© Copyright – 2021 – Athletics Illustrated

Sifan Hassan ran two heats and a final of the 1500m event. She ran one heat and a final in the 5000m distance and then she raced the 25-lap, 10,000m race.

During the first heat of the 1500m, she fell, got back up, and raced much harder than she wanted to, to get to the front of the field, then sprinted for the win in the time of 4:05.17. During her semi-final, she won again, this time a little faster clocking a 4:00.23. The 27-year-old Dutch athlete then took bronze in the final in the time of 3:55.86. She seemed spent.

If that wasn’t enough, she raced the 10,000m event dropping pre-race favourites Ethiopian Letesenbet Gidey (30:01.72) and Kenyan Hellen Obiri (4th in 30:24.27), like it was child’s play. She won with a furious kick. Finishing second was Kalkidan Gezahegne of Bahrain who made a race of it clocking a 29:56.18 performance.

TOKYO, JAPAN – AUGUST 7: Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands celebrating her win after competing on Women’s 10000m Final during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium on August 7, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan (Photo by Yannick Verhoeven/Orange Pictures) NOCNSF ATLETIEKUNIE

But first, Hassan ran the 5000m event, twice. She won her heat and ran the fastest time of both heats with a 14:47.89 clocking. She then raced to a 14:36.79 gold medal performance three days later. Apparently, while warming up during her first 5,000m heat, Hassan tweaked a muscle in her leg, causing her to struggle with the injury throughout the Olympics.

“I am so happy; I have no words. I am just so thankful, and I don’t think I could have done any better than this. During the medal ceremony, I was thinking, “It is over. Now you can sleep.” But I am super happy.”

She owns 11 national records, three world records and seven area records.

Her most successful distance seems to be the 10,000m. Her best performance according to the World Athletics performance scale was her running a 29:06.82 time at the Hengelo meet at home two months ago.

In addition to the three medals (2 Gold, 1 Bronze) in Tokyo, she also took two golds during the 2019 Doha World Athletics Championships in the 1500m and 10,000m. She earned bronze from London 2017 in the 5000m event and bronze in 2015 in Beijing in the 1500m. Her range is otherworldly.