Disqualifications cause confusion at the 5K finish line
— -- RIO DE JANEIRO -- Winning a medal in an Olympic race should be joyful and exhilarating. American Paul Chelimo felt that way Saturday, after he finished second behind gold medalist legend Mo Farah -- until he was told something different when he was being interviewed by an NBC reporter.
"I was expecting the guy to ask me talk about the race and how does it feel to win silver. And then he says, 'Do you know you were disqualified?'" Chelimo said. "I thought that it was a joke. I thought it was a prank. I couldn't believe it. But that guy has a serious face, so I knew it wasn't a joke. I just went to appeal it.
"I couldn't wrap my mind around it. One minute you're told you're the Olympic silver medalist, and the next you're not the silver medalist. It was really stressful."
Chelimo and two other runners had been temporarily disqualified for lane infringement. Bernard Lagat, however, received different news when he was told in the mixed zone with reporters that he had been elevated from sixth place to third because of the DQs.
"Did you not know you won a medal?" a U.S. Track and Field spokesperson told Lagat. "That's why we're hustling you through -- because you have a medal ceremony in about 10 minutes."
As it turned out, Lagat did not get the medal, and Chelimo did. After he and Canadian fourth-place finisher Mohammed Ahmed won their appeals, Chelimo was back on the podium.
"I don't really know what happened, but I am happy to be back in it and happy to call myself the 5,000-meter Olympic silver medalist," Chelimo said. "This is a 5K. You don't run a 5K and stay at the back because the last three laps is just a fight, and everyone just want to get in the right position at the right time. That's why Mo was trying to stay at the front and get a better position because he knew what was going to happen. That's called experience, and that's what I was trying to do. I didn't come here to infringe people."
This wasn't the only instance of disqualification in these Olympics. A previous DQ had been maintained in the men's steeplechase, in which Ezekiel Kemboi was ruled out for stepping off the track. That moved France's Mahiedine Mekhissi to third place.
"If you finish fourth and somebody stepped on the line once, but there is no advantage, are you really going to say, 'I won the bronze because that guy cheated and he had an advantage over me?'" Lagat said. "I don't think there is an advantage in that. During the 4x100 relay last night, yes, Mike Rodgers entered a little too early, but the baton did not leave his hand. But it was still a DQ. To me, I feel like, 'Yes, things happen.'
"I guess if the rules are like that, whatever decision they want to make tonight, I'm going to accept it. Then again, if they tell me, 'We gave you bronze by accident' and take it back, no problem."
That turned out to be the case, so Lagat will not receive what would have been his third Olympic medal and first since he became an American citizen after competing for Kenya.
Meanwhile, Farah added to his considerable gold collection. He won gold in the 5,000 and 10,000 at the 2012 Olympics and repeated that accomplishment here. After sprinting across the line ahead of his challengers with a time of 13:03.30, he dropped to his knees and kissed the track in appreciation.
Farah said he would like to continue running but did not say whether he would try to win more gold at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. He said that having four golds for his four children is the best thing ever.
"Being away from my family for so long, I knew I had to do something for them," Farah said. "I just want to go home now and see my beautiful kids and hang my medals around their necks."
