Tokyo (AFP)

Ethiopian Selemon Barega clinched the first track and field title at the Tokyo Olympics, dominating Uganda's 10,000m favorite Joshua Cheptegei on Friday after a stifling race.

Long placed, the European champion Morhad Amdouni stuck in the final packaging but took an honorable 10th place, finishing first in Europe in 27 min 53 sec 58. He still has to run the marathon on August 8.

As in tradition, Selemon Barega grabbed the red yellow and green flag of Ethiopia, greeted a restless cluster of "supporters" from his delegation, before performing a funny lap of honor in front of the empty bays from the great Olympic stadium in Tokyo.

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But nothing was too big Friday for the vice-world champion in the 5,000 m, winner at 21 at the end of an uncertain race, to proudly register his name on the 10,000 m list following the legends of his country Kenenisa Bekele (titled in 2004 and 2008), Haile Gebrselassie (1996 and 2000) or Tirunesh Dibaba for women (2008 and 2012).

This 10,000m opens a new era of the world long distance after the "double-double" of Briton Mo Farah (titles over 5,000 and 10,000 m in 2012 and 2016), who had failed at the end of June to qualify for Tokyo.

This era was to be that of Joshua Cheptegei, big favorite at 24 after breaking the world distance record (26: 11.00) in October 2020. But the Ugandan, reigning world champion and also world record holder of 5,000 m, had to settle for 2nd place just ahead of his compatriot Jacob Kiplimo.

The Ugandans, yellow jersey, had however reserved a tactical surprise like Tour de France, by sending a teammate (Stephen Kissa) to escape at the start of the race, to make the Ethiopians and Kenyans work at the head of the peloton.

Even though Kissa confessed that his friends were initially supposed to follow him ...

Not enough to hamper Barega, who mastered this race made of jolts disputed in stifling conditions (around 30 degrees and 93% humidity), before bringing the decisive acceleration on the last lap.

- One less opportunity for Felix -

Barega is young (21), but his name resonates in international athletics since 2017 and his 5th place at the London Worlds over 5,000m at only 17 years old.

This child of a farmer from the Gurage zone, in the south of Ethiopia, has run all his life like his seven brothers and sisters, first to fetch water, for a simple purchase, or to go to school.

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A fan of football and Manchester United, he plans to devote himself to road racing after the Games, where he is not registered in 5,000m, unlike Cheptegei, who will have another opportunity to clinch his first Olympic gold ( final on August 6).

The Ugandan has shown that he is not infallible, as shown by his failure on the 5,000 m from Florence in June (only 6th).

Before the only final to close the evening, the surprise came from the disqualification in the series of the American mixed 4x400m relay for a fault during a handover.

Arranged on Friday, the star Allyson Felix will thus have one less opportunity to inflate his total of medals (9 including 6 titles) and to overtake the legend Carl Lewis (10 medals including 9 titles).

Already the most medal-winning female athlete in history, she will not be able to equal the record of the Finnish Paavo Nurmi (12 medals) since she must now compete in the 400m and the 4x400m relay for women.

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