‘I expected gold’: Kalkidan

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s Tokyo Olympics silver-medallist Kalkidan Gezahegne was oozing confidence ahead of her run in the Women’s 10,000 metres Final on Saturday night, despite competing over the distance in what was only the second time in her professional career.

In an exclusive interview with TDT, Kalkidan said that she had been training hard to be in top condition for the Games, and was expecting to win her race. The 30-year-old did not disappoint when she stepped onto Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium on the final night of track and field events. She looked strong her entire run and was just seconds away from clinching her maiden Olympic title.

But it was not the gold she was expecting, and it was a spectacular achievement nonetheless as she captured Bahrain’s only medal at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad.

“I am very happy, but I expected a gold medal,” Kalkidan tells TDT. “This was only my second race in 10K, but I am in good shape and I was focused on this race in my training.” Kalkidan started off with a steady stride and then picked things up as part of a group of nine that pulled away from the rest of the field.

After the leaders were reduced to five, Kalkidan did well to maintain her position as she waited to make her move. With seven laps to go, she was in a medal position along with Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands and Letesenbet Gidey of Ethiopia, and then at the bell, Kalkidan and Hassan were in a heated head-to-head battle to the finish. Hassan proved to be too strong for Kalkidan to chase down, and the Bahraini star secured the silver medal in a time of 29 minutes 56.18 seconds. Hassan won in 29:55.32 while Gidey was third in 30:01.72. “I have a good speed, running the 1,500m before, and I expected to go in the last 100m,” Kalkidan recalls.

“When I was in the last three, I expected to medal, especially to win the gold medal when we were in the last lap. But I had a little mistake then, and in the finishing run Sifan had more speed.” It was a joyous occasion for Kalkidan, who has fought back from an Achilles tendon injury in early 2012 and is now the Olympic silver-medallist.

Kalkidan’s first and only other race in the 10,000m distance was in May earlier this year in Maia, Portugal, where she clocked her personal best of 29:50.77 while also finishing in second place then. Kalkidan’s Olympic silver medal is the latest achievement of her career, adding to her 1,500m and 5,000m gold medals from the Asian Games in 2018.