PARIS 2024: History beckons for Beatrice Chebet as she aims for second gold medal in Paris

Only nineteen athletes have won more than one medal for Kenya at the Olympics with four among them doing so in a single edition of the Olympic Games.

Of the four, the legendary Kipchoge Keino, in 1968 and in 1972, is the only one to have bagged a pair of medals in two different editions of the Olympic Games. Kipchoge’s medal haul at the Olympic Games comprises two gold medals (in the 1 500 metres at Mexico City 1968 and in the 3 000 metres steeplechase in Munich 1972) and two silver medals (in the 5 000 metres at Mexico City 1968 and in the 1 500 metres in Munich 1972).

Naftali Temu, winner of Kenya’s ever first gold medal with his victory in the 10 000 metres at Mexico City 1968, also left the Central American nation in that year with two medals having finished third in the 5 000 metres to bag the bronze medal.

The 1972 Munich Olympic Games saw Julius Sang adding to that list with his gold medal in the 4x400 metres relay and bronze medal in the 400 metres.

Such heroics were never replicated by a Kenyan athlete until the 2016 Rio Olympic Games when Vivian Cheruiyot pioneered the foray of Kenyan female athletes into that list. In that year in the Brazilian coastal city, Cheruiyot won gold in the women’s 5 000 metres and bagged silver in the women’s 10 000 metres.

Having already won the gold medal in the women’s 5 000 metres at the Paris Olympic Games on Monday night, the 24-year old Beatrice Chebet is now on the brink of history as victory in the women’s 10 000 metres final tonight will make her the first Kenyan athlete to win two gold medals in a single edition of the Olympic Games.

Chebet goes into the race with a solid reputation, having become the first woman to break the 29-minute barrier when she set a new world record in the event after winning the 10 000 metres race at the 2024 Eugene Prefontaine Classic on May 25 with a time of 28:54.14.

Nicknamed “the smiling assassin”, Chebet will be hoping to replicate that performance in the event tonight at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis to make for the memorable Olympic Games debut. The race starts at 9:57 pm EAT.

To claim her place in history, Chebet will have to fend off strong challenges from her compatriots Lilian Rengeruk and Margaret Kipkemboi, the Ethiopian duo of reigning world champion Gudaf Tsegay and Tsigie Gebreselama, and the Dutch Sifan Hassan, who is the event’s reigning Olympic champion.

The formidable sextet have run sub 30:00 in the 10 000 metres at least once in their career. It, the six athletes running sub 29:00 in the 10 000 metres at least once in their career, is a shared profile that invites the possibility of a new Olympic record being set in the women’s 10 000 metres tonight. The current Olympic record time of 29:17.45 was set by the Ethiopian Almaz Ayana in Rio de Janiero eight years ago.

While the Kenyan trio and the Ethiopian Gebreselama only achieved that feat in the race in Eugene, Oregon, on May 25 when Chebet set a new world record, Hassan (four times) and Tsegay (thrice) have run under 30 minutes more than once in their career.

For Hassan, 31, and Tsegay, 27, in particular, tonight’s race will be even more taxing for them as it is one of the three events that they registered competed in at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Apart from this race, Hassan and Tsegay also competed in the 5 000 metres, with the former bagging the bronze in the event as the latter finished in a disappointing 9^th position.

After tonight's race, Hassan is due to compete in the women’s marathon on Sunday morning while Tsegay will be on the starting line for the women’s 1 500 metres final on Saturday night.

Going into tonight’s race, Hassan is the fresher of the multi-tasking duo, with her last race being on Monday night, the women’s 5 000 metres. She will go into tonight’s final having already made two appearances on Stade de France’s purple track as she had competed in the heats of the women’s 5 000 metres one week ago.

Tsegay, on the other hand, has been even busier, running in four races across her participation in the women’s 1 500 metres (heats and semifinal) and the women’s 5 000 metres (heats and final). Tonight’s 10 000 metres will be her fifth race in seven days.

Today’s athletics action will also see the Kenyan duo of Emmanuel Wanyonyi and Wycliffe Kinyamal taking to the track with the aim of making the finals of the men’s 800 metres which will take place at 8:15 pm EAT on Saturday.

The semifinals of the men’s 800 metres will start at 12:30 pm EAT but a Kenyan will not appear on the track until 12:40 pm EAT when Kinyamal competes in the second semifinal.

Wanyonyi, a silver medalist in the event at the 2023 World Athletics Championship, will race in the third and final semifinal which starts at 12:50 pm EAT.

In order to qualify for the final, Kinyamal and Wanyonyi have to finish in the top two positions in their races or register the two fastest times among the athletes who will rank outside the two.