Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon Wins 5,000-M Silver After Appealing ‘Obstruction’ Disqualification

Kenyan athlete Faith Kipyegon eventually took home silver in the women’s Olympic 5,000-m on Monday, after winning an appeal against a brief disqualification over an alleged obstruction incident.

Paris Olympic organizers initially said 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.

The “questionable exchange,” as Runner’s World magazine put it, occurred about 12.5 minutes into the race, with just two laps around the track to go, when Tsegay appeared to try to pass Kipyegon, who was leading and in the inside lane and slightly shoved Tsegay away as she came near and temporarily overtook Kipyegon.

“I do not understand this,” NBC commentator and former U.S. Olympic long-distance runner Kara Goucher said of Kipyegon’s disqualification ruling after the race. “In my opinion, watching this, Tsegay is the one who tries to cut over without room.”

But following an appeal, World Athletics and Team Kenya later confirmed that Kipyegon had been reinstated as silver medalist.

Beatrice Chebet, also of Kenya, won the gold medal in the race 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, temporarily pushing bronze medalist Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands to silver.

Kipyegon previously won the 1,500-m gold in Rio and Tokyo, and she currently holds the world record for the event. She will be competing in the first round of the 1500-m in Paris on Tuesday.