Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's 3000 metres steeplechase

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Women's 3000 metres steeplechase
at the Games of the XXXI Olympiad
Podium3000mSteepleFemmeJORio2016.jpg
Left-right: Jepkemoi, Jebet and Coburn
Venue Olympic Stadium
Date13–15 August 2016
Competitors53 from 32 nations
Winning time8:59.75 AR
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Ruth Jebet Flag of Bahrain.svg  Bahrain
Silver medal icon.svg Hyvin Jepkemoi Flag of Kenya.svg  Kenya
Bronze medal icon.svg Emma Coburn Flag of the United States.svg  United States
  2012
2020  
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Video on YouTube Official Video Highlights

The Women's 3000 metres steeplechase competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place between 13–15 August at the Olympic Stadium. [1] The winning margin was 7.37 seconds.

Summary

Tunisia's Habiba Ghribi returned to defend her 2012 Olympic steeplechase title, though she was outside the top 15 runners on the seasonal lists. The fastest time was held by Ruth Jebet of Bahrain, whose 8:59.97 minutes at the Prefontaine Classic at the end of May made her the second fastest ever in the discipline. The 2015 World Champion Hyvin Jepkemoi of Kenya was four hundredths of a second behind her in that race and had become the third fastest, while America's Emma Coburn had set a national record and was third ranked entering the competition. Ethiopians Etenesh Diro and Sofia Assefa and Kenya's Beatrice Chepkoech rounded out the top six. Gesa Felicitas Krause, a 2015 World medalist and 2016 European Champion, was her continent's best entrant. [2]

Before the competition even began, entrant Silvia Danekova failed a doping test after her arrival in Rio. She submitted an appeal the Court of Arbitration for Sport where she was ruled ineligible for the race. [3]

In the first round Jebet broke clear of the pack, ran her own race, and easily won her heat over Assefa and Krause. Chepkoech, Ghribi and Coburn took the top qualifying spots in the second race. Jepkemoi won the third and slowest heat, with Genevieve LaCaze and Courtney Frerichs taking the automatic qualifying spots. Etenesh Diro lost her shoe in that race after being stood on by an opponent and ran the remainder of the race barefoot; she failed to make the qualifying time but progressed upon appeal, as did Aisha Praught and Sara Louise Treacy. [4] [5] Four national records were broken, including Lalita Shivaji Babar's 9:19.76 minutes for India. [6]

The strategy in this final was prefaced by the Prefontaine race in Eugene. In that race, Jebet broke away but was chased down by a last lap kick by Jepkemoi that almost caught her at the line. Coburn watched the chase from ten seconds back while setting the American record. Here Jebet knew she needed to create a bigger cushion to discourage Jepkemoi from chasing. After settling for just being near the front of the pack for the first two laps, Jebet accelerated with one barrier and five laps to go. Only three athletes, Jepkemoi, Chepkoech and Coburn, took off in pursuit, the rest of the field stringing out behind an ever-widening gap. After a 68-second lap, then a 69-second lap, Jebet had a 3-second lead on the Kenyan teammates with Coburn another 3 seconds back. After a 70-second lap, Chepkoech began to lose contact with her teammate. An encouraged Coburn set off in pursuit of a medal, passing the slowing Chepkoech with 1 and 3/4 laps to go. During the 71-second following lap, while Jebet was slowing slightly from the strain, Jepkemoi was consistently losing ground and Coburn could see she was close to Jepkemoi. Jepkemoi did not take off in hot pursuit of Jebet, more concerned with the challenge from behind. On the final backstretch, Coburn passed Jepkemoi for a few moments before Jepkemoi accelerated away going into the final water jump. Jebet cruised home unchallenged with a final lap just under 71, crossing the line in 8:59.75. Forgetting about Jebet, Jepkemoi used her best sprinting to beat Coburn to the line by a half second for silver. Coburn set the North American Continental Record 9:07.63 in third. [7]

Jebet's time slightly improved her second best time in history, moving to less than a second of the world record. Coburn's time made her the number 8 performer in history. Even deeper down the list of finishers, there were many personal bests. Fourth place Chepkoech became #22 on the all-time list, sixth place Gesa Felicitas Krause became #31, seventh, eighth and ninth places Madeline Hills, Colleen Quigley and Genevieve LaCaze became #38, #42 and #43 respectively.

