Ethiopia’s hope for women’s marathon gold crushed

Ethiopia’s hope for the Olypmic gold in women’s marathon crushed as Jemima Sumgong of Kenya won the gold with a winning time of 2:24:04. Mare Dibaba was beaten into third place (2:24:30), though she was touted as the favorite to win the Olympic marathon. Her failure to win gold was symbolic of the country’s disappointing start to this Olympic. So far only Almaz Ayana in the 10,000m has earned the country the gold laurel.
Another medal hope in the marathon Terfe Tsegaye finished fourth. The third athlete Tigist Tufa has dropped out of the race half-way due to a problem on her right knee. Eunice Kirwa of Bahrain was second(2:24:13).
Mare has been running the marathon since 2010, coming third at the 2013 Boston Marathon before winning Chicago that fall. She won last summer’s world championship marathon and was awarded the “best marathoner” title for 2015 by the IAAF.