Wenslus Murape
Ellina Mhlanga in Paris, France
LONG distance runner Rutendo Nyahora found the going tough at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games as she failed to finish the women’s marathon yesterday.
Nyahora, making her second appearance at the Olympics after receiving a universality slot from the World Athletics, pulled out close to the halfway mark.
The South Africa-based athlete said it was just not her day as she stopped twice in the first 20km before deciding to withdraw from the race.
“It was not my day today, I don’t want to lie, it was not my day today. I tried but it was not my day.
“It was hard to accept because there was a time when I stopped, I ran again and I stopped and I ran again because I wanted to finish even though I was going to finish last, I wanted to finish.
“But I don’t know what happened,” said Nyahora.
She will take a break to rest before she decides on her next move.
“I don’t have any plan. I just want to rest. I will be fine,” said an emotional Nyahora as she broke into tears.
Sifan Hassan of Netherlands romped to victory in 2 hours 22 minutes 55 seconds as she crossed the finish line in an Olympic record time.
It was a close contest with Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa as they were approaching the finish line but Hassan managed to hold on to her lead to bag the gold medal.
Assefa was second in 2 hours 22 minutes 58 seconds.
She was followed by Kenya’s Hellen Obiri, who clocked 2 hours 23 minutes 10 seconds to finish on third place. It was Nyahora’s second appearance at the Olympic Games after qualifying and representing the country at the Rio 2026 Olympic Games.
In Rio she finished on position 92 out of 157 athletes.
However, the Paris Games proved to be tough task for the seasoned runner.
Out of the 91 athletes that participated, 80 completed the race.
The women’s marathon was the last event for Team Zimbabwe at the Games that ended yesterday.
Online Reporter