Faith Kipyegon reveals the moment she knew she had made Olympics history

Faith Kipyegon celebrates winning the 1,500m race at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Photo: Imago

Faith Kipyegon reveals the moment she knew she had made Olympics history

Joel Omotto 14:38 - 16.08.2024

Three-time Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon has shared how she executed her 1,500m strategy to perfection to floor her rivals and make history at the Paris 2024 Games.

Triple Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon has revealed the tactic she used to floor her rivals in the 1,500m race at the Paris Olympics.

Kipyegon became the first athlete to win three straight Olympic gold medals in the 1,500m after edging out her rivals and she had a trick up her sleeves which she executed well to enter into the record books.

“After 400m when I went ahead after the bell, I knew I could not allow anyone else to go ahead of me in 1,500m because when you allow that, they lock you out,” Kipyegon told Citizen TV.

“Then you will put on breaks and your lactic acid will start messing you up. So, I said let me keep on going when I am at the 200m point, I hope to have opened a big gap.

“So, at the 200m, I knew I could do it and by the 100m mark, I was like; ‘wow, I have won’.”

Kipyegon won the race in 3:51.29, breaking her own Olympic record of 3:53.11, set three years ago in Tokyo to beat Australia’s Jessica Hull (3:52.56) who won silver and Great Britain’s Georgia Bell, who clocked a personal best 3:52.61, for bronze.

It was a historic moment for the 30-year-old who also won gold at the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Games, making her the undisputed GOAT (Greatest of all time) over the distance.

Kipyegon had already clinched a silver medal in the 5,000m, which was won by Kenyan compatriot Beatrice Chebet, to exit the Olympics as one of the athletes who claimed multiple medals.