Great Britain's Mo Farah celebrates winning the Men's 10,000m final at the Olympic Stadium, London, on the eighth day of the London 2012 Olympics.

London 2012: Beagles star works hard to reach 5,000m final

Dave Evans, Olympic reporter Wednesday, August 8, 2012
11:19 AM

Newham and Essex Beagle star gives himself a chance of Olympic golden double

Olympic 10,000m champion began his quest for a second gold medal by coming through the heats of the 5,000m this morning.

The 29-year-old Newham & Essex Beagles wowed the crowd with his magnificent gold medal run on Saturday, but it was back to the problem of a heat this morning and he did not have it all his own way.

He sat in fourth or fifth for most of the race, content to cover the leaders, but going into the final lap a charge from two Kenyan athletes and Ethiopian as well as Hayle Ibrahimov from Azerbaijan left him having to turn on the burners and sprint back towards them.

He managed it, finishing third to Ibrahimov, who clocked 13.25.24 to win and with five going through, he comfortably booked his place in Saturday’s final.

Farah admitted though that it had not been easy out there.

“It was pretty difficult,” he said. “I was a bit tired and the pace kept going up and down and I got caught a couple of times, but hopefully the final will be more settled.”

Farah will be looking to complete the 5,000m and 10,000m double, a feat only achieved by Lasse Viren of Finland in 1972 and Kenyan Kenenisa Bekele four years ago and he says that he is certainly going to give it a go.

“I am going to go out there and give 110 per cent,” insisted Farah. “It would have been nice not to have had to run so fast today, but hopefully I can recover.

“I am happy because I’ve got a couple of days to recover, so I will be ready for the final.”

Saturday’s final starts at 7.30pm.

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