The original Olympic motto of Citius, Altius, Fortius was first adopted in the main at the 1924 Olympics in Paris, and in the century since few athletes have perfected the higher part better than Mondo Duplantis.
Duplantis came to Paris looking to once again raise the bar to unprecedented heights in the Olympic pole vault, and the 24-year-old Swedish superstar did exactly that – eclipsing his own world record with a sensational third and last attempt clearance of 6.25 metres.
By then it was almost 10.30pm Paris time inside the Stade de France, and the place was still heaving – the event well over three hours in the running at that stage, and nobody in the packed attendance could take their eyes off it.
After safely securing another Olympic gold medal with a first-time clearance at 6.10m, the bar was raised to 6.25m in that attempt to raise his own world record by one centimetre, set earlier this season.
After missing on his first and second attempt, Duplantis gave it one last shot, and soared clear to the delight of the crowd. The place went crazy.
Cue his own delirious celebrations, Duplantis running into a section of Swedish supporters, unable to contain his sheer delight having been a picture of coolness all night.
The first athletics world record at the Paris Olympics, it was also his ninth time to break the world record, the most recent when clearing 6.24m at the Diamond League meeting in Xiamen in April.
After almost three hours, four men were still in contention for the medals – Duplantis leading the way throughout, followed by USA’s two-time world champion Sam Kendricks, Emmanouil Karalis of Greece, and Philippines’ world silver medallist Ernest John Obiena.
Obiena was the first to slip of the medals, and Kendricks would win silver with a best of 5.95m, adding to his silver won in Rio. Karalis won bronze with his 5.90.
Duplantis had already won the last five global pole vault titles, following his Olympic win in Tokyo three years ago, with two world indoor and two world outdoor victories. On each of those occasions, he either achieved a world record, or came very close to it.
But few if any world records in Olympic history have been as magnificently delivered as this one.
The final of the women’s 5,000m was all about being faster and stronger, arguably one of the greatest field of women’s distance runners assembled on the Olympic stage.
A trio of those had come to Paris with either double or triple gold medal ambitions, so only one of them could be successful if they won here. Only by the end none of them could, Kenya’s two-time World Championship runner-up Beatrice Chebet spoiling the show on them all, winning in 14:28.56.
Her countrywomen Faith Kipyegon was on the hunt for a 1,500m-5,000m double, and although settling for second, she was then disqualified, only to be later reinstated. The Dutch star Sifan Hassan and Gudaf Tsegay from Ethiopian were both targeting a treble in Paris.
Kipyegon took charge of affairs early, preferring to keep the pace slow, knowing she would have the faster finishing kick against the perhaps stronger runners such as Hassan and Tsegay. Hassan, in contrast, sat at the very back, biding her time as she invariably does.
Tsegay and Kipyegon almost crashed into each with two laps to go, Kipyegon appearing to get in the way there, and which it seemed would cost her the medal. Kipyegon then went at the bell, chased by Chebet, who waited until the last 50m to hit the front for the first time.
Before her disqualification, Kipyegon held on for second in 14:29.60, Hassan winning another Olympic bronze medal in 14:30.61, while Tsegay faded to ninth. However in another late night twist, Kipyegon was reinstated on appeal, and will after all keep her silver medal.
Hassan was looking to become the first woman in Olympic history to win the 5000m, 10,000m and marathon triple at the same Games, but that won’t be happening now either.
By the end of the night there was finally a golden moment for Keely Hodgkinson, who became just Britain’s ninth Olympic female champion in athletics, winning the 800m with a bold and brave run from the front from 600m out.
At the last three global championships, the 22-year-old had to settle for silver, including in Tokyo three years ago when Athing Mu from the USA beat her in the last 100m. Mary Moraa beat her to the world title last year.
With Mu unable to get through the US trials, Hodgkinson sensed her chance, and unbeaten at the distance all season, hit the front after just 200m and never looked back, winning in 1:56.72.
World indoor champion Tsige Duguma from Ethiopia came through for silver, running a lifetime best of 1:57.15, Moraa won bronze in 1:57.42. Valarie Allman from the USA defended her women’s discus title, with a best of 69.50.
