Protesters tried to disrupt Rio womens marathon

Protesters sought to disrupt the Olympic women’s marathon on Sunday running in front of the leaders near the finish before being intercepted by police on motorcycles.

About five demonstrators were seen climbing over barriers to get onto the course in front of winner Jemima Sumgong of Kenya and other leaders about two kilometers (1.5 miles) from the end.

Each time the intruder got on the course, they were chased by police. The runners were not disrupted.

Other protest banners were seen earlier in the race on the sidelines. Opponents of Brazil’s interim leader Michel Temer waved ‘Fora Temer’ (Temer out) banners all along the course.

The Olympic hosts are in the midst of a political crisis with Temer in the firing line of the opposition since he took over from President Dilma Rousseff who faces an impeachment trial.

Sumgong made the most of a kick with 6km to run to win Kenya’s first ever Olympic women’s marathon gold on Sunday.

Sumgong, winner of this year’s London marathon, timed 2hr 24min 04sec for Kenya’s first-ever women’s marathon gold over the 42km-long course that finished at Rio’s Sambodromo with temperatures hitting 28 degrees Celsius (82F).

Bahrain claimed only their second medal in any sport when Kenyan-born Eunice Kirwa took silver, 9sec adrift of Sumgong, while defending world champion Mare Dibaba of Ethiopia claimed bronze, at 26sec.

Dibaba, in her first race since finishing sixth at the London Marathon, had led a lead pack of seven runners through the 35km mark in 2:00.31.

But then with 6km to go, Kirwa surged, only Dibaba and Sumgong managing the pace.

Ethiopian Tirfi Tsegaye, who timed a world-leading 2:19:41 to win the Dubai Marathon at the start of the year and then finished second at the Boston Marathon, and Belarus’ Volha Mazuronak became the new chase pack as Bahrain’s Kenyan-born Rose Chelimo and American Shalane Flanagan were dropped.

Clocking 16:31 as their fastest 5km segment of the race, between 35km and 40km, the leaders’ approach to the turning course in the final run-in to the Sambodromo put paid to Dibaba’s efforts, the Ethiopian falling behind Sumgong and Kirwa.

Sumgong then turned the screw on former compatriot Kirwa down the home stretch to claim a historic gold for Kenya’s women marathon runners.

For a large part of the race, there was a lead pack of 15.

Hitting the halfway mark in 1:12:56, it still consisted of 13, including the North Korean Kim twins, Hye-Song in the pink shoes, Hye-Gyong in the blue, who went on to finish 10th and 11th respectively.

Mazuronak, wearing a tight bandana, surged briefly before she was reeled in, but American Amy Cragg and Kenya’s Helah Kiprop fell off the pace as the field began to split with the lead pack at seven.

Then came Kirwa’s burst before Sumgong showed all her experience to power past the Bahraini for gold.