Kalema Lawrence
Long distance runner Solomon Munyo Mutai’s Solomon Mutai’s silver medal in the marathon on the last day of the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in Australia put Uganda in the 15th place on the performance table.
The Marathon at the Carrara Stadium today morning, Sunday 15th April 2018 was won by Australia’s Michael Shelly with a time of 2:16:46 to ba the gold, Mutai coming in the second place with a time of 2:19:02 before Scotland’s Robbie Simpson came in the third place to secure the blonze.
Uganda’s Performance
After bagging an overall total of six medals, 3 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze, Uganda finished in the 15th place on the medal tally table that was led by the hosts, Australia. Uganda fielded 69 athletes who participated in track and field events, badminton, squash, boxing, rugby, netball, weightlifting, swimming, table tennis, cycling and shooting.
The Medals
Out of the 23 athletes (runners) who qualified to represent Uganda at the Gold Coast Games, four have managed to win five medals. Joshua Kiprui Cheptegei’s two gold medals in the 5,000m and 10,000m races, Solomon Mutai’s silver in the Men’s marathon, Stella Chesang’s gold medal in the women’s 10,000m and Mercyline Chelangat’s bronze in the same race.
The sixth medal for the country came from the Boxing team, after Juma Miiro picked a bronze medal in the 46-49kg weight category following loosing a semi-final tie.
Congratulations team Uganda, you have made our flag fly high.
