3000 metres steeplechase
The 3000 metres steeplechase or 3000-meter steeplechase (usually abbreviated as ) is the most common distance for the steeplechase in track and field
Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, a ...
competition at the
2016 Summer Olympics
The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...
took place between 13–15 August at the
Olympic Stadium
''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words ''Olympic Stadium'' as ...
.
Summary
Tunisia's
Habiba Ghribi
Habiba Ghribi () (born 9 April 1984) is a Tunisian middle- and long-distance runner who specialises in the 3000 metres steeplechase. She won the gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics, giving her country its first Olympic medal by a woman. Sh ...
returned to defend her 2012 Olympic steeplechase title, though she was outside the top 15 runners on the seasonal lists. The fastest time was held by
Ruth Jebet
Ruth Jebet (born 17 November 1996) is a Kenyan-born long-distance runner and steeplechase specialist who competes internationally for Bahrain. She was the world record holder and was the 2016 Olympic gold medalist in the 3000 metres steeplechase, ...
of Bahrain, whose 8:59.97 minutes at the
Prefontaine Classic
The Prefontaine Classic, an Oregon Track Club event, is one of the premier track and field meets in the United States, held in Eugene, Oregon. Every year it draws a world caliber field to compete at Hayward Field on the campus of the University o ...
at the end of May made her the second fastest ever in the discipline. The 2015 World Champion
Hyvin Jepkemoi
Hyvin Kiyeng Jepkemoi (born 13 January 1992) is a Kenyan steeplechase runner. She won gold at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics and 2011 All-Africa Games, and bronze at the 2017 World Championships and 2012 African Championships in Athlet ...
of Kenya was four hundredths of a second behind her in that race and had become the third fastest, while America's
Emma Coburn
Emma Jane Coburn (born October 19, 1990) is an American middle-distance runner who specializes in the 3000-meters steeplechase. She holds the distinction of being a world champion, world silver medalist, Olympic bronze medalist, three-time Olym ...
had set a national record and was third ranked entering the competition. Ethiopians Etenesh Diro and Sofia Assefa and Kenya's
Beatrice Chepkoech
Beatrice Chepkoech Sitonik (born 6 July 1991)Beatrice Chepkoech
Gesa Felicitas Krause
Gesa Felicitas Krause (born 3 August 1992) is a German athlete who specialises in the 3000 m steeplechase. She won bronze medals in steeplechase at both the 2015 and 2019 World Championships, and represented Germany at the 2012 and 2016 Olympic ...
, a 2015 World medalist and 2016 European Champion, was her continent's best entrant.
Before the competition even began, entrant Silvia Danekova failed a doping test after her arrival in Rio. She submitted an appeal the
Court of Arbitration for Sport
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; french: Tribunal arbitral du sport, ''TAS'') is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland and its co ...
where she was ruled ineligible for the race.
In the first round Jebet broke clear of the pack, ran her own race, and easily won her heat over Assefa and Krause. Chepkoech, Ghribi and Coburn took the top qualifying spots in the second race. Jepkemoi won the third and slowest heat, with Genevieve LaCaze and
Courtney Frerichs
Courtney Frerichs (born January 18, 1993) is an American middle-distance runner and steeplechase specialist from Nixa, Missouri, She is a three-time silver medalist in the 3000 meters steeplechase capturing silver at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Game ...
taking the automatic qualifying spots. Etenesh Diro lost her shoe in that race after being stood on by an opponent and ran the remainder of the race barefoot; she failed to make the qualifying time but progressed upon appeal, as did Aisha Praught and
Sara Louise Treacy
Sara Louise Treacy (born 22 June 1989) is an Irish runner who competes primarily in the 3000 metres steeplechase. She represented her country at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing without qualifying for the final. She also competed at the 2 ...
. Four
national records
National Records was a record label that was started in New York City by Albert Green in 1945 and lasted until early 1951.
Big Joe Turner was signed at the beginning and remained until 1947. Billy Eckstine was also a big seller for the label as w ...
were broken, including Lalita Shivaji Babar's 9:19.76 minutes for India.
