At the gun, it seemed like the rest of the world came to run, while the Kenyan team were just tagging along. Starting off slowly, all three Kenyans casually jogged around the outside of the pack and towards the front. William Mutwol continued, breaking away to as much as a 10-metre lead, with Elarbi Khattabi the only one to bridge the gap. On the next lap, Matthew Birir, running in fourth place, went down on the track, but Birir righted himself quickly and was back on his feet before the back of the strung out field had passed him. Within two more barriers, he was back in the same fourth-place position. By the time they reached the same spot on the track where Birir fell, he was in third place as the tail of the three man Kenyan breakaway. Over the next two laps, the only athlete seriously marking the Kenyans was Alessandro Lambruschini. Just after two laps to go, Patrick Sang edged ahead of Mutwol with Lambruschini gaining a little ground between barriers and losing the same amount each time he went over one. With a lap to go, Birir moved into the lead and the Kenyan sweep simply pulled away from Lambruschini, with the rest of the field already disappeared behind. No drama, no hurdling the water jump, no challenges, not even any sprinting. Lambruschini finished fourth for the second Olympics in a row, more than 25 metres behind Mutwol. This became the first Olympic podium sweep by an African nation.
Kenya
Matthew Birir (KEN)
Alessandro Lambruschini (ITA)
Steffen Brand (GER)
Tom Hanlon (GBR)
Brian Diemer (USA)
Azzedine Brahmi (ALG)
William Van Dijck (BEL)
Elarbi Khattabi (MAR)
Clodoaldo Lopes do Carmo (BRA)
Ricardo Vera (URU)
Joseph Mahmoud (FRA)
Whaddon Niewoudt (RSA)
João Junqueira (POR)
Hamid Sajjadi (IRI)
Marcelo Cascabelo (ARG)
Jamal Abdi Hassan (QAT)