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KEEP moving! This is the mantra Bahrain’s Winfred Yavi lives by, and on Tuesday night, on the biggest international sporting stage at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the 24-year-old distance-running specialist did just that – she kept moving...forward and upward...from a reigning world champion to also becoming an Olympic champion, writes Patrick Olivier Salomon.
Yavi put in an historic performance for Team Bahrain in winning the women’s 3,000 metres steeplechase gold medal.
She triumphed in the Olympic final in a blistering time of eight minutes 52.76 seconds – a new Games record that shattered the previous best of 8:58.81 set by Russian Gulnara Samitova-Galkina in Beijing 2008.
Yavi ran confidently from the start, pacing herself in the early stages and then striking at the right moment. She kicked into top gear on the last lap and put in an explosive finishing sprint down the home straight, overtaking defending Olympic champion Peruth Chemutai of Uganda with only metres to go to the finish.
“This is a dream come true,” Yavi was quoted as saying after the race.
“It has been such a hard journey to get to this point.
“In the final, I was expecting something good. I just felt good about the race. I believed in myself, that I had that finishing speed.”
Yavi became only the third Bahraini athlete to have the honour of being both a world and Olympic champion.
Maryam Yusuf Jamal was the first, claiming the women’s 1,500m world titles in 2007 and 2009, and then adding an Olympic gold from London 2012 in the same event. Yavi’s fellow-steeplechaser Ruth Jebet is the other. Jebet was a world junior champion in 2014 before adding an Olympic gold medal in Rio 2016.
Yavi has accomplished her amazing world and Olympic double – amongst the highest honours in all of sports – at just 24 years old.
Her Olympic gold adds to an already long list of accolades at every level of athletics. She has a world title, a steeplechase Diamond Trophy which is won at the end of the annual Diamond League circuit, and multiple gold medals from the Asian Games as well as Asian and Arab championships.
Moreover, Yavi is an Asian and Bahraini record-holder. Her personal best of 8:50.66 is also the second-fastest time ever in the event, beaten only by the world record of 8:44.32, held by Kenya’s Beatrice Chepkoech, who is another athlete she beat in Paris en route to her Olympic crown.
To add to that, Yavi’s winning time on Tuesday night was the fourth-fastest in history.
Heading into this year’s Olympics, Yavi had a special message for her fans. In an exclusive interview with GulfWeekly, Yavi said: “I am extremely grateful to everyone in Bahrain and my fans, fondly referred to as #TeamYavi.
“I believe it’s not been about one event – they have consistently been there, cheering through. The support is the wings that allows me to ‘keep moving’.
“#TeamYavi, never forget to ‘keep moving’!”
Yavi will surely ‘keep moving’, and Bahrain will be cheering her on, eagerly watching to see where her amazing talent, dedication, and hard work take her next.
