Our great world champion Ogunode succeeded in achieving something wonderful and outstanding at the Brussels Diamond League meeting, finishing first in the 200m and breaking the Asian record, and second in the 100m — a wonderful achievement to cap his current Diamond League season. In detail, our champion succeeded in taking first place in the 200m, clocking a time of 19.97 seconds, a new Asian record entered into the record books of Qatari athletics, ahead of Antigua’s Miguel Francis (20.22) and Jamaica’s Rasheed Dwyer (20.27), while South Africa’s Wayde van Niekerk, who won 400m gold at the Beijing World Championships, had to settle for fourth place after clocking 20.37. In the 100m, Ogunode finished second despite recording the same time as the winner, champion Gatlin, at 9.98, while Mike Rodgers took third in 10.02. Our world champion expressed his happiness at the new record and his complete dominance at the Brussels Diamond League meeting, and said he gave everything he had to end the Diamond League in the best possible way and in a manner befitting Qatari athletics
HE Major General Dahlan Al Hamad, president of the Qatar and Asian athletics federations and IAAF vice-president, congratulated our talented champion Ogunode on his double achievement of victory in the 200m and breaking the Asian record, saying: “There is no doubt that what our talented champion Ogunode has achieved delights us and confirms that progress continues from championship to championship and event to event, and that Qatari athletics is now present in the strongest races and events in the world. I hope Ogunode continues on the same path and reaches the best marks before next year’s important Olympic test, because everyone now looks at Qatar’s athletics champions as genuine rivals capable of achieving results no matter how great the challenges. I believe what Ogunode has achieved also complements what our Olympic champion Mutaz Barshim has achieved in reaching complete dominance in the Diamond League and taking first place in the high jump, and we are all hopeful that this harvest of achievements befitting Qatari sport will continue”
