The excitement of running at his debut Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, got the better of SA's prominent long-distance runner Precious Mashele.

Mashele messed up his 5,000m race in heat two to miss the final.

The 30-year-old Limpopo-born star surprised everyone when he led the pack after four laps and exhausted all his energy halfway through the 12-and-a-half-lap race. He ran out of gas, as his legs could not carry him in a fast race.

Mashele qualified for the Olympics on deadline day in Durban on June 29. He came into the race with a strategy to attack from the onset, but it backfired as he faded.

He ended the race in 15th place with a time of 13:48.25 .

Out of the 20 runners, the first five finishers got the automatic qualifying places, while the second five runners got non-automatic qualifying places.

While experienced campaigners Joshua Cheptegei reserved their energy for the final few laps, Mashele was miles ahead, and he used all his strength.

Mohad Katir of Spain won the race, clocking 13:30.10, followed by Paul Cheliomo of the US in second place (13:30.15), while Justyn Knight of Canada finished third in 3:30.22. Jacob Kiplimo (13:30.40) and Cheptegei (13:30.61) grabbed the fourth and fifth automatic qualifying places.

Mashele admitted that what happened on the track was not what he had discussed with his coach Hendrick Ramaala.

He said that he got it all wrong as he wanted his rivals to run a fast race, but ended up being exhausted too early in the race.

“It did not go the way I had planned it with my coach [Ramaala]. It was a learning curve for me, and I hope to take the lessons to the World Championships in the US next year. I learnt a lot in this race. I cannot blame myself because it was for the first time, and there was a lot of excitement in there. I did not position myself the way the coach told me to, and I ended doing my own thing going up and down too early,” explained Mashele.

He said he did not have anything left in his body when they started to sprint. “When they began to kick, I had nothing left. It was my first Olympics, and I was too excited. When I took the lead early in the race, I was trying to make them run fast. I challenged myself to take the lead and things backfired, but it is a learning curve,” he added.