Mohamed Farah Defies Fall to Retain 10,000m Title at Rio Olympics

Britain’s Mo Farah defends his Olympic title in 10,000m finals at Rio as he clocked 27 min & 5 secs to win gold.

Britain’s Mohamed Farah celebrates after winning the 10,000m finals at Rio. (Photo: AP)

Britain’s Mo Farah overcame the shock of a mid-race fall to take a second straight Olympic 10,000m title and extend his remarkable record at global championships. The 33-year-old produced a trademark surge over the last 100 meters to time 27min 05.17sec in the 25-lap race.

Kenyan Paul Tanui won silver in 27:05.64 with Ethiopian Tamirat Tola third in 27:06.26. Farah tumbled in the 10th lap after being clipped by American training partner Galen Rupp.

But he brilliantly recovered to accumulate a second 10,000m title to add to the 5,000m gold he also won in London four years ago.

When I went down, I thought, ‘Oh my God, that is it.’ I just got up and wanted to stick with the guys and stay strong. It’s never easy but everyone knows what I can do. I thought about all my hard work and that it could all be gone in a minute. I wasn’t going to let it go. I got up quickly. I thought about my family. It made me emotional.

Mohamed Farah, Sprinter, Britain 

Britain’s Mo Farah, right, Kenya’s Paul Kipngetich Tanui, left, and United States’ Galen Rupp compete in the men’s 10,000-meter final during the athletics competitions of the 2016 Summer Olympics at the Olympic stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo: AP)

Rupp, the silver medallist in London who will also compete in the marathon in Rio, blamed the fall on pushing. “I bumped into him. There was a lot of pushing. Guys slowing down in front, guys pushing from behind,” said Rupp, who trains with Farah under Oregon-based Alberto Salazar.

It was his eighth successive win in the 5,000 or 10,000m at a world championships or Olympics since 2011, when Ibrahim Jeilan beat him over 10,000m in the Daegu world championships.

Farah has also notched up the European double, twice, in 2010 and 2014 to become one of the best middle distance runners of all time.