Uganda’s Peruth Chemutai has won gold in the 3,000m steeplechase with a time on 9:01.45 at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.
Chemutai, who created history by becoming Uganda’s first ever female Olympic medallist, edged out Team USA’s Courtney Frerichs (silver) and Kenya’s Hyvin Kiyeng (bronze).
It was a race that threw the rule book out the window, in terms of how one usually paces themselves during a 3,000m steeplechase race.
It was an Olympic final that featured eight of the top nine performance so far in 2021.
While Chemutai led at the 1,000m, Frerichs made the brave move to break away early and create a sizeable gap between herself and the Ugandan runner.
But Chemutai made her move as the bell rang for the final lap as she chased down Frerichs before crossing the line in a new national record and writing herself into the history books.
All of Uganda’s 10 medals at the Olympic Games have come from men. The nations two Olympic golds before tonight had come from John Akii-Bua at Munich 1972 and marathon runner Stephen Kiprotich at London 2012.
