Brilliant Barega Strikes Gold As Olympic Athletics Underway

Ethiopian distance runner Selemon Barega stormed to a brilliant 10,000m victory to claim the first gold medal of a spectator-less Olympic athletics competition at the Tokyo Games on Friday

Tokyo, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Jul, 2021 ) :Ethiopian distance runner Selemon Barega stormed to a brilliant 10,000m victory to claim the first gold medal of a spectator-less Olympic athletics competition at the Tokyo Games on Friday.

Barega, 21, ran a superb tactical race to hold off world champion Joshua Cheptegei and Ugandan compatriot Jacob Kiplimo to win in 27min 43.22sec. Cheptegei took silver in 27:43.63, with Kiplimo third.

It completed a subdued start to the 10-day track and field competition, which got under way in a mostly empty 68,000-capacity Olympic Stadium with spectators barred due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Barega's upset win was a rare blip on a first day that largely followed the form book as athletes adjusted to the unique surroundings of this year's pandemic-delayed competition.

Unrelenting high-tempo music, an echoing public address tannoy, screeching cicadas and the odd cry of encouragement provided the soundtrack at the sparsely populated arena.

But the ghostly atmosphere did not faze Jamaica's history-chasing Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who safely negotiated the first round of the 100m.

The Netherlands' long-distance star Sifan Hassan also advanced in the 5,000m, while Venezuela's triple jump world champion Yulimar Rojas eased into Sunday's final.

However there was an upset in the 4x400 relay, an event making its Olympic debut, when the powerful United States' quartet was disqualified for an illegal changeover.

- 'Really difficult' - American teenager Athing Mu -- a gold medal hope in the 800m -- played down the lack of fans after a composed win in her morning heat.

"I've never been to an Olympics so I don't know how the stadium would be if it was packed with people," she told AFP.

"But then again I've run a couple of meets in the collegiate season where we didn't have spectators allowed so it was kind of the same." And Australian high jumper Brandon Starc said he was unconcerned by the empty rows in the cavernous stadium.

"I don't really worry about it," said the Commonwealth champion. "I can't do anything about it, so why focus on that?" But Qatar's 400m hurdler Abderrahman Samba said it was "really, really difficult. I really missed the crowd".

Yet the lack of fans provided no hindrance to Jamaica sprint queen Fraser-Pryce, who would become the oldest women's 100m champion in history if she wins Saturday's final.

The 34-year-old is also aiming to become the first woman to win a single individual Olympic athletics event three times, to add to the 100m victories she claimed in 2008 and 2012.