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Selemon Barega Shirtaga (born January 20, 2000) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who focuses on the 5000m and 10,000m distances. At the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, he won gold in the 10,000 meter dash. At the 2017 World Championships, he competed for his country and finished fifth in the final. In 2016, he won gold at the World U20 Championships, and in 2017, he won gold at the World U18 Championships.
At the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar, he took silver in the men's 5000 meters. Selemon was born in Ethiopia's Gurage region. In 2016, Selemon began competing internationally. In Bydgoszcz, Poland, on July 23, he won the IAAF World U20 Championships in 13:21.21.
Barega, who is only 21, is one of the youngest pacemakers, but he has already accomplished a lot in his short career. After winning the Diamond League final in Brussels last year in 12:43:02, he is the fourth fastest man in history over 5000m. He finished second in the 3000m at the World Indoor Championships and then finished second in the 5000m at the World Championships in Doha.
Selemon Barega of Ethiopia won the men's 10,000-meter gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics on Friday following a spectacular last lap sprint.
With 400 meters to go, Barega pushed to the top of the group and kicked away in the final stages, finishing in 27:43.22 ahead of Ugandans Joshua Cheptegei and Jacob Kiplimo. The event was held in Tokyo's 68,000-seat Olympic Stadium, and the announcers and music blasting from the speakers provided a somewhat bizarre background to the proceedings.
The race, however, was odd, with Uganda's Stephen Kissa blazing to a massive early lead before retiring with nine circuits remaining.
"It was a price the team had to pay. We devised a strategy for me to take the lead and make it a fast race "Kissa later recounted to reporters what had happened.
"I assumed they were going to pursue me (Cheptegei and Kiplimo), but when I looked around, they weren't there... We had hoped to win gold, but we only received silver and bronze. But I'm content. There are two medals in our collection. Maybe next time someone else will make the ultimate sacrifice for me."
Due to the oppressive humidity, the winning time of 27:43.22 was the slowest in an Olympic final since 1992, yet Barega came incredibly close, clocking 2:24.9 for the final kilometer and 53.94 for the final lap. Kenenisa Bekele (2004,2008), Haile Gebrselassie (1996,2000), and Miruts Yifter are the other three Ethiopians who have won the 10,000m championship in the Olympics (1980).
Barega, 21, joins a prestigious list of Ethiopian runners who have won Olympic gold in the 10,000m, including Kenenisa Bekele and Haile Gebrselassie. His victory time was more over a minute and a half slower than Cheptegei's world record. Ethiopia has won six of the last eight Olympic 10,000m titles amongst the three of them, with Great Britain's Mo Farah winning the other two.
"The fact that we won the 10,000m competition is well known," Barega said to reporters. "We haven't won a gold medal since Kenenisa won the last time (in the 2008 Beijing Olympics). I am ecstatic to be a member of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games."
Angelica Moser (born October 9, 1997) is a pole vaulting specialist from Switzerland. She won the European Championships in Toru in 2021 and reached the World Championships final in Doha in 2019. In the event, her personal bests are 4.66 meters outdoors (Basel 2020) and 4.75 meters indoors (Toru 2021).
Angelica was born in Texas (USA), however she grew up in Andelfingen, Zürcher Weinland, with her parents and sister Jasmine (1995). She began her athletic career in gymnastics when she was three years old. She continues to do her weekly gymnastics practice in Frauenfeld to this day. In addition, because her mother is still a coach, she was exposed to athletics at a young age.
She has been a member of LC Zürich since 2015. She worked with German Herbert Czingon until the end of the 2020 season, when he retired. Damien Inocencio, a Frenchman, has been her new coach since the indoor season of 2021. Currently, she spends the week in Magglingen to take advantage of the greatest infrastructure. She studies business administration at the University of Berne in addition to competing in sports.
Angelica Moser, a Swiss pole vaulter, has tried to make the most of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games' postponement to 2021 by spending the extra year to concentrate on her "weaknesses." After winning the European indoor title in March, the 23-year-old has risen to the top of the medal standings.
She expressed her excitement for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games when asked how she was feeling. “I'm excited because it's a big year, and I think it'll be amazing, even if it'll be unique,” Angelica Moser says. Of course, the Olympic Games are already something extraordinary, and after all that the world has been through, being back on the biggest stage on the planet could be a portent of things to come.
Mercy Namachanja for World Athletics.