NOS Sport•gisteren, 10:23
Sifan Hassan triumphs in marathon
Sifan Hassan crowned her Olympic Games with a gold medal in the marathon. With this achievement she completes a unique trilogy in Paris.
Hassan previously won bronze in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters. Never before had a woman managed to win a medal in those three events.
Among the men, only the legendary Czech Emil Zátopek succeeded. During the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, he won gold three times.
Hassan, who also improved the Olympic record, was the fastest in the final sprint against world record holder Tigst Assefa. The Dutch finished in 2.22.55 and stayed ahead of the Ethiopian by three seconds. Kenyan Hellen Obiri took the bronze in 2.23.10.
And that while Hassan seemed to be breaking down two-thirds of the way through the race on a section of the hilly course where the road surface sloped sharply. Led by Assefa and her compatriot Amana Shankule, the 2023 world champion, the pace was increased.
Hassan did not go with the acceleration and two kilometers later he joined the leading group again. It was the prelude to a very strong final chord from the Dutch, who won a historic Olympic title in the final sprint on the Place des Invalides.
Anne Luijten, the second Dutch woman in the field, finished fiftieth in 2.33.42.
Fourth marathon
Hassan, 31, ran only her fourth marathon in Paris. She made her debut in the classic 42.195 meters in April 2023. In London, she surprised friend and foe by winning that race in 2.18.33, despite a break during the race to do stretching exercises.
Her second marathon, six months later in Chicago, was one that went into the record books. In the Windy Chicago she finished in 2.13.44, the second fastest time ever run in the marathon. Only Assefa was faster. She ran 2.11.53 in Berlin a month earlier.
In March of this year, the Tokyo Marathon went considerably less smoothly. In the Japanese metropolis, Hassan’s 2.18.05 resulted in fourth place.
Project Zátopekwas the mission to become the first woman to win a medal in the 5,000, 10,000 and 42,195 meters. Only the namesake, the Czech Emil Zátopek, ever managed to win Olympic medals in those three events. In 1952, The Locomotive in Helsinki even three pieces of gold.
Another legend, Lasse Virén, came close to repeating that feat 24 years later in Montreal. The Finn triumphed, thanks in part to the boycott of many African athletes, in the 5,000 and 10,000 metres. In the marathon, however, he came in fifth.
ANPSifan Hassan (left) during the women’s marathon
Insane, former athlete Michael Johnson, five-time Olympic champion in the 200 and 400 meters, called the plan. Less than 48 hours separated Hassan’s finals in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters. The time between the 10,000 meters and the marathon was just over 35 hours.
Hassan recovered after the 10,000 meters by following a special recovery program, which was shrouded in secrecy by the athlete’s support. Hassan only left the Olympic village on Saturday afternoon to collect her bronze medal in the 10,000 meters at the Stade France.
Her manager Jos Hermens was not surprised that she succeeded in her mission. In 2022, before the athlete even thought about switching to the marathon, the former athlete presented her with the idea of combining the two longest track events with the marathon in Paris. Hermens even had talks with IOC president Thomas Bach and Sebastian Coe, the president of the global athletics federation World Athletics, in an attempt to adjust the athletics programme to give Hassan more rest between the three events. Because the television rights holders determine the order of the competitions, Hermens returned home empty-handed.
If it doesn’t go the way it should, then it has to go the way it goes, Hermens must have thought. He stuck to the idea. Because if there is one athlete who dares to take on such a challenge, it is Hassan. “If winning medals was easy, everyone would do it.”
AFPJoy at Sifan Hassan
According to Hermens, the athlete combines the best of the three worlds in which she grew up. Hassan was born in Adama, the third city of Ethiopia. Because her exact date of birth is unknown, January 1, 1993 is considered that date.
In 2008, as a 15-year-old unaccompanied minor refugee, she ended up in the asylum seekers’ center of Ter Apel. Via Zuidlaren she ended up in Leeuwarden, where her running talent came to light at the athletics club AV Lionitas. Early 2013, it was Honoré Hoedt who was the first top coach to polish the rough diamond.
Rowberry Team
Since joining American coach Alberto Salazar in 2016, who was later banned for life for emotional and physical abuse of athletes, she has spent much of her time in the United States. In Park City, where the skiing events took place at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games, she works with Salazar’s former assistant Tim Rowberry.
“Sifan has the pride of the Ethiopian people, the direct approach of the Dutch and the show element that is so typical of Americans.”
With her gold in the Olympic marathon, she is above all a woman of the world. Or better: the best woman in the world.
