Sumgong gives Kenya first Marathon gold at Olympics

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Kenya is known as one of the prime nations for long distance runners. However in the women’s Marathon competitions at Olympic games they never managed to win the gold medal. Until now! In the women’s Marathon last Sunday in Rio de Janeiro the 31 year-old Jemima Sumgong finished first at the Sambódromo.

The front pack

Weather conditions were not easy for the runners with sun, humidity and temperatures close to 27° Celsius (80° Fahrenheit). Over 20 runners dropped out of the race, some due to these conditions. As most of the main protagonists were together after 5k the front pack shrunk to 13 at the 9km mark. The leading group varied just a bit until the half way mark with some runners falling back and some others catching up. Mazuronak was the runner speeding up between 20km and 30km into the race which split the front-runners leaving some behind.

The big split happened around the 36km mark when Kirwa increased the pace and only Sumgong and Dibaba were able to follow. At the end it was Jemima Sumgong who made the race finishing 9 seconds in front of Kirwa and 26 seconds in front of  Dibaba. After three straight silver medals Kenya’s women finally won gold in an Olympic Marathon.

All 3 US runners in the top 10

Long distance running is often dominated by African born runners. The top 10 at the 2016 Olympic Games features just three runners from Africa, one European, three Asian and the entire team of US runners. Flanagans 6th place lead the US squad with Linden in 7th and Cragg in 9th place reversing the result of the US Olympic trials.

Twin power

In this years Olympic Marathon three sets of twins finished the race. Anna and Lisa Hahner from Germany came in just one second apart. Estonia even started triplets but only Lily and Leila Luik managed to finish the race. The best ranked twins were Hye-song and Hye-gyong Kim from North Korea crossing the finish line hand in hand in 10th and 11th place.

Complete results

The following table shows the complete results (Source: Wikipedia)

