Tokyo Olympics: Sifan Hassan is now a triple Olympic medalist becoming only the second woman to do so

An Ethiopian refugee who took up running while studying to be a nurse in the Netherlands is now a triple Olympic medalist.

Sifan Hassan from the Netherlands wins three medals at the Tokyo Olympics. The Ethiopian refugee attempted a treble at the Olympics. Hassan is a long-distance runner who has participated in the women’s 1,500m, 5000m and 10,000m at Tokyo. 

Advertisement

Her start in the women’s 1500 heats was a scare to the Dutch supporters as she tripped down to the floor on the final lap. Hassan picked herself back up quickly as she had fallen to the back of the pack to go on and win the heats and keep her in the competition. 

Hassan went on to win bronze in the 1500m race clocking in at 3:55:86, falling just behind the Kenyan Faith Kipyegon who broke the Olympic record to win gold and Great Britain’s Laura Muir who broke the British national record to finish second winning the silver. Soon later she was now competing in the 5000m race where she won gold with an impressive time of 14:36:79.

Earlier today in the women’s 10,000m race, Hassan had set an Olympic gold double in her sights. The highly anticipated women’s race was a clash between two world record holders. Earlier this year Hassan had broken the world record in the 10,000m event by more than 10 whole seconds. Two days later her record was broken by the Ethiopian Letesenbet Gidey who clocked in at 29:01:03 in the Ethiopian Olympic trials. 

Hassan went on to become only the second women to win a medal in three individual track races in a single Olympics. Hassan has ended her Olympics has completed 6 races covering 33km in 8 days over the three events she took part in.