Our heart goes out to Fouad Baka of Algeria.
The athlete finished the 1500-metre race in 3 minutes and 49.59 seconds yesterday. That time would have secured him a gold in Rio mere weeks ago. Unfortunately for Baka, his time paled in comparison to that of his fellow athletes, and three other men managed to finish in an even tighter window.
Eclipsing Baka was Henry Kirwa of Kenya (3:49.59), silver medalist Tamiru Demisse of Ethiopia (3:48.59) and Baka’s brother, gold medalist Abdellatif Baka.
“It wasn’t easy to get this gold medal,” Abdellatif said. “I’ve been working one or two years nonstop and it’s been very, very hard for me.”
The hard work paid off with Baka setting a new world record for his time.
The runners were all participating in the T13 category for visually impaired runners.
WHAT A RUN, BAKA ABDELLATIF #RioRecords!! Congrats Algeria! #Gold #Rio2016 #Athletics #Paralympics https://t.co/rRxzyDQHpv
— IPC Athletics (@IPCAthletics) September 11, 2016