The strategy in this final was prefaced by the Prefontaine race in Eugene. In that race, Jebet broke away but was chased down by a last lap
kick
A kick is a physical Strike (attack), strike using the leg, in unison usually with an area of the knee or lower using the foot, heel, tibia (shin), ball of the foot, blade of the foot, toes or knee (the latter is also known as a knee (strike), ...
by Jepkemoi that almost caught her at the line. Coburn watched the chase from ten seconds back while setting the American record. Here Jebet knew she needed to create a bigger cushion to discourage Jepkemoi from chasing. After settling for just being near the front of the pack for the first two laps, Jebet accelerated with one barrier and five laps to go. Only three athletes, Jepkemoi, Chepkoech and Coburn, took off in pursuit, the rest of the field stringing out behind an ever-widening gap. After a 68-second lap, then a 69-second lap, Jebet had a 3-second lead on the Kenyan teammates with Coburn another 3 seconds back. After a 70-second lap, Chepkoech began to lose contact with her teammate. An encouraged Coburn set off in pursuit of a medal, passing the slowing Chepkoech with 1 and 3/4 laps to go. During the 71-second following lap, while Jebet was slowing slightly from the strain, Jepkemoi was consistently losing ground and Coburn could see she was close to Jepkemoi. Jepkemoi did not take off in hot pursuit of Jebet, more concerned with the challenge from behind. On the final backstretch, Coburn passed Jepkemoi for a few moments before Jepkemoi accelerated away going into the final water jump. Jebet cruised home unchallenged with a final lap just under 71, crossing the line in 8:59.75. Forgetting about Jebet, Jepkemoi used her best sprinting to beat Coburn to the line by a half second for silver. Coburn set the North American Continental Record 9:07.63 in third.
Jebet's time slightly improved her second best time in history, moving to less than a second of the world record. Coburn's time made her the number 8 performer in history. Even deeper down the list of finishers, there were many personal bests. Fourth place Chepkoech became #22 on the all-time list, sixth place
Gesa Felicitas Krause
Gesa Felicitas Krause (born 3 August 1992) is a German athlete who specialises in the 3000 m steeplechase. She won bronze medals in steeplechase at both the 2015 and 2019 World Championships, and represented Germany at the 2012 and 2016 Olympic ...
became #31, seventh, eighth and ninth places
Madeline Hills
Madeline Heiner (born 15 May 1987) is an Australian runner. She placed fourth in the women's 3000 metres steeplechase at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Biography
Heiner was born in Shellharbour, New South Wales on 15 May 1987. She took up running ...
,
Colleen Quigley
Colleen Quigley (born November 20, 1992) is an American middle-distance runner, steeplechase specialist and an Olympian from St. Louis, Missouri. She is the current World Record holder in the 4x1500 meters relay (set July 31, 2020). Competing in ...
and Genevieve LaCaze became #38, #42 and #43 respectively.
The medals were presented by
Paul Tergat
Paul Kibii Tergat (born 17 June 1969) is a Kenyan former professional long distance runner. He became the first Kenyan man to set the world record in the marathon in 2003, with a time of 2:04:55, and is regarded as one of the most accomplished l ...
,
IOC
The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...
member
Member may refer to:
* Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon
* Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set
* In object-oriented programming, a member of a class
** Field (computer science), entries in ...
IAAF
World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...
.
Less than two weeks later, Jebet would set the world record, improving her personal best by almost seven seconds and the world record by six.
Ruth Jebet has been suspended since February 2018 for testing positive for EPO.
Competition format
The women's 3000 m
steeplechase
Steeplechase may refer to:
* Steeplechase (horse racing), a type of horse race in which participants are required to jump over obstacles
* Steeplechase (athletics), an event in athletics that derives its name from the steeplechase in horse racing ...
competition consisted of heats and a final.Format Competition – Athletics . Rio2016.com (2016-05-21). Retrieved on 2016-09-05.
Records
, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.
The following national records were established during the competition:
Schedule
All times are
Brasilia Time
Time in Brazil is calculated using standard time, and the country (including its offshore islands) is divided into four standard time zones: UTC−02:00, UTC−03:00, UTC−04:00 and UTC−05:00.
Time zones
Fernando de Noronha time (UTC−02 ...