President William Ruto on Sunday, August 11, 2024, congratulated Olympic medallist Hellen Obiri after she achieved a podium spot in the women’s marathon race in Paris.
In a statement, Ruto lauded the seasoned athlete for forging ahead to the end of the race despite facing a formidable competition.
“Congratulations Hellen Obiri for the Bronze medal in the Paris 2024 Olympic marathon. Despite facing formidable contenders, you kept pushing, exemplifying the unbeatable Kenyan spirit in the sport,” Ruto said.
Ethiopian-Dutch national Sifan Hassan won the marathon on Sunday after setting a new Olympic record of 2: 22: 55. This comes after she won two bronze medals in the 5000m and 10,000m races.
Ethiopias Tigst Assefa won the silver medal after clocking 2: 22: 58 in the tight race whereas Obiri came third after hitting 2: 23: 10 on the clock.
During the preliminary interviews before the race, 34-year-old Obiri said she had set her eyes on the Olympic gold- the only missing thing in her illustrious athletics career.
“It will be an exciting moment for me I can’t even imagine. I will fight up to the end to make this dream come true,” she told BBC on August 9, 2024.
Obiri also said she is planning to hang her boots after the 2024 Olympics, stating that she would give it her all during the 2024 Olympics.
Sharon Lokedi came fourth in the race that saw the defending champion Peres Jepchirchir come at a distant 15th place.
Jepchirchir’s pace started to drop shortly after 34 kilometres into the marathon, from where Hassan and Obiri took charge of the race.
High-flying Jepchirchir won the London Marathon in April, after clocking the women’s world record of two hours, 16 minutes and 16 seconds and was a favourite in Sunday’s race.
Hassan lingered behind for the major part of the marathon and only took the lead of the race in the last minutes, a trick which secured her the coveted Olympics marathon gold.
But in the last kick, Assefa attempted to push Hassan towards the barrier after she tried to run past her towards the finish line.
It took Hassan’s clever move to shift to the inside around a bend from where she charged ahead to claim Olympic glory.
