Mo Farah wins men's 5,000m to claim second Olympic gold

 

Mo Farah joined the sporting greats and produced an unforgettable crescendo to London's Olympics as he added 5,000m gold to his 10,000m title.

The 29-year-old Briton went to the front at 600m and was roared down the home straight and into the history books.

Great Britain's Mo Farah

Mo Farah delights in double Olympic gold

Farah's gold was Great Britain's 27th of these Games and was greeted with a noise that could scarcely be believed inside the Olympic Stadium.

He produced a last mile of four minutes 00.50 seconds and a final lap of 52.9 secs to hold off Ethiopia's Dejen Gebremeskel and Kenya's Thomas Longosiwa in 13 mins 41.66 secs.

It was not a fast race, but big finals seldom are and Farah got his tactics spot on.

Farah, whose wife Tania is due to give birth to twins in the next few weeks, said: "It's unbelievable. I was feeling tired coming into the race. When I took the lead, I knew I had to hold on to it.

"Those two medals are for my two girls. They can have one each. I don't know what's going on. Everything has a time and it's all worked out. Two gold medals... who would have thought it?"

A week ago, his stunning victory in the 10,000m final had provided a wonderful final act to "Super Saturday".

Mo Farah joins the greats

Mo Farah is the seventh man to win 5,000m and 10,000m gold at the same Olympics:

2008 - Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia)

1980 - Miruts Yifter (Ethiopia)

1972 & 1976 - Lasse Viren (Finland)

1956 - Vladimir Kuts (Soviet Union)

1952 - Emil Zatopek (Czechoslovakia)

1912 - Hannes Kolehmainen (Finland)

This was always going to be a tougher contest still. Going into the race, he was ranked only 11th in the world on season's bests, while seven men who lined up had quicker personal bests.

But Farah had shown in winning 5,000m gold at the World Championships in Daegu that he could run a brutal 10,000m and recover sufficiently within a short period of time to take on the world's best again.

As he came out on to the track, Farah triggered a deafening standing ovation from the capacity home crowd.

When he was announced to the crowd, it was as if gold had already been won, thousands waving union jacks and bouncing up and down. Every section he passed on every lap roared as if he were on the final straight.

The early pace was pedestrian, the first five laps all 70 seconds or slower. Only when Gebremeskel went to the front with five laps to go did the pace pick up with a 60-second lap.

Mo Farah & Usain Bolt

Usain Bolt on why he and Mo Farah traded celebrations

The noise was immense, Farah slotting in behind the Ethiopian in second with 1000m to go.

He pushed on to the front with a lap and a half left and was joined by his training partner Galen Rupp of the United States.

Farah then went hard again at the bell and down the back straight to open a metre lead he would never relinquish.

Britain had never before won a men's long distance gold at the Olympics. Farah now has two in the space of one remarkable week and joins greats like Emil Zatopek and Lasse Viren, who also won 5,000m and 10,000m gold at the same Games.

Final Results

Final results by Athlete
Rank Athlete Country Medal moment Result
1 Farah GBR 13:41.66
2 Gebremeskel ETH 13:41.98
3 Longosiwa KEN 13:42.36
View full results for Men's 5000m