PARIS, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands secured her third Olympic gold medal by winning the women's marathon at the Paris Games on Sunday.
Hassan sprinted to the finish line after pulling away from Ethiopia's Tigst Assefa, winning in an Olympic record time of 2 hours, 22 minutes and 55 seconds.
Assefa took silver, three seconds behind, and Kenya's Hellen Obiri claimed bronze, 15 seconds off the winning pace.
"I have no words for it," Hassan said. "It feels like a dream. I only see people on TV who are Olympic champions."
Hassan's time beat the previous Olympic record set by Ethiopia's Tiki Gelana in 2012 by 12 seconds.
It was a remarkable feat of resilience from Hassan, who also competed in the 5,000m and 10,000m over the past week, winning bronze in both events.
She is the first woman to earn medals in each of the three long distance events at the same edition of the Games.
"When I started this morning every single step made me feel sore," Hassan said.
"I was regretting running the 5,000 and the 10,000. I thought to myself that if I hadn't done those events I would feel comfortable today.
"From the beginning to the end, it felt so hard. I was wondering when they [my rivals] were going to break me. I thought they were going to go harder. But here I am, Olympic champion."
Hassan was also the gold medalist in the 5,000m and 10,000m at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago.
Paris marked the Ethiopia-born athlete's Olympic marathon debut.
"When you [run] 42km every single step is so hard and painful, and when you finish, the release is unbelievable. You never experience anything like it.
"When I finished I felt dizzy but I realized, I am Olympic champion. I was never focused more in my life than I was today. I challenged myself and I'm so grateful that I did it." ■
