Almaz Ayana Wins Gold for Ethiopia, Shatters World Record

Ethiopia won its first gold medal of the Rio 2016 Olympics as Almaz Ayana triumphed in the women’s 10,000 metre. The 25-year-old Almaz has won the gold medal in the women’s 10,000-meter event at Rio’s Olympic Stadium, Maracanã, closing lap of 29.17 minutes, setting new world record, by almost 14s, beating the mark set by China’s Junxia Wang in 1993.
With this result, Almaz’s dream of becoming just the second woman in history to win Olympic gold in both the 5000m and 10,000m at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games was half realized. The 31-year-old team-mate Tirunesh Dibaba’s dream of becoming the first athlete to win three gold medals in the Olympics over 10,000m was shattered. Tirunesh came third, who closed in 29:42.56. while Kenyan Vivian Cheruiyot came second in 29:32.53. All three women ran inside the old Olympic 10,000m record.
The AP journalist wrote that even though Kenya and Ethiopia are fierce rivals, it was the early strength of Alice Nawuwona that made Almaz’s record run easier. “Alice delivered her at ideal pace at the halfway point, and Almaz put in a short sprint to sap any confidence from her rivals,” according to AP.
Almaz was born on November 21, 1991 in Benshangul Gumuz, located in the western part of the country and a region not much known for turning out athletes. Only three years ago Almaz was a steepchase athlete, winning the women’s 3000m Steeplechase title at the 42nd Ethiopian championships in Assela. In the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing, Almaz won the 5000m course beating Genzebe Dibaba by a long distance.