Almaz Ayana wins 10,000m gold

11:47 - 12 August 2016

___5373436___https:______static.pulse.com.gh___webservice___escenic___binary___5373436___2016___8___12___20___almazayanacropped_1uf79y311oyc5199p56v69xjhj_1

Rio 2016 Olympic Games: The first athletics gold medal at Rio 2016 went to Almaz Ayana, who set a world record in the women's 10,000 metres.

Almaz Ayana destroyed the women's 10,000 metre world record to win the first athletics gold medal at Rio 2016 on Friday.

The Ethiopian, a 5000m world champion competing at this distance on a track for only the second time, employed a bold strategy in making a break a little over halfway through to leave Kenya's Vivian Cheruiyot and 2012 champion Tirunesh Dibaba to complete the podium.

Ayana's time of 29:17.45 lit up a sparsely populated Olympic Stadium on a grim day in Brazil as she broke the landmark time set by China's Wang Junxia's in 1993 by more than 14 seconds.

Her compatriot Dibaba and London 2012 bronze medallist Cheruiyot were effectively in a different race to Ayana, whose performance stands as the greatest ever by a female 10,000m runner.