Omar McLeod extended Jamaica’s dominance in the sprints by winning the 110 metre hurdles gold in 13.05 seconds at the Olympic Stadium.
The 22-year-old took Jamaica’s tally to three gold medals, as McLeod joined Usain Bolt and Elaine Thompson. He sailed past Orlando Ortega (13.17) of Spain and Dimitri Bascou (13.24) of France.
“Hurdles is all about character. I worked hard, prayed hard and seized the moment. Now I am going to eat as much ice cream and cake as I can. I need to go back and recite, you are an Olympic champion,” said McLeod.
Having finished sixth in the World championships last year in Beijing, McLeod said that he needed to be patient and not get carried away by his leg speed. He had obviously learnt his lessons from the two falls in the season, and said that it was a humbling experience. “You are never guaranteed a perfect career. It was a test of character and I bounced back well,” he said.
McLeod said he was inspired by the example Usain Bolt and Fraser-Pryce.
It was equally a test of character and belief for Faith Kipyegon of Kenya as she ran past World champion Genzebe Dibaba (4:10.27) of Ethiopia for the 1500 metres gold with a time of 4 minutes 8.92 seconds. It was a promotion from the silver medal in the World championships for the Kenyan.
Jennifer Simpson of the US took the bronze at 4:10.53 ahead of compatriot Shanon Rowsbury (4:11.05).
For Genzebe, it was a triumph in a way as she was troubled by “a severe injury” as well as the fact that her coach Jama Aden was arrested in Spain as part of an anti-doping drive.
Genzebe clarified that her coach was only helping her with exercise and training.
Consesius Kipruto won the fourth gold medal for Kenya with an Olympic record time of 8 minutes 3.28 seconds in the men’s 3000-metre steeplechase at the Olympic Stadium on Wednesday.Even Jager (8:04.28) of the US and Ezekiel Kemboi (8:08.47) of Kenya won the other medals.
Drouin leaps to gold World Champion Derek Drouin won the high jump gold, first for Canada since 1932, at 2.38 metres, two centimetres ahead of favourite Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar. It was a big leap from the bronze that he had won in the London Games.
The Canadian revealed that after all the emotions of the Olympic gold, he was not willing to go for the World record of 2.45 metres, set in 1993 by Javier Sotomayor of Cuba.
Bohdan Bondarenko of Ukraine, who had to battle ill health and the loss of energy owing to a dose of antibiotics, was happy to take the bronze at 2.33 ahead of three others Robert Grabarz of Britain, AndriyProtsenko of Ukraine and Erik Kynard of the US, who also jumped the same height.
