Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon Disqualified From Olympic 5,000 Meter Race for ‘Obstruction’

Kenyan athlete Faith Kipyegon finished second in the women’s Olympic 5,000 meters on Monday, but was later disqualified—a decision that her home country plans to challenge.

Paris Olympic organizers said in a press release that Kipyegon “was disqualified for obstruction following an incident between her and Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay with two laps to go.” Video footage of the competition showed that the two athletes had collided during the race.

Olympic organizers said that Team Kenya will appeal the ruling, and Team Kenya posted on X about the disqualification, saying: “An appeal is lodged.”

Beatrice Chebet, also of Kenya, won the gold medal in the race on Monday with a time of 14 minutes and 28.56 seconds. Chebet, 24, and Kipyegon, 30, hugged each other and celebrated after the race. But then Kipyegon’s name disappeared from the results list, and the list later indicated that she had been disqualified from the competition.

Kipyegon’s disqualification meant that Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands claimed silver, and Nadia Battocletti of Italy earned bronze.

Kipyegon previously won the 1,500 meter gold in Rio and Tokyo.