Coburn Wins Olympic Bronze, Resets American Record

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — Very few Olympians get to leave the games with a medal around their neck, but Colorado's very own Emma Coburn will leave as one of the elite after earning the bronze medal in the 3,000-meter steeplechase Monday morning.

In addition to her third place performance, Coburn broke her own American record, improving her time by over three seconds to 9 minutes, 7.63 seconds.

"My coaches said that an aggressive fast pace would make me medal, so I trusted them and I went for it," Coburn said. "I'm a little bummed I didn't have more the last lap to get second, but third in the world is incredible and I'm really happy."

The medal is the first for the United States in the women's steeplechase event, and is the first in the steeplechase since 1984.

The Olympics added the women's steeplechase in 2008 and the American women, under the direction of Colorado track and field coaches Mark Wetmore and Heather Burroughs have been leading the way in the event for the U.S. since the race's inception at the Olympics.

Coburn's former college and current New Balance teammate Jenny (Barringer) Simpson, also a former Buff, was on that first team and finished ninth (9:22.26) overall as the highest American while setting the then-U.S. record. In 2012, Coburn was the highest placing American in her first Olympics, also placing ninth in 9:23.54 (she moved up to eighth after one of the higher placing athletes was found doping).

This year, Coburn again led the charge for the U.S. at the Olympic Games, placing third while destroying her previous American record (9:10.76) from earlier this year. Her U.S. teammates, Colleen Quigley and Courtney Frerichs, finished eighth and 11^th, respectively.

"We are thrilled with the medal and record of course, but I am most gratified by the courage and poise with which she raced. She was completely professional," said Wetmore, who is in Rio with Coburn and Simpson. "We are sincerely thankful for the support we get from CU and Boulder. There is no place equal to conduct this trade."

In typical Coburn fashion, she jumped out to the front of the pack to start, partially to keep the pace honest in the final. She entered the meet with the third fastest time of the season, so she knew she belonged up front.

Coburn fell back slightly to fourth, but kept the top three in her sight. She continued to look comfortable and didn't get frustrated, which paid off as she gained ground on Kenya's Beatrice Chepkoech. Coburn caught her and with one lap to go, it looked like she might have enough to move into second, which was held by another Kenyan, Hyvin Kiyeng Jepkemoi. Coburn didn't have quite enough as Jepkemoi crossed the finish just .51 seconds in front of her (9:07.12).

Bahrain's Ruth Jebet won in 8:59.75.

The Crested Butte, Colo. native, became just the fifth CU varsity athlete to win an Olympic medal, CU's 11^th overall (although one was stripped in 2012).

She joins previous varsity athletes Burdie Haldorson (two medals), Bob Jeangerard, Jimmie Heuga and Bill Toomey (Billy Kidd was not on the ski team, but was attending CU). She is CU's first female varsity athlete to earn a medal (three others were club sport performers), and is just the second track performer to medal. The last Buff to medal in a summer games was Bill Toomey in 1968 when he won the gold in the decathlon.

Prior to this race, the former University of Colorado standout had not won a major international competition medal. Her best outing came in 2015 when she placed fifth at the world championships.

Coburn advanced to the medal round after placing second in her heat in the first round, finishing in 9:18.12. She had stated after that race she was surprised how fast it was and that 9:18 is usually what it takes to medal.

The games are now over for Coburn, but continue for Simpson, who will race in the 1,500-meter finals on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. MT. Another former Buff, Jeremy Dodson (Samoa), will begin his hunt for a medal in the 200 with the first round also getting underway on Tuesday at 8:50 a.m.

2016 OLYMPIC GAMES
Track & Field – Results
Olympic Stadium

3,000-meter Steeplechase Finals

Ruth Jebet, Bahrian, 8:59.75
Hyvin Kiyeng Jepkemoi, Kenya, 9:07.12
Emma Coburn, U.S.A., 9:07.63
Beatrice Chepkoech, Kenya, 9:16.05
Sofia Assefa, Ethiopia, 9:17.15
Gesa Felicitas Krause, Germany, 9:18.41
Madeline Heiner Hills, Great Britian, 9:20.38
Colleen Quigley, U.S.A., 9:21.10
Genevieve Lacaze, Australia, 9:21.21
Lalita Shivaji Babar, India, 9:22.74
Courtney Frerichs, U.S.A., 9:22.87
Habiba Ghribi, Tunisia, 9:28.75
Lydia Chebet Rotich, Kenya, 9:29.90
Aisha Praught, Jamaica, 9:34.20
Etenesh Diro, Ethiopia, 9:38.77
Genevieve Lalonde, Canada, 9:41.88
Sara Louise Treacy, Ireland, 9:52.70
Fabienne Schlumpf, Switzerland, 9:59.30

Coburn Quotes (Courtesy of the USATF)
On the last few laps…
"The last four or five laps were tough. I just kept on telling myself to keep on chipping away at the gap and once I got my position, all I wanted was to hold it. It wasn't until the last 400 or 600 meters when I realized that I had it and just couldn't lose it."

On if she was emotional when she realized she won a medal...
"The last lap, I was not crying. I was focused. But on the victory lap, I was just looking for my boyfriend because I knew where he was cheering. By the time I got around to my family, I somehow managed to climb into the stands and give them all hugs. I saw my boyfriend, Joe, and I still have to see my coach, Mark [Wetmore]. I was looking for him but he's a little more discreet than my family, which has the 'Go Emma' shirts on and American flags. I still have to see Mark and call Heather and I'm so happy I get to share this moment with all of them."

On being the first U.S. Olympic women's steeple medalist...
"I feel so lucky that that's part of my story," Coburn said. "Obviously, if Jenny Simpson had stuck with [the steeplechase], I think she would've been a multi-time medalist now. I feel lucky that it gets to be me, but there are so many great women … the two U.S women with me finished eighth and 11th. I finished 9th my first Olympics, so Colleen is already a step ahead of me there. Courtney, coming off of such a long collegiate season, it's so impressive. We have such a great talent pool, and people who didn't make the team are amazing, too. I think in the next four, eight, 12 years, we're going to have more and more women winning medals and on the men's side as well."

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO MEDALS

Name	Olympics	Medal	Nation	Sport	Site
*Burdie Haldorson	1956 Summer	Gold	USA	Basketball	Melbourne, Australia
*Bob Jeangerard	1956 Summer	Gold	USA	Basketball	Melbourne, Australia
*Burdie Haldorson	1960 Summer	Gold	USA	Basketball	Rome
Billy Kidd	1964 Winter	Silver	USA	Skiing (Slalom)	Innsbruck, Austria
Jimmie Heuga	1964 Winter	Bronze	USA	Skiing (Slalom)	Innsbruck, Austria
Bill Toomey	1968 Summer	Gold	USA	Track (Decathlon)	Mexico City
Shannon Dunn	1998 Winter	Bronze	USA	Snowboarding (Halfpipe)	Nagano, Japan
Susan Bartholomew-Williams	2004 Summer	Bronze	USA	Triathlon	Athens
Deirdre Dement-Barry	2004 Summer	Silver	USA	Cycling (Ind. Team Trial)	Athens
#Tyler Hamilton	2004 Summer	Gold	USA	Cycling (Ind. Team Trial)	Athens
Emma Coburn	2016 Summer	Bronze	USA	Track (Steeplechase)	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

(*—team sport; #—stripped of his medal on Aug. 10, 2012)

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