With the Olympic Games come the attendant anticipation for showdowns between athletes who will battle for supremacy on the world’s biggest sporting showpiece.
The Rio 2016 Olympics promises to be a cliffhanger, and we have seen duels in the course of the season, which have served us snippets of what to expect at the Games.
So being excited and looking forward to the match-ups, we have carefully selected the rivalries that we believe most people will be eager to watch, ranking them in descending order to the very top showdown we are all waiting for.
7. Hyvin Kiyeng vs Ruth Jebet
This is one showdown Athletics fans eagerly look forward to; not often does the women’s 3000m Steeplechase arouse this much interest. However, anybody who watched this event at the 2016 Eugene Diamond League understands why this event elicits so much interest.
There’s so much behind the women’s Steeplechase to explain: the keenness, revenge, records, patriotism, pride and also, determination going into this race.
Competing for Bahrain, Ruth Jebet will be coming up against her former countrywoman, Kenya’s Hyvin Kiyeng in what is a rematch of that epic race in Oregon. That race was so gripping that you wouldn’t have known who won without the aid of a replay.
Not only was it very interesting: both women ran the 2nd & 3rd fastest times in history. Up till the last 400m, Jebet held an almost 60m gap over Kiyeng, but she held on for dear life to cross the line, narrowly beating the World Champion and winning with a time of 8:59.96.
Somehow Kiyeng didn’t realize how big a threat Jebet was, as she made a tremendous move, adding extra pace and practically flying over the barriers in a bid to catch up with her. Although she did catch her at the line, it was too late as she came in 2nd in 9:00.01. It really could have gone either way.
Only two women in history have gone under 9mins, Jebet and the World Record (WR) holder Gulnara Galkina, who won GOLD at the Beijing 2008 Olympics with a mark of 8:58.81.
Kiyeng is the world champion and Jebet former U-20 Champion in 2014. Both have tasted victories on the big stage, and no doubt crave to recreate that.
However when they square up in Rio, every jump and race they execute in the Steeplechase will be with verve and technique, knowing there is someone waiting to capitalize on any slip-up.
