David Rudisha breaks World 800m record at London Olympic Games 2012
On the finals of London Olympics 800m men’s race, David Rudisha of Kenya was the favorite to win gold but no one was prepared for what was to be a thrilling world record breaking final.
From the gun, Rudisha exhibited a masterly of front running with a blistering pace that left the 80,000 spectators at the Olympic Stadium in disbelief. It was an evening to behold and the capacity crowd in the stadium liked it.
Rudisha became the first man in the world to run the two laps race in a time of 1:40.91 and shuttered his own record of 1:41.01 that he set in Rieti, Italy in 2010.
Abubakar Kaki of Sudan, Mohammed Aman of Ethiopia, Andrew Osagie of Great Britain and Duayne Solomon of USA found the going tough and from the word go, it was evident that this was going to be a fast race.
Rudisha led the race from the first bend to the finish line, running a series of split times that defied both belief and sense. He was full of energy and strength running in the front that no one in the pack dared to lead.
By the time Rudisha did the first 200m at 23.30sec and 400m at 49.29sec, he was already clear off the pack and only the long muscular strides would hint that more was to come. Coming towards the last bend it was clear that Rudisha had no challenger if the big gap between him and Botswana’s 18-year-old Nijel Amos was anything to go by. Amos clocked a time of 1:41.73, the 11th fastest 800m of all time to win silver medal while Rudisha’s 17 year old countryman, Timothy Kitum came in third to win bronze in a time of 1:42.53.
It was widely expected that Rudisha will certainly win gold at the London Olympics but the world record was a great performance considering that in Olympics there are no pacemakers.
The pace was so ferocious that the silver medalist, Nijel Amos had to be carried from the track on a stretcher waving cheerily to the crowd.
Rudisha played it calm after breaking the world record and he did not celebrate wildly as expected but for this humble great man from a running family (His father Daniel Rudisha was in the Kenyan 4x400m relay team that won Silver in Mexico Olympics of 1968), the future only looks brighter.
Related hubs...
- London Olympic Games 2012: 800m Women’s race preview
London Olympics 800m Women final is a race you should expect lot of surprises and upsets. It is one of the unpredictable races in Olympics and the ultimate winner is the one who is mentally prepared and with a speedy kick. - London Olympics 2012 Marathon and a small town in waiting
The London 2012 Summer Olympics Games will surely miss one the elite athlete who ignited marathon courses. Samuel Wanjiru became the first Kenyan to win an Olympic marathon Gold medal. The people of Nyahururu and Kenya as a country will not... - Salute your Country’s Flag and Team in the London Olympics 2012
Whether your country is represented in London Olympic Games or not, salute your national flag and your country team even if they didn't make it to London Olympics. If you can’t sing the national anthem, hum it. If your country team is in London... - London Olympic Games 2012: 800m Men's race Preview
London Olympics 2012 800m finals should be a spectacular race to watch. Given the world ranking, individual personal bests and previous records, Rudisha should be the favorite but watch out also for Sudanese Abubakar Kaki and Ethiopian Mohammed Aman.