The medals were presented by Paul Tergat, IOC member, Kenya and Anna Riccardi, Council Member of the IAAF.

Less than two weeks later, Jebet would set the world record, improving her personal best by almost seven seconds and the world record by six.

Ruth Jebet has been suspended since February 2018 for testing positive for EPO, although her Olympic results are unaffected. [8]

Competition format

The women's 3000 m steeplechase competition consisted of heats and a final. [9]

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

World recordFlag of Russia.svg  Gulnara Galkina  (RUS)8:58.81 Beijing, China 17 August 2008
Olympic record

The following national records were established during the competition:

CountryAthleteRoundTimeNotes
India Flag of India.svg  Lalita Babar  (IND)Heats9:19.76
Switzerland Civil Ensign of Switzerland (Pantone).svg  Fabienne Schlumpf  (SUI)Heats9:30.54
Denmark Flag of Denmark.svg  Anna Emilie Møller  (DEN)Heats9:32.68
Bahrain Flag of Bahrain.svg  Ruth Jebet  (BRN)Final8:59.75 AR
United States Flag of the United States.svg  Emma Coburn  (USA)Final9:07.63 AR

Schedule

All times are Brasilia Time (UTC-3)

DateTimeRound
Saturday, 13 August 201610:05Round 1
Monday, 15 August 201611:15Finals

Results

Round 1

Qualification rule: First 3 in each heat (Q) and the next 6 fastest (q) advance to the Final.

Heat 1

RankNameNationalityTimeNotes
1 Ruth Jebet Flag of Bahrain.svg  Bahrain 9:12.62 Q
2 Sofia Assefa Flag of Ethiopia.svg  Ethiopia 9:18.75 Q
3 Gesa Felicitas Krause Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 9:19.70 Q
4 Colleen Quigley Flag of the United States.svg  United States 9:21.82 q
5 Lydia Rotich Flag of Kenya.svg  Kenya 9:30.21 q
6 Mariya Shatalova Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine 9:30.89 PB
7 Peruth Chemutai Flag of Uganda.svg  Uganda 9:31.03 PB
8 Charlotta Fougberg Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 9:31.16
9 Özlem Kaya Flag of Turkey.svg  Turkey 9:32.03 SB
10 Sviatlana Kudzelich Flag of Belarus.svg  Belarus 9:32.93 SB
11 Fadwa Sidi Madane Flag of Morocco.svg  Morocco 9:32.94 SB
12 Diana Martín Flag of Spain.svg  Spain 9:44.07
13 Ingeborg Løvnes Flag of Norway.svg  Norway 9:44.85
14 Kerry O'Flaherty Flag of Ireland (3-2).svg  Ireland 9:45.35 SB
15 Juliana Paula dos Santos Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil 9:45.95
16 Erin Teschuk Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 9:53.70
17 Anju Takamizawa Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 9:58.59