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1st Jemima Sumgong Kenya 2:24:04
2nd Eunice Kirwa Bahrain 2:24:13
3rd Mare Dibaba Ethiopia 2:24:30
4 Tirfi Tsegaye Ethiopia 2:24:47
5 Volha Mazuronak Belarus 2:24:48
6 Shalane Flanagan United States 2:25:26 SB
7 Desiree Linden United States 2:26:08 SB
8 Rose Chelimo Bahrain 2:27:36
9 Amy Cragg United States 2:28:25
10 Kim Hye-song North Korea 2:28:36 SB
11 Kim Hye-gyong North Korea 2:28:36
12 Jeļena Prokopčuka Latvia 2:29:32
13 Valeria Straneo Italy 2:29:44 SB
14 Kayoko Fukushi Japan 2:29:53
15 Gladys Tejeda Peru 2:29:55 SB
16 Ana Dulce Félix Portugal 2:30:39
17 Diana Lobačevskė Lithuania 2:30:48
18 Milly Clark Australia 2:30:53
19 Tomomi Tanaka Japan 2:31:12
20 Fionnuala McCormack Ireland 2:31:22 PB
21 Iwona Lewandowska Poland 2:31:41
22 Jessica Trengove Australia 2:31:44
23 Monika Stefanowicz Poland 2:32:49
24 Lanni Marchant Canada 2:33:08
25 Catherine Bertone Italy 2:33:29
26 Eva Vrabcová-Nývltová Czech Republic 2:33:51
27 Lilia Fisikowici Moldova 2:34:05 PB
28 Alyson Dixon Great Britain 2:34:11
29 Maja Neuenschwander Switzerland 2:34:27
30 Sonia Samuels Great Britain 2:34:36
31 Lisa Jane Weightman Australia 2:34:41
32 Madaí Pérez Mexico 2:34:42
33 Olha Kotovska Ukraine 2:34:57 SB
34 Azucena Díaz Spain 2:35:02
35 Krista DuChene Canada 2:35:29
36 Jovana de la Cruz Peru 2:35:49
37 Rasa Drazdauskaitė Lithuania 2:35:50
38 Vaida Žūsinaitė Lithuania 2:35:53
39 Yiu Kit Ching Hong Kong 2:36:11 NR
40 Jessica Draskau-Petersson Denmark 2:36:14
41 Beata Naigambo Namibia 2:36:32
42 An Seul-ki South Korea 2:36:50
43 Angie Orjuela Colombia 2:37:05
44 Anja Scherl Germany 2:37:23
45 Maryna Damantsevich Belarus 2:37:34
46 Mai Ito Japan 2:37:37
47 Veerle Dejaeghere Belgium 2:37:39
48 Margarita Hernández Mexico 2:38:15
49 Kim Kum-ok North Korea 2:38:24
50 Kenza Dahmani Algeria 2:38:37
51 Anne-Mari Hyryläinen Finland 2:39:02
52 Zsófia Erdélyi Hungary 2:39:04
53 Yue Chao China 2:39:09
54 Sitora Hamidova Uzbekistan 2:39:45 PB
55 Anne Holm Baumeister Denmark 2:39:49
56 Helalia Johannes Namibia 2:39:55
57 Lizzie Lee Ireland 2:39:57
58 Esma Aydemir Turkey 2:39:59
59 Iuliia Andreeva Kyrgyzstan 2:40:34
60 Andrea Deelstra Netherlands 2:40:49
61 Ilona Marhele Latvia 2:41:02
62 Viktoriia Poliudina Kyrgyzstan 2:41:37
63 Dina Lebo Phalula South Africa 2:41:46
64 Andrea Mayr Austria 2:41:52
65 Krisztina Papp Hungary 2:42:03
66 Svitlana Stanko-Klymenko Ukraine 2:42:26
67 Mayada Al-Sayad Palestine 2:42:28
68 Nyakisi Adero Uganda 2:42:39 SB
69 Adriana Aparecida da Silva Brazil 2:43:22
70 Lim Kyung-hee South Korea 2:43:31
71 Beverly Ramos Puerto Rico 2:43:52
72 Munkhzaya Bayartsogt Mongolia 2:43:55
73 Erika Abril Colombia 2:44:05
74 Manuela Soccol Belgium 2:44:18
75 Alina Armas Namibia 2:44:20
76 Breege Connolly Ireland 2:44:41
77 Marina Hmelevskaya Uzbekistan 2:45:06
78 Marily dos Santos Brazil 2:45:08
79 Hua Shaoqing China 2:45:09
80 Nebiat Habtemariam Eritrea 2:45:21
81 Anna Hahner Germany 2:45:32
82 Lisa Hahner Germany 2:45:33
83 Tünde Szabó Hungary 2:45:37
84 Els Rens Belgium 2:45:52
85 Luvsanlkhündegiin Otgonbayar Mongolia 2:45:55
86 Visiline Jepkesho Kenya 2:46:05
87 Nataliya Lehonkova Ukraine 2:46:08
88 Ourania Rebouli Greece 2:46:32
89 O. P. Jaisha India 2:47:19
90 Maor Tiyouri Israel 2:47:27
91 Jane Vongvorachoti Thailand 2:47:27
92 Rutendo Nyahora Zimbabwe 2:47:32
93 Yolimar Pineda Venezuela 2:47:34
94 Mariya Korobitskaya Kyrgyzstan 2:47:53
95 Silvia Paredes Ecuador 2:48:01
96 Christine Kalmer South Africa 2:48:24
97 Lily Luik Estonia 2:48:29
98 Tereza Master Malawi 2:48:34 NR
99 María Elena Calle Ecuador 2:48:39
100 Rosa Chacha Ecuador 2:48:52
101 Paula Todoran Romania 2:48:54
102 Dailín Belmonte Cuba 2:48:58
103 Sofia Riga Greece 2:49:07
104 Matea Matošević Croatia 2:50:00
105 Érika Olivera Chile 2:50:29
106 Ariana Hilborn Latvia 2:50:51
107 Katarína Berešová Slovakia 2:50:54
108 Militsa Mircheva Bulgaria 2:51:06
109 Chirine Njeim Lebanon 2:51:08
110 Rosa Godoy Argentina 2:52:31
111 Sultan Haydar Turkey 2:53:57
112 Meryem Erdoğan Turkey 2:54:04
113 Hsieh Chien-ho Chinese Taipei 2:54:18
114 Leila Luik Estonia 2:54:38
115 Carmen Martínez Paraguay 2:56:43
116 Lucia Kimani Bosnia and Herzegovina 2:58:22
117 Rosemary Quispe Bolivia 2:58:32
118 Panayiota Vlahaki Greece 2:59:12
119 Marija Vrajić Croatia 2:59:24
120 Kavita Tungar India 2:59:29
121 Sara Ramadhani Tanzania 3:00:03
122 Irina Smolnikova Kazakhstan 3:00:31
123 Natalia Romero Chile 3:01:29
124 Mary Joy Tabal Philippines 3:02:27
125 Viviana Chavez Argentina 3:03:23
126 Claudette Mukasakindi Rwanda 3:05:57
127 Chen Yu-hsuan Chinese Taipei 3:09:13
128 Graciete Santana Brazil 3:09:15
129 Niluka Geethani Rajasekara Sri Lanka 3:11:05
130 Natthaya Thanaronnawat Thailand 3:11:31
131 Neo Jie Shi Singapore 3:15:18
132 Sarah Attar Saudi Arabia 3:16:11
133 Nary Ly Cambodia 3:20:20
Katarzyna Kowalska Poland DNF
Helah Kiprop Kenya DNF
Lornah Chemtai Korlima Israel DNF
Anna Incerti Italy DNF
Christelle Daunay France DNF
Alessandra Aguilar Spain DNF
Souad Aït Salem Algeria DNF
Inés Melchor Peru DNF
Kellys Arias Colombia DNF
Olivera Jevtić Serbia DNF
Estela Navascués Spain DNF
Liina Luik Estonia DNF
María Peralta Argentina DNF
Tigist Tufa Ethiopia DNF
Jéssica Augusto Portugal DNF
Nastassia Ivanova Belarus DNF
Shitaye Eshete Bahrain DNF
Gulzhanat Zhanatbek Kazakhstan DNF
Daniela Cârlan Romania DNF
Slađana Perunović Montenegro DNF
Sara Moreira Portugal DNF
Koutar Boulaid Morocco DNF
Daneja Grandovec Slovenia DNF
Irvette van Zyl South Africa DNS
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