Paris, Uganda | Joshua Cheptegei and Jacob Kiplimo, Uganda’s star long-distance runners, will not feature in the 5000m race during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. This has been announced by the Uganda Athletics Federation and confirmed by Faustino Kiwa, the Head Coach of the Uganda Athletics Team.
In an explanation, Kiwa said the two athletes were too fatigued following their punishing 10,000m performance on August 2, 2024. The physical punishment from that event was so extensive to the level whereby they developed extensive muscle fatigue and pain that hampered their complete recovery in order to feature in the 5000m preliminaries set on August 7, 2024.
Kiwa’s statement read: “I wish to inform Ugandans that our heroes Joshua Cheptegei and Jacob Kiplimo have been officially withdrawn from the 5,000m race due on Wednesday, 7th August 2024. This follows their failure to recover fully from the grueling 10,000m race in which both athletes competed on Friday, 2nd August 2024. The event left them fatigued with legs and arm muscle pains.”. Level-best efforts put in by the Physio Teams to resuscitate the athletes to their full normal form have not been successful. In consultation with the athletes and taking into consideration the coaching principle ‘athlete first, winning second’, the Coaching staff resolved to withdraw them from the 5,000m to allow them adequate time to fully recover.
This is a major blow to Team Uganda, where many fans had a lot of expectation from defending champion Cheptegei and Kiplimo in the 5000m. The absence leaves Oscar Chelimo as the only Ugandan representative in the race. Chelimo, who is Kiplimo’s cousin, arrived in the games’ village on August 4 after training specifically for the 5000m, thus avoiding long spells in Paris’s humid conditions.
This is a great opportunity for Uganda, especially given his past performances. During the 2022 World Athletics Championships held in Eugene, Oregon, Chelimo won a bronze medal amidst some not-so-easy conditions, as Cheptegei was injured. Chelimo won bronze in the 3000m at the 2018 Youth Olympics, which took place in Buenos Aires, and further finished well at the 2022 World Championships.
Chelimo’s form, however, has been erratic. In the 2019 World Championships in Doha, he did not make it to the 5000m finals after placing 14th in his heat. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, he finished 16th in the final of the 5000m as Cheptegei took gold. Chelimo, however, is a talent with immense potential, and this focus on the 5000m might just work in his favor.
Other results: it was a bad day for middle-distance runner Winnie Nanyondo in her 1500m Heat, where she came 10th at 4:07.06 outside the automatic qualifying mark to the semifinals. Now, Nanyondo has to fight for another chance through the Repechage round.
