By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
@WorldAthletics.
Sifan Hassan claimed the final athletics gold medal of the Paris 2024 Games, winning the women’s marathon to complete an impressive medal treble on Sunday (11).
The 31-year-old accelerated in the final 200 metres to cross the line in an Olympic record two hours 22 minutes 55 seconds, three seconds ahead of Ethiopian Tigst Assefa.
Hassan’s victory came only two days after she won bronze in the 10,000m and six days after 5,000m bronze.
“I have no words. Every moment in the race I was regretting that I ran the 5,000m and 10,000m. I was telling myself if I hadn’t done that, I would feel great today,” said Hassan.
“The moment I started to feel good was at 20km, I felt so good. Then I knew I wanted gold.”
Kenya’s Hellen Obiri finished third, 12 seconds behind Assefa.
South Africa’s road running superstar Gerda Steyn finished 45th, crossed the line in a time of 2:32:51.
Meanwhile, South Africa’s Cian Oldknow crossed the line in 32nd place in 2:30:29 while Irvette van Zyl finished 37th in 2:31:14.
With temperatures touching 24C despite an 08:00 race start, several athletes used ice packs during the race and others carried bottles of water for long periods.
Hassan won 5,000m and 10,000m gold and 1500m bronze at Tokyo 2020.
The Paris course was the same brutal route used for Saturday’s men’s race. It began outside Paris’ city hall, Hotel de Ville, and passed along sights such as Palais Garnier opera house, Place Vendome, the Louvre museum, the Trocadero and the Eiffel Tower and the Palace of Versailles.
Meanwhile Congolese sprinter Dominique Lasconi Mulamba has been provisionally suspended after testing positive for a banned substance, the International Testing Agency said on Sunday, days after he competed in the Olympic 100 metres in Paris.
Mulamba got through the preliminaries with a time of 10.54 but went out in round one on Aug. 3 when he finished seventh in 10.53. The positive sample was collected a day later in Paris, according to the ITA.
He has the right to challenge the provisional suspension before the Court of Arbitration for Sport and can request an analysis of his “B-sample.”
There have been a handful of positive tests reported at the Games, with Iraqi judoka Sajjad Sehen, Afghan judoka Mohammad Samim Faizad and African Games boxing champion Cynthia Ogunsemilore of Nigeria testing positive in Paris.