Steeplechase 41-year rule gone in a flash

Benjamin Kigen, of Kenya, reacts after the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase final at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Monday, Aug. 2, 2021, in Tokyo. (AP}

After 41 years of dominance in men’s steeplechase at the Olympics, Kenya relinquished its grip on the race after Morocco’s Soufiane El Bakkali won the title in the Tokyo Games yesterday.

Kenya’s Benjamin Kigen won bronze. For the first time in the last nine Olympic Games, the Kenyan national anthem wasn’t played at the end of the race hitherto referred to as Kenya’s forte.