French athlete Alessia Zarbo collapsed to the ground during the final of the Olympics 10,000 metres on Friday in the Stade de France.
Medics rushed to the aid of the 22-year-old when she fell to the floor with a handful of laps left in the race, which continued around her for a period of time while she was examined.
Zarbo was carried away on a stretcher and applauded off by the home crowd. It is unclear at this stage what caused Zarbo to collapse and what her current condition is.
Team GB’s Eilish McColgan finished 15th while team-mate Megan Keith ended her Olympic debut being helped from the track by medical staff after the finish line.
She started her final lap after all other athletes had finished, but was cheered round by the crowd.
Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet surged to the gold medal to add to her 5,000m title with Italian Nadia Battocletti taking silver and Dutch athlete Sifan Hassan in third.
World record-holder Chebet did her share of the early pacemaking and when the pack broke into a sprint with one lap remaining she pulled away on the final turn to deliver Kenya’s first gold medal in the event.
“To do the 5,000m and 10,000m is not something easy. But just focus, and know that you can achieve,” she said. “Just believe in yourself. I believed that I can do it.”
Battocletti finished fourth in the 5,000m but was originally awarded the bronze medal following Kenyan Faith Kipyegon’s disqualification from second place, only for that decision to be overturned, and she made sure of her podium spot in the longer race.
Eritrea’s Rahel Daniel, the leader through the first two laps, dropped out after 2,000m as Chebet stayed near the front of the pack at a comfortable pace.
Her compatriots Margaret Kipkemboi and Lilian Kasait Rengeruk joined her about two-thirds of the way through, as Hassan tried her usual strategy of hanging around near the back of the pack.
Hassan made her move with 400m to go as the leaders broke into an all-out sprint and Kipkemboi and Kasait Rengeruk lost ground as Battocletti moved past them.
Chebet ran down the final straight on her own and looked up at the results with sheer joy on her face before wrapping herself in the Kenyan flag in the post-race celebrations.
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