Pulverisation. Obliteration. Extermination. Ethiopian Almaz Ayana’s dominion of the women’s 10,000 meters final was both fabulous and frightening, and, at these Olympic Games disconcerting and debilitating.

Great (Olympic) duels are often patrician: between Paavo Nurmi and Ville Ritola from Finland in the 5000 m in the 1920s; between Gunter Hag and Arne Andersson in the 1500m in the early 1940s; between Britons Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett in the 800m in the 1980s.

In Athens in 2004, Kenenisa Bekele, also from Ethiopia, hesitated when dethroning his iconic compatriot Haile Gebrselassie in the 10,000 m. Youth didn’t want to supersede heritage; modernity was throttled, reluctant and apprehensive about replacing the greats from the past.

Ruthless in Rio

In Rio, though, Ayana had time neither for melancholy nor for intrigue. She became a newfangled Ethiopian princes, ruthless in her running, boundless in her desire for victory. Her compatriot Tirunesh Dibaba, the double Olympic champion, trailed and trailed, resigned to her role of mere terrestrial.

The final was not just fast, but lightning-fast – of Usian Bolt proportions, but not restricted to a distance of just 100 m. Lanky Kenyan Alice Aprot set the pace during the first five laps. At the 2000 m mark, the clock read 5.55.79 minutes, a world record pace. Aprot led until the halfway mark as part of the Kenyan team’s ploy to catapult Vivian Cheruiyot on to the highest step of the podium.

But then Ayana accelerated, a gazelle gliding smoothly over the Rio track. Her competitors despaired at her pace, the Ethiopian acceleration within an acceleration. She left the rest of the field behind with decisive resolution. Her lead grew steadily. Cheruiyot was rendered a de facto silver medallist. The gap with Dibaba was the length of a football field when the latter crossed the finish line.

Ayana had broken, crushed and ridiculed the 23-year-old world record off Junxia Wang, with a time of 29:17.45 minutes. Wang’s record had stood at 29:31.78 minutes; Dibaba’s 2008 Olympic record had been 29:54.66 minutes. The 25-year-old’s split times were astonishing – 14:46 and 14:31. She was still running 67-second-laps with a mile to go before slowing down to just 70 seconds.

“I didn’t even imagine I had broken the world record until after the race,” said Ayana. “I just wanted to win the gold, I can’t believe it! The Kenyan’s pace pushed me and helped me to the world record. I was a bit afraid that she would kick and they would go.”

From disbelief to suspicion

The universal reaction to Ayana’s record-smashing exploit, however, wasn’t always positive. “I'm not sure that I can understand that,” said Paul Radcliffe. “When I saw the world record set in 1993, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. And Ayana has absolutely blitzed that time.”

Swedish athlete Sarak Lahti openly questioned the validity and credibility of the new world record. Lahti finished 12th with a time of 31:28.43. In the top 12, she was the only athlete to not register a personal best, a measure for the maddening pace Ayana had maintained. In short, this was the greatest women’s 10,000m race of all time.

In athletics, times, records and performances are pushed along sometimes in an upward graph. You think of Bob Beamon in the long jump. You think of Usain Bolt in the 100 m, but the betterment of a previous world record by over 14 seconds is frankly astounding. Ayana has little experience in the 10,000m. As a former steeplechase athlete, she mostly ran the 10,000m in training.

On the back of Lahti’s comment, a Swedish reporter asked the "tough" question – did you run clean, Ayana? The IOC’s decision to not impose a blanket ban on Russia for the Olympic Games and Kenya’s frail dope testing record have cast a long shadow over the Olympic Games in general, and in track-and-field events in particular. Outstanding and supernatural achievements will inevitably spark suspicion.

“My doping is training,” replied Ayana. “I am crystal clean. There is nothing else.”Dibaba graciously hailed Ayana’s victory. The former is now a distant second best to her compatriot. The Olympic mantle has been passed on. In the future, as Ayana specialises in the 10,000m, she will attack her own world record, with even greater focus.