Mo Farah is once again a huge favourite on Saturday night as he attempts to become only the second man after Lasse Viren, the Flying Finn, to win 5,000m and 10,000m gold at two Olympics. But the British runner is taking nothing for granted as he undergoes his final preparations before facing a formidable Ethiopian challenge in the 5,000m final.
“It’s possible to win again but you look at the guys and they are ready for me,” Farah warned. “In the 10k I was on the edge – nothing was going to get in my way. So I just need to get back in the zone and focus. But I’m still hungry and still want it, which is the most important thing.”
Farah’s biggest threats are likely to come from the Ethiopians Muktar Edris and Dejen Gebremeskel, who both looked comfortable as they breezed through their 5,000m heat in second and third.
Edris, who has run the second and fourth fastest 5,000m times this year –breaking 13 minutes on both occasions – presents the biggest danger having won Diamond League races in Shanghai and Eugene. Gebremeskel, who won the 5,000m silver medal behind Farah in London 2012, has gone sub-13 minutes this year, while his personal best of 12:46.81 ranks him as the fifth fastest of all time.
A third Ethiopian, Hagos Gebrhiwet, who took silver behind Farah in Moscow in 2013, and bronze in Beijing last year, is also not without his chances.
Yet Farah has such a hold on these men – just like everyone else he races against – that it would be a major surprise if he was beaten. Even at 33 his sprint finish acts as a spell that fires doubts into the minds of the bravest challengers. And when Farah steps on the line there is something else in his favour: the fact that no Kenyan has qualified for the 5,000m final – the first time that has happened since the Rome Games in 1960.
The much-touted Kenyan Caleb Ndiku, who won silver behind Farah in the 2015 world championships, is out after finishing sixth in his slowly run heats, as is Isiah Kiplangat, who chased Farah in the 2013 world titles in Moscow before settling for bronze.
Unsurprisingly, the inquest has already started back in Kenya, with Daniel Komen, the former world 5,000m champion, saying: “Those guys let us down. I felt like getting back from retirement into active competition. I blame our coaches, who are ill-trained. It was just like allowing a quack to do diagnosis and administer drugs on a patient. We had a weak team and handicapped coaches.”
Meanwhile Farah, despite having to fend off questions about his relationship with the controversial coach Jama Aden, who was arrested in June after the blood‑boosting drug EPO was reportedly found in the hotel where he was staying in Spain, goes from strength to strength.
His biggest enemy could be his own body as he attempts to rebound from a hard 10,000m final last Saturday, when he recovered from a fall to take gold, and a 5,000m heat on Wednesday, when he was nearly tripped up again.
Farah said: “I’ve got such a long stride so I find it hard not to get tripped up or tangled up with someone. Now I have to recover, just lock myself in my room, have ice baths and get ready for the final.”
Saturday night will also mark the end of an era – Farah’s last race on the track at an Olympic Games. His swan song on the track will come at the world championships in London next year. “Good things must come to an end, right?” the Briton said, smiling. Few expect it to happen on Saturday night, however.
