Ahmed's 5,000m silver eases pain of Rio
The last lap battle on the Tokyo Olympic track was intense; Canadian Mohammed Ahmed chasing down the Ugandan, Kenyan and American athletes determined to get their hands on the 5,000-metre medals.
They were clearly ready to win, perhaps even imagining the feeling. But they hadn't lost the way Ahmed lost at Rio 2016.
The runner from St. Catharines, Ont. had been devastated after finishing a distant 32nd in the 10,000-metres five years ago. But he picked himself up and was poised to erase the shock and embarrassment in the 5,000-metres, which has long been his better bet. Instead, there was only more disappointment — a fourth-place finish, just a second and a half from bronze. He couldn't let that happen again in Tokyo, could he?
“I have a lot of frustration and a lot of disappointments in my body these last five years, so I knew that last 200 metres I was going to summon that pain,” Ahmed said.
Instead, a first. Well, a second. Ahmed's incredible, trademark kick earned him an Olympic silver medal, the first for a Canadian in the Games at this gruelling distance. In an event dominated through great chunks of
time by Europeans, Africans and, most recently Great Britain's Mo Farah, Ahmed came through in the clutch for Canada. He tracked down Nicholas Kimeli of Kenya and reeled in Paul Chelimo of the United States, the man who would settle for bronze.
Ahmed's only regret was that he hadn't been in position to chase down gold medallist Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda, who simply got away from everybody.
“… Every disappointment, every race that didn't go to plan has got me here. Especially in Canada, they remember the disappointment in my face, the tears I was shedding on live TV five years ago, but honestly, I needed that to grow as an athlete, to work even harder.”