Sir Mo Farah became the first British track and field athlete to win three Olympic gold medals by retaining his 10,000 metres title in Rio on this day in 2016.
Farah continued his unprecedented spell of long-distance domination by landing his eighth straight global gold, but he did it the hard way after falling to the track following a trip from training partner Galen Rupp.
He recovered to respond to the challenge laid down by Kenya’s Paul Tanui, bursting past him down the home straight and crossing the line in 27 minutes and 5.17 seconds.
Victory saw Farah eclipse the Olympic achievements of the likes of double champions Sebastian Coe, Daley Thompson and Kelly Holmes.
With 300 metres to go Tanui pressed the accelerator in a bid to neutralise Farah’s renowned finishing speed, but the British star was not done and powered past the Kenyan before holding on to win by 0.47secs.
Farah broke down in tears as he was interviewed by broadcasters after the race.
“When I fell down for one moment I was thinking, ‘oh my race is over, my dream is over’. But then I managed to dig deep,” he said.
“Galen is a good sportsman and things happen sometimes and it’s so easy to blame people, but I’ve got such a long stride I don’t blame him for anything.
“I’m a guy who wins medals rather than runs fast times, so for me what keeps me going is winning medals for my country and making my nation proud.”