Heat 2

RankNameNationalityTimeNotes
1 Beatrice Chepkoech Flag of Kenya.svg  Kenya 9:17.55 Q
2 Emma Coburn Flag of the United States.svg  United States 9:18.12 Q
3 Habiba Ghribi Flag of Tunisia.svg  Tunisia 9:18.71 Q, SB
4 Lalita Babar Flag of India.svg  India 9:19.76 q, NR
5 Madeline Hills Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 9:24.16 q, SB
6 Fabienne Schlumpf Civil Ensign of Switzerland (Pantone).svg  Switzerland 9:30.54 q, NR
7 Hiwot Ayalew Flag of Ethiopia.svg  Ethiopia 9:35.09
8 Matylda Kowal Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 9:35.13 PB
9 Sanaa Koubaa Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 9:35.15 PB
10 Victoria Mitchell Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 9:39.40 SB
11 Michelle Finn Flag of Ireland (3-2).svg  Ireland 9:49.45
12 Tigest Mekonin Flag of Bahrain.svg  Bahrain 9:49.92
13 Maria Bernard Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 9:50.17
14 Meryem Akda Flag of Turkey.svg  Turkey 9:50.28
15 Sandra Eriksson Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 9:56.77
16 Luiza Gega Flag of Albania.svg  Albania 9:58.49
17 Nastassia Puzakova Flag of Belarus.svg  Belarus 10:14.08
18 Amina Bettiche Flag of Algeria.svg  Algeria 10:26.91

Heat 3

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Video on YouTube Official Video Highlights
RankNameNationalityResultNotes
1 Hyvin Jepkemoi Flag of Kenya.svg  Kenya 9:24.61 Q
2 Genevieve LaCaze Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 9:26.25 Q
3 Courtney Frerichs Flag of the United States.svg  United States 9:27.02 Q
4 Geneviève Lalonde Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 9:30.24 q
5 Zhang Xinyan Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 9:31.47
6 Anna Emilie Møller Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark 9:32.68 AJR, NR
7 Etenesh Diro Flag of Ethiopia.svg  Ethiopia 9:34.70 q [10]
8 Aisha Praught Flag of Jamaica.svg  Jamaica 9:35.79 q [10]
9 Sudha Singh Flag of India.svg  India 9:43.29
10 Salima Elouali Alami Flag of Morocco.svg  Morocco 9:44.83
11 Eliane Saholinirina Flag of Madagascar.svg  Madagascar 9:45.92
12 Sara Louise Treacy Flag of Ireland (3-2).svg  Ireland 9:46.24 q [10]
13 Ancuța Bobocel Flag of Romania.svg  Romania 9:46.28
14 Tuğba Güvenç Flag of Turkey.svg  Turkey 9:49.93 SB
15 Maya Rehberg Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 9:51.73
16 Belén Casetta Flag of Argentina.svg  Argentina 9:51.85
17 Lennie Waite Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 10:14.18

Final

RankNameNationalityTimeNotes
Gold medal icon.svg Ruth Jebet Flag of Bahrain.svg  Bahrain 8:59.75 AR
Silver medal icon.svg Hyvin Jepkemoi Flag of Kenya.svg  Kenya 9:07.12
Bronze medal icon.svg Emma Coburn Flag of the United States.svg  United States 9:07.63 AR
4 Beatrice Chepkoech Flag of Kenya.svg  Kenya 9:16.05 PB
5 Sofia Assefa Flag of Ethiopia.svg  Ethiopia 9:17.15 SB
6 Gesa Felicitas Krause Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 9:18.41 PB
7 Madeline Heiner Hills Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 9:20.38 PB
8 Colleen Quigley Flag of the United States.svg  United States 9:21.10 PB
9 Genevieve LaCaze Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 9:21.21 PB
10 Lalita Babar Flag of India.svg  India 9:22.74
11 Courtney Frerichs Flag of the United States.svg  United States 9:22.87
12 Habiba Ghribi Flag of Tunisia.svg  Tunisia 9:28.75
13 Lydia Rotich Flag of Kenya.svg  Kenya 9:29.90
14 Aisha Praught Flag of Jamaica.svg  Jamaica 9:34.20
15 Etenesh Diro Flag of Ethiopia.svg  Ethiopia 9:38.77
16 Geneviève Lalonde Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 9:41.88
17 Sara Louise Treacy Flag of Ireland (3-2).svg  Ireland 9:52.70
18 Fabienne Schlumpf Civil Ensign of Switzerland (Pantone).svg  Switzerland 9:59.30

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References

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  10. 1 2 3 Advanced by judge's decision