24-year-old Ethiopia’s
Almaz Ayana, on Friday broke one of the longest-held records in
athletics by winning Olympic 10,000m race at 29min 17.45sec sliced
nearly 14 seconds off the previous world best of 29:31.78 set by Wang
Junxia in 1993 during the era of notorious Chinese coach Ma Junren.
Ayana, brushed
off doping suspicions about her astonishing performance, attributing her
performance to hard work and religious devotion.
“I praise the Lord, the Lord gives me everything,” she said through an interpreter.
“My doping is my training, my doping is Jesus — otherwise I’m crystal clear.”
Ayana said she had not planned to set a world record heading into the race.
“It’s amazing — I saw the record after the race,” she said. “My only plan was to win the race.”