BAHRAINI JEWEL: Olympics champion and world record holder Jebet feted at her adopted home

IAAF Athletics Diamond League meeting of Paris - Stade de France, Saint-Denis, France - 27/8/2016 - Ruth Jebet of Bahrain competes as she sets a world record in the women's 3000m steeplechase. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau

Ruth Jebet, the Olympic and world 3,000m steeplechase record holder, has given her adopted nation Bahrain some sporting smiles.

Bahrain has celebrated its strongest show in the Olympic Games (Rio2016) where it won its first gold medal from Jebet as well as a silver medal from Eunice Kirwa, a feat that placed it at the top of the Arab countries.

“I could have broken the Olympic record at the Olympics but I wasn’t really concentrating on that. I wanted to bring home the gold medal so I did my best without looking at the time. I consider my performance in the Paris Diamond League an improvement to my Olympic race. I am not sure if I can break the world record one more time, but I will keep trying,” she said, quoted by local media.

But Jebet travelled straight from Rio and landed Eldoret International Airport with the gold medal around her neck, saying she wanted to share her victory with her father at her home in Nandi County.

A highly cheerful Jebet who was feted at the airport after breaking the world record in Paris on Saturday expressed pride with her achievements.

“Bahrain’s athletes have demonstrated a high level of professional sportsmanship, achieving global success with record-breaking accomplishments which had honoured and elevated the Kingdom’s standing on the international stage,” Crown Prince Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa said as he received the sport officials and athletes who participated at the (Rio 2016) Olympics.

Prince Salman hailed the remarkable and substantive improvement to Bahrain’s sports sector over the past few years, attributing the progress to “the tremendous support” provided by King Hamad Bin Eisa Al Khalifa.

Prince Salman heaped praise on long distance runner Jebet for earning a gold medal at the Rio 2016 Olympics in the women’s 3000m steeplechase event, and for breaking the women’s 3000m steeplechase world record at the Diamond League meet this week in Paris, highlighting that her outstanding achievements were a first for ‎the Kingdom in international endurance running competitions.

Congratulating the Bahrain Team on the strong performance in Rio, the Crown Prince said that Bahrain has always taken great pride in the accomplishments of its athletes in local and international sporting events.

Bahrain’s silver medal at Rio was won by Eunice Kirwa in the marathon after she clocked two hours, 24 minutes and 13 seconds, nine seconds behind gold medal winner Jemima Sumgong.

Prince Salman lauded the role and efforts of Shaikh Nasser Bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Chairman of the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports and President of Bahrain Olympic Committee, and Shaikh Khaled Bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the First Deputy President of the Supreme Council for Youth & Sport, President of Bahrain Athletics Association, in improving Bahrain’s sports and recreational sector.

In the 2012 Olympics in London, Bahrain won its first ever Olympic medal, by middle-distance runner Maryam Jamal in the women’s 1500 metres.

In 2016, Bahrain led the Arab countries thanks to its gold and silver medals.