For the first time since 1980, a Kenyan athlete has not won the men's 3000m steeplechase at the Olympic Games.
Moroccan Soufiane El Bakkali, running 8.08.90, won the race in Tokyo on Monday. He crossed the finishing line 1.48 seconds ahead of Ethiopia's Lamecha Girma in second and Kenya's Benjamin Kigen, who ran 8:11.45, in third.
El Bakkali is Morocco's first Olympic gold medallist since Hicham El Guerrouj won the 1500m and 5000m double in 2004.
Kenya doesn’t win the Olympic men’s 3000m steeplechase for the first time since 1980. The new longest active gold-medal streak in track and field: U.S. women’s 4x400m (six straight dating to 1996)
— Nick Zaccardi (@nzaccardi) August 2, 2021
Years Kenya entered an Olympic steeplechase and didn’t win:
1964: Benjamin Kogo, eliminated in heats
2021 just now
That’s the list.
11/11 golds in between— Jesse Squire (@tracksuperfan) August 2, 2021
For nine straight Olympic Games - between 1984 in Los Angeles and 2016 in Rio de Janeiro - Kenya had dominated the event. They also won golds in 1968 and 1972, but boycotted the 1972 Olympics in Munich and the 1976 Games in Montreal.
Their nine consecutive winners were: Julius Korir (1984), Julius Kariuki (1988), Matthew Birir (1992), Joseph Keter (1996), Reuben Kosgei (2000), Ezekiel Kemboi (2004 and 2012), Brimin Kipruto (2008), Conseslus Kipruto (2016).
Ambraham Kibiwot was Kenya's second representative in Monday's race.
Girma led the race at the bell with his compatriot Getnet Wale in second, El Bakkali in third, and the two Kenyan's trailing in fourth and fifth.
El Bakkali took the lead approaching the final water jump and sprinted away from Girma down the home straight.
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