Farah ran a superb tactical race before obliterating the opposition in the final stretch to became the first British runner to win three Olympic titles. He is now the favorite to add a fourth in the 5,000m next weekend.
Should 33-year-old manage it he would emulate Finnish great Lasse Viren, currently the only man to complete the distance “double double”, by retaining the Olympic 5,000 and 10,000m titles.
He has already achieved the feat in the world championships, with three in a row in the 5,000.
The second half of the race was a masterclass in distance running by Farah, who was accidentally tripped with 16 laps to go by American training partner Galen Rupp but picked himself up and surged through the field to claim victory in 27 minutes 5.17 seconds.
“I got emotional because you put so much work in and in one moment it’s gone. That one moment could be it, I just had to get through it and believe in myself,” Farah said.
“GREAT ATHLETE”
All of his championship victories have come in a similar style, where he tracks his usually Kenyan and Ethiopian rivals before hammering a last lap and kicking in the last 200metres.
So it played into hands when none of his rivals seemed willing to set a pace that might have drawn his sting, even after his fall.
As the pace increased in the final laps and the leading bunch lost numbers, the race finally descended into a winner-takes-all dash for gold between Farah and Kenya’s Paul Tanui, with the composed Briton always looking favorite to come out on top.
Once again Farah relied on his finishing kick to out-sprint Tanui and crossed the line with his hands placed on top of his head in his signature “Mobot” pose.
Tanui, who has won two world championship bronze medals over 10,000m had to settle for silver, with Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola getting bronze.
“I thought going into the race an Olympic record could have been broken. We started out pretty fast but that pace wasn’t kept along the way and it didn’t end up happening,” Tola said. “Mo Farah is obviously a great athlete.”
