by Brett Larner
The big race of the second day of Olympic track and field competition was of course the historic men's 10000 m, which saw training partners Mo Farah (U.K.) and Galen Rupp (U.S.A.) go 1-2 to give the U.K. its first-ever Olympic 10000 m gold and the U.S. its first men's 10000 m medal since the Tokyo Olympics. Ethiopia's Tariku Bekele claimed bronze over his brother Kenenisa Bekele, with Saitama-based Bitan Karoki, a graduate of Hiroshima's Sera H.S. who now runs for Team S&B, taking 5th to land as the top Kenyan after losing out to the superior closing speed of the top four. Two-time Japanese 10000 m national champion Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin), the only Japanese man in the race, ran up to expectations, sitting mid-pack through the slow early stages before falling away once the true action began and crossing the finish line in 28:44.06 for 22nd place.
100 m national champion Takayuki Kishimoto (Keio Univ.) had better luck, bringing the Japanes…
The big race of the second day of Olympic track and field competition was of course the historic men's 10000 m, which saw training partners Mo Farah (U.K.) and Galen Rupp (U.S.A.) go 1-2 to give the U.K. its first-ever Olympic 10000 m gold and the U.S. its first men's 10000 m medal since the Tokyo Olympics. Ethiopia's Tariku Bekele claimed bronze over his brother Kenenisa Bekele, with Saitama-based Bitan Karoki, a graduate of Hiroshima's Sera H.S. who now runs for Team S&B, taking 5th to land as the top Kenyan after losing out to the superior closing speed of the top four. Two-time Japanese 10000 m national champion Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin), the only Japanese man in the race, ran up to expectations, sitting mid-pack through the slow early stages before falling away once the true action began and crossing the finish line in 28:44.06 for 22nd place.
100 m national champion Takayuki Kishimoto (Keio Univ.) had better luck, bringing the Japanes…