BRUSSELS (AP) — Olympic middle-distance champions Faith Kipyegon and Emmanuel Wanyonyi won their races in the Diamond League Final on Saturday on a good night for Kenya.
Kipyegon, unbeaten in the women's 1,500 meters for more than three years, timed 3:54.75, snipping 0.58 off the 21-year-old Memorial Van Damme meet record.
“The world record was not on my mind,” said the record-holder. “My goal was to finish my Diamond League season in a good way. It was good race but definitely not an easy one.”
World road mile champion Diribe Welteji was second and Olympic silver medallist Jessica Hull third.
The top four in the men's 800 all finished within one second of each other. Wanyonyi came from behind just before the finish to beat Olympic bronze medallist Djamel Sedjati, Olympic silver medallist Marco Arop and European champion Gabriel Tual.
Double Olympic champion Beatrice Chebet of Kenya won the women's 5,000 in 14:09.82, more than nine seconds faster than the meet record. She won by 12 seconds from Ethiopia's Medina Eisa, who set a world under-20 record.
Kenya's Faith Cherotich earned her biggest win when she headed off the last two Olympic champions Winfred Yavi and Penruth Chemutai in the women's 3,000 steeplechase.
“I didn't expect to win,” Cherotich said. “I kept saying to myself that if I'm still in the lead after the last water jump I was going to win.”
The 200 winning streak of Botswana's Letsile Tebogo was ended by American Kenny Bednarek.
Since winning the Olympic race in Paris, Tebogo won four more 200s plus a 100 in Rome.
But Olympic silver medallist Bednarek pipped him in Brussels by 0.13 seconds at 19.67.
Another favorite lost when American shot putter Ryan Crouser was second to Italy's Leonard Fabbri.
Fabbri's first throw of 22.98 meters broke his own national record plus the meet record, and stood up. Olympic champion Crouser got as close as 22.79 with his fourth throw.
“I know I'm capable to get that 23 meters, so that's why I'm a little bit upset with the distance,” Fabbri said. “Of course 22.98 is huge.”
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Kenneth Bednarek, of the United States, Letsile Tebogo, of Botswana, and Alexander Ogando, of the Dominican Republic, from right, cross the finish line in the men's 200 meters during the Diamond League final 2024 athletics meet in Brussels, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Frederic Sierakowski)
Leonardo Fabbri, of Italy, makes an attempt in the men's shot put during the Diamond League final 2024 athletics meet in Brussels, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Frederic Sierakowski)
Beatrice Chebet, of Kenya, crosses the finish line to win the women's 5000 meters during the Diamond League final 2024 athletics meet in Brussels, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Frederic Sierakowski)
Faith Kipyegon, of Kenya, celebrates after crossing the finish line to win the women's 1500 meters during the Diamond League final 2024 athletics meet in Brussels, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Frederic Sierakowski)
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwanese company Gold Apollo said Wednesday that it authorized its brand on the pagers that exploded in Lebanon and Syria but that another company based in Budapest manufactured them.
Pagers used by hundreds of members of the militant group Hezbollah exploded near-simultaneously Tuesday in Lebanon and Syria, killing at least nine people, including an 8-year-old girl, and wounding more than 2,000. Hezbollah and the Lebanese government blamed Israel for what appeared to be a sophisticated remote attack.
The AR-924 pagers used by the militants were manufactured by BAC Consulting KFT, based in Hungary’s capital, according to a statement released Wednesday by Gold Apollo.
“According to the cooperation agreement, we authorize BAC to use our brand trademark for product sales in designated regions, but the design and manufacturing of the products are solely the responsibility of BAC,” the statement read.
Gold Apollo chair Hsu Ching-kuang told journalists Wednesday that his company has had a licensing agreement with BAC for the past three years, but did not provide evidence of the contract.
At about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, as people shopped for groceries, sat in cafes or drove cars and motorcycles in the afternoon traffic, the pagers in their hands or pockets started heating up and then exploding — leaving blood-splattered scenes and panicking bystanders.
It appeared that many of those hit were members of Hezbollah, but it was not immediately clear if non-Hezbollah members also carried any of the exploding pagers.
The blasts were mainly in areas where the group has a strong presence, particularly a southern Beirut suburb and in the Beqaa region of eastern Lebanon, as well as in Damascus, according to Lebanese security officials and a Hezbollah official. The Hezbollah official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.
Experts believe explosive material was put into the pagers prior to their delivery and use in a sophisticated supply chain infiltration.
The AR-924 pager, advertised as being “rugged,” contains a rechargeable lithium battery, according to specifications once advertised on Gold Apollo’s website before it was apparently taken down Tuesday after the sabotage attack. It could receive text messages of up to 100 characters.
It also claimed to have up to 85 days of battery life. That’s something that would be crucial in Lebanon, where electricity outages have been common as the tiny nation on the Mediterranean Sea has faced years of economic collapse. Pagers also run on a different wireless network than mobile phones, making them more resilient in emergencies — one of the reasons why many hospitals worldwide still rely on them.
For Hezbollah, the militants also looked at the pagers as a means to counteract what’s believed to be intensive Israeli electronic surveillance on mobile phone networks throughout the country.
“The phone that we have in our hands — I do not have a phone in my hand — is a listening device,” warned Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in a February speech.
He later added: “I tell you that the phone in your hands, in your wife’s hands, and in your children’s hands is the agent. It is a deadly agent, not a simple one. It is a deadly agent that provides specific and accurate information. Therefore, this requires great seriousness when confronting it.”
Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed.
Hsu Ching-kuang, chairman of Apollo Gold, talks about the Taiwan company's communication products at the headquarters in New Taipei City, Taiwan Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Johnson Lai)
Hsu Ching-kuang, chairman of Apollo Gold, talks about the Taiwan company's communication products at the headquarters in New Taipei City, Taiwan Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Johnson Lai)
A police officer inspects a car in which a hand-held pager exploded, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
People gather outside the American University hospital after the arrival of several men who were wounded by exploded handheld pagers, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Bassam Masri)
Lebanese soldiers stand guard at a street that leads to the American University hospital where they bring wounded people whose handheld pager exploded, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
