African athletes won two more Olympic medals on Sunday, giving Kenya and Algeria their first wins at the Sydney games.
Joyce Chepchumba of Kenya won the bronze medal in the women's marathon, with a time of 2 hours 24 minutes 45 seconds. She finished 1 minute 31 seconds behind Naoko Takahashi of Japan, the gold medallist. Lidia Simon of Romania took second place.
Abderrahmane Hammad of Algeria took the bronze medal in the men's high jump, with a best jump of 2.32 metres, coming in behind Sergey Kliugin of Russia (2.35m) and Javier Sotomayor of Cuba.
In the women's marathon, Chepchumba and the other medallists all beat the previous Olympic record, with Takahashi setting a new Olympic record of 2:23:14s. But Tegla Loroupe of Kenya still holds the world record of 2:20:43s.
Loroupe was the favorite for a gold medal, but she became sick before the race. She ran but came in only at 13th, with a time of 2:29:45sec.
Three other Africans finished ahead of Loroupe and in the top ten: Esther Wanjiru of Kenya took fourth place (2:26:17s), Elfenesh Alemu of Ethiopia sixth place (2:26:54s), and Fatuma Roba of Ethiopia, the defending Olympic champion, was ninth (2:27:38s). Colleen de Reuck of South Africa was 31st (2:36:48s).
Chepchumba, 29, ran a personal best time in her race. She trains with Loroupe in Germany for much of the year, and has taken places in the top three of the New York, London, Tokyo and Chicago marathons since 1995. She has finished in the top three in nine of her 11 marathons.
Hammad, 23, also improved on his personal best, and on his African record of 2.34m.
Official Olympics site: Kenya wins bronze in Women's marathon
