The name of the king of the 800m at the 2021 Olympic Games is now known to all. It is the African champion Emmanuel Korir. Indeed, the Kenyan sprinter won the gold medal, this Wednesday, August 4, 2021, after a very close race for the title, thanks to a time of 1 min 45 sec 06.
The young Kenyan runner, Emmanuel Korir, can be proud of his performance at the 2021 Olympic Games. He started from a distance and succeeded in carrying the hopes of a whole people and even of a continent to the end.
We still remember his performance in Nigeria, which earned him the title of African champion in 2018. Moreover, this consecration opened the doors of the final of the 800m men at the Tokyo Olympics. His compatriot Ferguson Cheruiyot Rotich had also snatched his place in the final by finishing first in his heat.
The two Kenyans wowed the crowd on Wednesday by finishing first and second, respectively. The African champion won the Olympic title with a time of 1 min 45 sec 06, and his compatriot won the silver medal with a time of 1 min 45 sec 23.
The Pole Patryk Dobek had to settle for third place. With a time of 1:45:30, he did not lose out. The Frenchman Gabriel Tual, who participated for the first time in an international final, finished 7th.
Emmanuel Korir has just offered the 4th consecutive title on the distance to Kenya with this new victory. Indeed, before him, Wilfried Bungel (2008) and David Rudisha (2012 and 2016) had been crowned Olympic champions.
It all came down to Korir a few meters from the finish. With the field still bunched up in the last 100m, the Kenyan sprinter was able to tap into his innermost energy to break away from the group of runners and cross the finish line first.
Sacrificing the 400m to grab the 800m gold medal!
In February 2018, in New York, runner Emmanuel Korir had set a new African indoor 800m record of 1 min 44 s 21. This is the fourth-best performance of all time over this distance.
In the final of the 800m race in Tokyo, the new Olympic champion was, unfortunately, unable to break his own record, even though he had done his best to do so.
Indeed, the young sprinter did not hesitate to sabotage himself, last Sunday, in the 4th series of 400 m, by voluntarily making a false start. This decision to disqualify himself, Korir had taken it with the aim of preserving himself for the semi-finals of the 800 meters that he had to compete in the evening of the same day. However, the Kenyan has already proven several times in the past that he is also capable of shining in the 400m.
Even if this ploy did not allow him to set a new world record in the Olympic final, it at least allowed him to win the gold medal.
