23-year-old record obliterated in 29 minutes, 17 seconds.
Almaz Ayana is the Olympic champion after blitzing through the field to set a world record time in the Women’s 10,000 metre final, in Rio.
The Ethiopian was unstoppable from the get-go and shook off anyone that dared keep pace with her.
Her finishing time of 29:17.45 knocked nearly 15 seconds off the time set by China’s Wang Junxia in 1993. One of the runners that trailed in the Juxia’s wake, 23 years ago, during that world championship run was Ireland’s Sonia O’Sullivan.
The Cork native was a guest of RTE Sport this afternoon and tried to remain as calm as possible as Ayana smoked the previous record. O’Sullivan commented:
“How do you have an athlete that can break the world record so easily, and she didn’t look very tired afterwards. So…”
Asked by Joanne Cantwell if the doping revelations that have dogged athletics in recent years/decades have forced her to question everything, O’Sullivan replied:
“I think you have to. Things that you thought were impossible, out of reach or would never be broken and then, all of a sudden, they are broken by the length of a [100-metre] straight, you do have to question it a little bit and… I don’t know.”
Sonia O’Sullivan ain’t convinced! #Rio2016 #Ayana pic.twitter.com/rgKvMcgria
— Aidan (@Aidan_m_) August 12, 2016
If O’Sullivan doesn’t know, we should all be worried.
Some of Ayana’s competitors also expressed doubts about her performance after the race but the Olympic champion shot back with three reasons for her win:
“No. 1, I’ve been training specifically (for this event).
“No. 2, I pray to the lord. The lord has given me everything, everything.
“No. 3, My doping is Jesus.
“Those are the reasons.”
Bish, bash, bosh.
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