An injury copped by Nigerian sprinter, Enoch Adegoke in the men’s 100m final as well as finals for Ese Brume in the women’s long jump and Oluwatobi Amusan in the female hurdles were the highlights of Africa’s varying feats on day nine of the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.
As the last week of the 2020 Games commenced with the start of a new month in The Land of The Rising Sun, Ghanaian boxer, Samuel Takyi guaranteed himself at least a bronze medal, which will be his country’s first since the men’s football team won bronze at the 1992 Games.
South Africa’s Akani Simbine missed out on a medal, as he finished fourth in the men’s 100m final, during which Adegoke pulled up with an injury before the finish line with an injury, but Nigerian sprints hurdler, Tobi Amusan reached the final of the women’s 100m hurdles.
Megasportsaena.com reports that alongside Amusan’s surge into the final came Brume’s leap of 6.76m with her last attempt, which saw the former Commonwealth Games’ champion achieve the automatic qualifying distance of 6.75m to reach Tuesday’s final of the women’s long jump.
While Brume qualified for the women’s long jump final, five Africans will be in Wednesday’s final of the women’s 3,000m steeplechase, just after Egypt won a fourth match in Group A of the men’s handball tournament.
Adegoke pulled up after 50 metres with an injury and did not record a time, a day after a similar occurrence in the first semi-final, when his compatriot, Usheoritse ‘Dushos’ Itsekiri also bowed out with a hamstring injury.
The calamity came just a few metres from the finish line, while South Africa’s Gift Leotlela doing the same as he crossed the line.
It means that Namibia’s Frankie Fredericks remains the only African to have won an Olympic 100m medal, when he claimed silver at the 1992 Barcelona games and again four years later in Atlanta.
Earlier on Saturday Adegoke qualified automatically for the final as he was given second place in the second semi-final after a photo finish separated him from the USA’s Trayvon Bromell, with both men given a time of 10.00 seconds.
South Africa’s Simbine ran 9.93 seconds to finish fourth in the men’s 100m final, which was won by Italy’s Lamont Marcell Jacobs in 9.80s, a day after his compatriot, Shaun Maswanganyi finished sixth in the second semi-final and failed to progress to the final
Simbine had progressed but only as one of two fastest losers as he finished fourth in the third semi-final in a time of 9.90 seconds, while Ivory Coast’s Atrthur Cisse could only finish seventh in the third semi-final and failed to reach the final.
On the other hand, Amusan won the first semi-final of the women’s 100m hurdles to qualify for Monday’s final, with the fourth fastest time, while Liberia’s Ebony Morrison set a new national record of 12.74 seconds in the third semi-final but could only finish sixth in her heat and will not progress to the final.
However, there was drama in the third semi-final of the men’s 800m when Botswana’s 2012 silver medalist, Nijel Amos inadvertenly clippd the USA’s Isaiah Jewett as both fell to the track on the final bend.
Kenya’s Ferguson Rotich avoided the collision to win the race and qualify for Thursday’s final, while Morocco’s Oussama Nabil was fourth and did not progress.
In the first semi-final Rotich’s compatriot Emmanuel Korir managed to dip over the line to clinch second place and so claim an automatic place in the final.
South Arica’s Wayde van Niekerk qualified for Monday’s semi-finals of the men’s 400m as he bids to retain his Olympic title, while Kenyan duo Ferguson Rotich and Emmanuel Korir will be in the race for a medal in the men’s 800m.
Earlier on Sunday Korir were disqualified from men’s 400m heats for a false start, while a new national record for Tunisia’s Abdessalem Ayouni was not enough for him to advance as he finished sixth in the heat with Morocco’s Abdelati El Guesse last.
Kenya’s Michael Saruni failed to advance as he was sixth in the second semi-final, which was won by Australia’s Sudan-born Peter Bol.
Amos said after the fall: “I still can’t put my head around it. I am crazy about it, but that is 800. These things happen.
“I got a clip on the leg and it is always (about) the timing, but it just sucks it happened this time around. I thought I was in a good position to take this heat and I can’t put words on it.”
