Tokyo (AFP)
Kenyan Emmanuel Korir became Olympic champion in the 800m in 1:45:06, beating compatriot Ferguson Rotich (1: 45.23) in the final Wednesday in Tokyo.
Pole Patryk Dobek took third place in 1 min 45 sec 39.
For his first international final, the French Gabriel Tual finished 7th in 1 min 46 sec 03.
None of the three athletes had ever been on an Olympic podium.
This is the 4th consecutive distance title for Kenya after Wilfred Bungel in 2008 and both world record holder David Rudisha in 2012 and 2016.
Korir managed to extricate himself from a peloton still grouped 100m from the line in a very close final.
At 26, the Kenyan is also able to shine over 400m, a distance over which he finished 6th at the Doha Worlds in 2019. He had deliberately made a false start in the 400m series in Tokyo on Sunday, a priori to preserve his odds in 800.
His compatriot Rotich, 31, took the bronze medal at the 2019 Worlds.
The Polish Patryk Dobek (27) has won his bet this season to quit the 400m hurdles (7th in the Worlds in 2015) in favor of the double lap, of which he was European indoor champion this winter.
Frenchman Gabriel Tual at the finish of the 800m final of the Tokyo Olympics, August 4, 2021 Giuseppe CACACE AFP
Quickly placed at the head of the peloton, Gabriel Tual (23) had difficulty resisting the slight jostling after 200 m of the race, only to gradually retreat.
When the race got carried away, he took off a bit too far to hope to slip into the top ranks.
© 2021 AFP