London 2012 Olympics: Farah claims gold number 14 for Team GB

 
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5 August 2012

Mo Farah became the first Briton to win the men's 10,000 metres on a historic day for the country's athletes.

Farah added a 14th gold medal to Team GB’s impressive haul, and the third in the space of an hour after Jessica Ennis' success in the heptathlon and Greg Rutherford's long jump triumph.

The Somali-born Farah kicked away from a big pack coming into the final straight and won in 27 minutes, 30.42 seconds, holding off training partner Galen Rupp of the United States, who took silver in 27:30.90.

Tariku Bekele finished in 27:31.43 to pick up bronze for Ethiopia.

Farah kneeled down on the track and kissed the ground as he realised his Olympic dream.

He told BBC1: "I've never experienced something like this, it doesn't come around that often and to have it on your doorstep with that amount of people supporting you and shouting your name...it's never gonna get any better than this. This is the best moment of my life.

"It's just something that I've worked so hard for.

"It's just the grinding and hard work and 120 miles a week, week in, week out and long distance events and what you put into it is what you get out."

He added: "I want to thank everyone who has supported me from my childhood until now. Without all those people that wouldn't have happened and I've just got to enjoy this moment I guess."

The gold is Farah's first Olympic medal in his second Games – in Beijing four years ago, he failed to qualify for the 5,000m final.

Farah won the 10,000m and 5,000m double at the 2010 European Championship as he started to show his pedigree.

In Daegu last year he went on to become the 5,000m world champion and finished second in the 10,000m.

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