CHEMUTAI BAGS GOLD FOR UGANDA IN TOKYO

Written by on August 4, 2021

Peruth Chemutai has won gold for Uganda in the 3,000m steeplechase with a time on 9:01.45 at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

At 22 Chemutai, has created history by becoming Uganda’s first ever female Olympic medallist, edged out Team USA’s Courtney Frerichs (silver) and Kenya’s Hyvin Kiyeng (bronze).

It was a race that threw the rule book out the window, in terms of how one usually paces themselves during a 3,000m steeplechase race.It was an Olympic final that featured eight of the top nine performance so far in 2021.

While Chemutai led at the 1,000m, Frerichs made the brave move to break away early and create a sizeable gap between herself and the Ugandan runner.

But Chemutai made her move as the bell rang for the final lap as she chased down Frerichs before crossing the line in a new national record and writing herself into the history books.

World record-holder Beatrice Chepkoech was briefly part of the chase pack when Frerichs took the lead, but faded to seventh in 9:16.33.

Chemutai’s gold medal pushes Uganda to the 43rd position at the 2020 games in the Japanese capital after earlier silver and bronze medals by Joshua Cheptegei and Jacob Kiplimo in the men’s 10000m final.

All of Uganda’s 10 medals at the Olympic Games have come from men. The nations two Olympic golds before tonight had come from John Akii-Bua at Munich 1972 and marathon runner Stephen Kiprotich at London 2012.


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