Rare News Desk
Imagine for a moment that you are an Olympic athlete who’s trained and trained for years, only to be told on live TV that you were actually disqualified from the race you thought you’d just won a silver medal in.
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This is what happened to U.S. runner Paul Chelimo on Saturday. It must have been the strangest interview of his life.
I can't get over this @PaulChelimo vine. @LewisJohnsonMG told him his silver medal was stripped, only to get it back https://t.co/JAPnoU1MFV
— Andrew Jerell Jones, Luke 1:37 (IG:twdbk3) (@sluggahjells) August 21, 2016
You can watch it above.
Chelimo, who was born in Kenya but lives in Oregon, finished second in the men’s 5,000-meter race Saturday behind Mo Farah. Now a U.S. Army specialist , Chelimo celebrated with the flag wrapped around his shoulders and soaked up the cheers from the crowd. But while he was speaking to the media, he found out he had been disqualified from the race and wouldn’t get his prize.
Apparently, he heard from a television reporter, he stepped off the track during a tussle with some of the other runners.
“I thought it was a joke. I thought he was joking,” Chelimo said. “Now I’m really happy. I got reinstated. It’s the best feeling ever. It’s the best, best feeling ever.”
I"m so happy 2 have won Silver Medal in that 5000m after all the fracas out there but @Lagat1500 what a GENTLEMAN and a Class Act👊
— Paul Chelimo🇺🇸🥈🥉🥉 (@Paulchelimo) August 21, 2016
It turns out that this was not a joke.
Some are accusing of NBC for focusing on ratings rather than the person, given the way the interview unfolded.
When ur focused on ratings & not thinking about the actual human, this is the result https://t.co/opF4RPGvkc pic.twitter.com/O1fzOBcOhO
— Ryan Fenton (@ryanmfenton) August 21, 2016
Besides Chelimo, Mohammed Ahmed of Canada and Muktar Edris of Ethiopia were also disqualified. Ahmed, too, was later reinstated, putting him back in fourth place. Edris remained disqualified, but Ethiopian teammate Hagos Gebrhiwet ended up with bronze after being briefly upgraded to silver.
When it came time for the medal ceremony, Chelimo hopped up to the second step on the podium and received his silver medal. But he’s still not completely sure what happened in the first place.
“They said it was just pushing,” said Chelimo. “I couldn’t wrap it in my mind. Going back in history, I couldn’t see a 5K of people getting DQ’d.
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“It was really tactical and they (the Ethiopians) kept pushing me because they were working as a team. It’s never easy to run a race and run against a team. … But the Army has taught me to be mentally and physically tough.”
The decision to disqualify Chelimo and Ahmed was — at least briefly — good news for Bernard Lagat. The 41-year-old American was moved up to bronze, which would have made him the oldest Olympic medalist in a running event if it had lasted.
But from the moment he learned of the decision, Lagat was preparing himself for a reversal.
“If they tell me, ‘Hey man, we gave it to you by accident,’ I’m going to (give) it back,” Lagat said. “No problem.”
Sadly for Lagat, he never even got it.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
