Peter Bol inspires a nation with fourth place finish in men’s 800m final

Peter Bol has inspired the nation to take on the world and finish fourth in the men’s 800m final at the Tokyo Games.

A strong start, Bol came across quickly to remind the field he was there and ready to battle for the medals. As the bell sounded and with nobody making a move, Bol knew the had to go and took the iniative and raised the pace, to put himself not only in the lead, but the best position to win.

For the next 300 metres Bol was in charge, and showed the world the strength of his belief with the challengers mounted behind still he held on. It was only in the final 100 metres that Emmanuel Korio and Ferguson Rotich of Kenya and Patryk Dobnek of Poland were able to find the front of the race and the medals.

Behind Bol pushed all the way to the line to ensure he secured the hard fought fourth place in a race he made.

“I put myself in every chance, I think the only thing I regret is the last 100, tightening up a little bit,” Bol said.

“We came here to win and that’s what I did, I tried to win it and we came short but in the Olympic final and there is more to come.”

“I’d be lying if I said I was I’m pretty happy right now, the goal was to win so still have to reflect up on that. But at the same time I think today I didn’t know if I was going to win but I knew one thing for certain that the whole of Australia was watching and that carried me on so I love that part of it.

“We inspired the whole nation and that’s the goal,”

It caps a successful Olympic Games for Bol who came in the sixth fastest Australian of all time and is now the fastest having broken the Australian Record in the heat and semifinal.