Jamaica’s 5,000 metres runner Kemoy Campbell, believes that his lack of speed work, resulted in his 10th place finish in his heat at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Thursday (Aug 18).
In a race with a few shoves and elbows, which eventually led to some of the athletes being involved in a tumble, Campbell finished the distance in 13:30.43 minutes, which is well outside her personal best of 13:20.39, which was done at Palo Alto, California, United States of America in May last year.
He said, “there were some pushing in the race. People fell and I lost my concentration and by the time I got that back there were already ahead of me. So there was nothing I could do, because these are elite athletes so I pretty much I had to keep my composure and finish as best as I could.
“I am happy with it (the performance) and at the same time I am disappointed. My first meet and I did 13:30 so looking back at that, I think I should have done some more speed work to prepare. But I am here at the Olympics and I have represented Jamaica well, I think. I got 10th in my heat so at the end of the day I just have to be happy with that,” Campbell said.
Campbell, a standout athlete for Bellefield High at Boys’ and Girls’ Championships, says he will be working on his speed work, to get better.
“I am hoping to Come back stronger next year. (I need to) get more speed work done. My endurance is fine but I definitely thought I needed speed work. So we are just going to go back to the drawing board, me and my coach, and try to work that out and try to get even a PR. That’s just the hope right now,” he said.
