Olympian Bungei backs 800m gold medallist Wanyonyi to keep dominating the race

Former Olympic 800 metres gold medallist Wilfred Bungei has backed the new champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi to dominate the distance in many years to come.

Speaking to Citizen Digital, Bungei said Wanyonyi's discipline and consistency in racing makes him a favourite to dominate the distance for a while.

“He is very disciplined and works very hard in training and during races,” he said. “I am not surprised of his success at the Olympics and that will happened in many of the coming races which will be good for him and the country.”

Wanyonyi held off Canada's Marco Arop to deliver Kenya's third gold as the reigning world champion Arop settled for silver in a North-American record time of 1:41.20 something Bungei said was a great tactic from the Kenyan, to lead from the start to finish.

“He executed his tactics very well, during the heats, the semis, and even the finals, he led from start to finish - it is the same tactic that I used in 2008 and even Rudisha in his races,” added Bungei.

With the next Olympics being in 2028 the 2008 Olympic gold medallist urged the athlete’s management to manage the number of races for the athlete in order to avoid burn out.

“Being an Olympic gold medallist comes with very good appearance fee in invited races but I know his manager is an experienced person who will handle… so that he can avoid a burn out in future,” stated the former Olympic gold medallist