2024 Olympics: Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon Gets Silver Medal Reinstated After Controversial Ruling

Faith Kipyegon’s Olympic experience has been a rollercoaster.

The athlete from Kenya found herself at the center of a controversial ruling during the women’s 5,000-meter final event August 5. Despite crossing the finish line second, she was disqualified due to a physical altercation between her and Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay with just over two laps left.

The disqualification initially resulted in Kipyegon’s silver medal being revoked, behind her teammate Beatrice Chebet, only for it to be reinstated once again.

So, what exactly happened?

Around 4,200 meter mark, Kipyegon was in the lead followed by her teammates Chebet and Margaret Chelimo Kipkemboi while Tsegay was in the fourth position before surging ahead and made a move for that first spot.

In doing so, Tsegay cut in from the outside on Kipyegon’s right—in response, Kipyegon appeared to touch Tsegay’s left elbow, after which the athlete’s further tangled causing Kipyegon to almost lose her balance and come off the track.

The two athletes also appeared to exchange tense words as they ran, with fellow Kenyan Chibet also seeming to say something to Tsegay.

As Leigh Diffey said of the two Kenyan athletes during NBC’s broadcast, “They let Tsegay know exactly what they think of that.”

In all, it was an unusual amount of contact for what is normally a contactless event.

“I have never seen anything like that, in an Olympic final that went on for so long,” commentator and former long-distance runner Kara Goucher added of the tense moment. “You see a little bit of elbow, you see a little bit of frustration, but that was many strides and scolding.”

Ultimately, Chibet and Kipyegon finished in first and second place, respectively, while former Tokyo gold medalist Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands placed third. Tsegay—who currently holds the world record in the event—finished ninth.

Kipyegon’s celebration was short-lived, however, after the official results noted the 30-year-old had been disqualified with a code of TR17.1.2[O], which indicates obstruction.

The disqualification bumped Italy’s Nadia Battocletti into bronze and Hassan to silver—though temporarily.

Following her gold-medal win, Chebet told reporters, per the Washington Post, “I am so sad for Faith, and I hope justice will be done. Faith did not do anything bad. I think she will get [the medal] in the end.”

Her prediction, ultimately, came true. Shortly after, the Olympic Jury of Appeal confirmed there had been “significant contact between, and by the two athletes,” however that “the incident did not warrant a disqualification.”

The decision noted, however, “that jostling of this nature is never acceptable” and gave Kipyegon a resultant yellow card which she will carry throughout the remainder of the Games.

Though Kipyegon has not commented on the controversy at this time, she did post a caption-less image of herself, Chibet and Hassan holding their medals during the podium ceremony to Instagram.

For her part, Chibet reposted an image from World Athletics to her Instagram Story, which noted both she and Kipyegon were proceeding in the 1500-meter heats—the race in which Kipyegon currently holds the world record.

The post was captioned, “Rematch over the 1500.”

And for Hassan, who was moved back to the third-place spot after Kipyegon’s silver medal was reinstated, there are no hard feelings.

“It really doesn’t matter. I already knew she was going to protest,” she told reporters per Runners World, noting Kipyegon and Chibet have been “phenomenal this year. “I’m really happy with my bronze medal. I love it.”

For more unforgettable moments from this year’s Games, keep reading.

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