Bahrain athletes go for gold today in 5,000 metres final at Tokyo Olympic Games

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s Birhanu Balew and Dawit Fikadu go for gold today in the Men’s 5,000 metres Final at the Tokyo Olympic Games. The race is scheduled for a 3 pm start, Bahrain time, and it will feature 16 athletes in total.

Balew booked his ticket in the medal round as an automatic qualifier after finishing fifth in the first of two opening-round heats. Fikadu, on the other hand, advanced following a referee’s decision after finishing out of the qualification positions in the second heat, having fallen during the race.

Others also set to compete in the final are Nicholas Kipkorir Kimeli of Kenya; Mohammed Ahmed and Justyn Knight of Canada; Grant Fisher, Paul Chelimo and William Kincaid of the US; Mohamed Katir of Spain; the Ugandan trio of Oscar Chelimo, Jacob Kiplimo and Joshua Cheptegei; Milkesa Mengesha of Ethiopia; Andrew Butchart of Great Britain; Jimmy Gressier of France and Luis Grijalva of Guatelama. Balew and Fikadu are Bahrain’s only two Olympians in action today at the Japanese capital.

Tomorrow, there will be a trio of Bahrainis as the pair of Eunice Chebichii Chumba and Tejitu Daba compete in the Women’s Marathon and then Kalkidan Gezahegne goes for gold in the Women’s 10,000m Final. On Sunday, the final day of the Olympics, the Bahraini trio of Elhassan Elabbasi, Alemu Bekele and Shumi Dechasa will run the Men’s Marathon.

Both marathons will be held at the city of Sapporo, and Bahrain’s participants and officials are already there making their final preparations for the events. Leading the team at Sapporo is Bahrain Athletics Association vice-president Khaled Al Dossary. Bahrain has yet to add to its three Olympic medals won in the past but are hoping to do so as the Tokyo Games heads to its final three days. The past accolades include two gold and one silver, all in athletics.

The gold medals were captured by Maryam Yusuf Jamal at the London Olympics in 2012 for the Women’s 1,5000m and Ruth Jebet at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016 for the Women’s 3,000m Steeplechase. That same year, Eunice Kirwa claimed the Women’s Marathon silver medal.