RIO DE JANEIRO — Jemima Jelagat Sumgong became the first Kenyan to win the women’s Olympic marathon Sunday after a scary moment near the finish when police intercepted a man who nearly marred the event.
Sumgong completed the course in 2 hours 24 minutes 4 seconds, giving Kenya its first gold medal in Rio.
The Kenyan-born Eunice Jepkirui Kirwa, who runs for Bahrain, was nine seconds behind and the world champion Mare Dibaba of Ethiopia took bronze.
With about a kilometer to go to the finish line at the Sambódromo parade grounds, a man with a sign jumped over barriers along the route ahead of Sumgong and the other runners, and two police officers on bicycles immediately cut him off.