Governo and Koech add African medals on Rio’s final athletics day
Mozambique’s Edmilsa Governo won 400m bronze and Kenya’s Nancy Koech took 1500m silver at Rio 2016.
Edmilsa Governo gave Mozambique its first medal of the Rio 2016 Games with bronze in the women’s 400m T12. The IPC’s final-day athletics report also recorded silver for Kenya’s Nancy Koech in the women’s 1500m T11.
Podium finishes in two demanding finals
Governo finished in 53.89 seconds behind Cuba’s Omara Durand and Ukraine’s Oksana Boturchuk. Durand’s winning 51.77 was a world record, while Boturchuk completed the race in 53.14. The medal placed Mozambique on the podium during a day of exceptional international performances.
Koech ran 4:42.12 for silver in a 1500m final won by China’s Jin Zheng in a world-record 4:38.92. Colombia’s Maritza Arango Buitrago finished third. The two African women’s results formed part of the closing track-and-field programme on 17 September, when the IPC recorded seven world records across the day’s athletics competition.