‘Australia was watching, that carried me on’: Bol’s brilliant fourth inspires the nation

Peter Bol leaves Tokyo without a medal, but also without regret after taking on the field in his 800-metre Olympic final and being shaded for a podium finish.

Bol admitted that whether he won or lost, he was glad he went all-out for the win and even though he missed out on gold, he achieved his goal of inspiring the nation.

Peter Bol pushed hard in the 800 final in Tokyo.Credit: AP

This time Bol couldn’t hang on. After two successive national records, Bol could not hold the pace in the final and just missed the medals, finishing in fourth place in a time of one minute, 45.92 seconds.

Kenya claimed the quinella with Emmanuel Korir winning gold in 1:45.06 from countryman Ferguson Rotich (silver). Poland’s Patryk Dobek just closed down Bol in the last 50 metres to snare the bronze.

“I put myself in [with] every chance,” Bol told Seven.

“The only thing I regret is the last 100 tightening up a little bit. Other than that, came here to win. That’s what I did. I tried to win. We came short but ... there is more to come.

“I’d be lying if I said I’m pretty happy right now. The goal was to win. Still have to reflect on that.

“At the same time, I think today, I didn’t know if I was going to win but I knew one thing for certain, that the whole of Australia was watching. That carried me on. I loved that part.

Peter Bol pushed hard and took the nation with him.Credit: Getty Images

“I’m grateful to Australia, I’m thankful to everyone in Australia, we’re human at the end of the day. We inspired the whole nation. That’s the goal.”

The Australian athlete whose story speaks to the heart of a modern Australia has inspired many, first with his story and then with his accomplishments on the track and the joyful way he carried himself.

Australian by way of Sudan and Egypt, he emerged at these Games as a genuine world-class star who was the first Australian to make the Olympic final of the 800 metres since Ralph Doubell in 1968.

Bol ran to his plan to take the race from the front but with a 53.76-second split for the first lap it was not the pace he needed to be able to hit out and hold on. He carried the lead for most of the race and pushed with 300 metres to go but when the Kenyans came at him out of the final bend and down the home straight, Bol didn’t have another gear to kick up to.

Earlier in the night, Australia qualified two women for the final of the 1500 metres. It was a superb achievement, as Australia had not had a woman in the Olympic 1500 final in 25 years.

Jessica Hull broke the national record when she ran 3:58.81 in her semi-final and became the first Australian woman into an Olympic 1500-metre final since Margaret Crowley in 1996. The wait wasn’t as long for the next woman to make the final. Minutes after Hull’s run, the woman whose national record she had broken, Linden Hall, joined her, finishing third in her semi in 4:01.37.

Australia’s 1500m runners Jess Hull and Linden Hall.Credit: The Age

Hall led from the front in her race, taking on the pace and pushing to make sure of the top-five finish. It must be a weird thing to lead a race for four laps, knowing all the while that the woman sitting in last place was just waiting for the bell to set off and overtake you.

The hilarious Dutch champion Saffir Hassan runs predictably slow-fast races and wins. She waits at the back of the pack, expending no apparent energy, until the bell goes and then she motors around the outside and hits the front halfway down the home straight. Every. Time.

Hassan has already won the 5000 metres gold. She will now race for 1500 metres gold and then attempt the unprecedented treble and run for gold in the 10,000 metres. She is the reigning 1500 and 10,000 world champion.

Australian decathlete Ash Moloney had an outstanding first day. After four events he sits in second position and is right in the medal mix but for a knee injury that could derail his chances.

Moloney was third after the morning session. In his first high jump of the night he cleared 1.90 metres but tweaked the knee. He put a bandage on it and sat out the next heights and waited until the bar went high. Clearly, he reckoned on saving himself for just a few big jumps. The strategy worked.

They took the bar to 2.09 metres. He nailed it. They raised the bar to 2.11 metres, the height of his PB. He nailed that too, first attempt. They took it to 2.14 metres and he missed.

Those jumps moved him back into second on the rankings but he showed no effects of the knee injury when he turned out for the 400 metres, the final event of the night. In his best event, Moloney powered to the front and won easily in 46.29, which was outside his personal best but was also the third-fastest time any decathlete has ever run, a strong result that consolidated him in second.

In the 3000-metre steeplechase, team co-captain Gen Gregson ruptured her Achilles when she fell at the last water jump. The popular steeplechaser had to be helped from the track in a wheelchair. Doctors later assessed her and confirmed the Achilles injury.

Allyson Felix, one of the world’s greatest runners, one of the most decorated and successful 200- and 400-metre runners the world has seen, made it through to the final of the 400 at her last Olympics.

And in the men’s 200-metre final, the next Bolt was beaten by the new Bolt.

Canadian Andre de Grasse, the man tipped by Usain Bolt at the Rio Olympics as the one who could take over from him as the pre-eminent sprinter of the next generation, won gold in Bolt’s favourite distance.

De Grasse took gold in 19.62 seconds from American pair Kenneth Bednarek in silver (19.68) and Noah Lisles bronze (19.74).

To win, de Grasse had to beat the precocious, post-pubescent American star, 17-year-old Erriyon Knighton. The kid has been dubbed the next Bolt, given he broke Bolt’s under-20 record.

But in the heat of the Olympics against men he was unable to match it for speed down the home straight.

For de Grasse it was a breakthrough after winning silver and two bronze at the Rio Olympics and a bronze already here in Tokyo.

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