. My main target was this gold in the 1500m, and I am so grateful."
The men's 800m saw Wanyonyi set the third-fastest time in history, crossing the line in 1:41.19 to pip Canada's Marco Arop by just 0.01 seconds. Djamel Sedjati of Algeria claimed bronze while Ronald Kwemoi of Kenya took silver in the men's 5000m behind Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen.
The country's new 200m champion, Letsile Tebogo of Botswana, led his country to a silver medal and new African record in the men's 4x400m relay, while in the field, Jo-Anne van Dyk of South Africa won the silver medal in the women's javelin to add to the continent's haul.
Away from the track, world record scorer Egyptian modern pentathlete Ahmed Elgendy captured Egypt's first gold medal of the Games. Elgendy, who was handed 17 seconds at the start of the laser run by virtue of his final performance alone, said afterwards he was elated to have battled through so much physically and mentally in the last three years since taking silver at Tokyo 2020. "This gold means so much, especially after what I went through," said Elgendy.
But the weightlifting arena also became jubilation time for Egypt, after Sara Ahmed had finished second in the same women's 81kg category. The former world champion at 76kg did 151kg in her second attempt of clean and jerk, finishing with a total of 268kg. While she also aimed for gold, Ahmed was quite elated by the silver, confessing, "This experience will make me stronger and help me reach the top in the future."
In Taekwondo, Côte d'Ivoire's Cheick Sallah Cisse added another bronze to the continent's medal count in the men's +80kg category, wrapping up a full day of outstanding performances by Africa at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
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