ATHENS, 25 August 2004 — Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco ended eight years of agony here yesterday as he won the Olympic Games men’s 1500 meters gold medal. The 29-year-old four-time world outdoor champion won in a thrilling duel with Kenya’s Bernard Lagat to cross the line in 3min 34.18sec. Lagat took silver in 3:34.30 and Rui Silva of Portugal won the bronze in 3:34.68. El Guerrouj had taken up the pace with two laps remaining after an early slow pace set by the three Kenyans. At the bell El Guerrouj was still in front but being tracked by Lagat and the menacing form of Ukrainian Ivan Heshko loomed large. However, they soon shook off Heshko but Lagat stuck to him like a limpet and on the final bend moved alongside him.
Neither could get the edge as, first, El Guerrouj held his own. But then at the 40 meters from the line mark Lagat moved ahead but he could not kill him off and the Moroccan was back alongside him and then moved ahead with just meters left to win a quite outstanding battle.
Kemboi Leads Kenyan Clean Sweep in Steeplechase
Ezekiel Kemboi continued the Kenyan tradition in the Olympic Games 3,000 meters steeplechase when he led home a clean sweep by the East African nation, winning in 8min 5.81sec.
Kenya have won the steeplechase title at every Games they have attended since 1968, missing only the 1976 and 1980 gold medals due to boycotts. Kemboi finished second at the 2003 World Championships behind the Kenyan-turned-Qatari Saeed Saif Shaheen, who the Kenyan federation blocked from competing in Athens.
Teenager Brimin Kipruto was second in 8:06.11 while Paul Koech, the pre-race favorite as the only man under eight minutes this year, was third in 8:06.64. Kemboi and Koech revealed that there had been some team planning about how to burn off the opposition.
The trio took a lap of honor together and were then congratulated on the track by the legendary Kip Keino, the man often credited with inspiring the Kenyan running revolution.
In fourth was another Kenyan-turned-Qatari Musa Obaid Amer, formerly Moses Kipchirchir, who registered a huge personal best of 8:07.18. Amer claimed that Kipruto blocked him while the quartet approached the last water jump.
Hayes Wins Dramatic Women’s 100m Hurdles
Joanna Hayes of the United States won a dramatic Olympic Games women’s 100 meters hurdles gold medal. Olena Krasovska of Ukraine won silver and Melissa Morrison of the United States took bronze.
However, the race was turned on its head as race favorite and world champion Perdita Felicien fell heavily at the first hurdle and in a vain attempt to cushion her fall the Canadian’s right arm caught Russia’s Irina Shevchenko bringing her down as well.
A distraught Felicien said it would take a long time for her to rid herself of the psychological scars. Hayes, ignorant of the carnage, carried on leading from start to finish and collapsed in surprise on realizing she had won.
Williams-Darling Provides Golden Tonic for Bahamas
Tonique Williams-Darling of the Bahamas won the women’s 400 meters gold medal after a thrilling duel with world champion Ana Guevara of Mexico. The 28-year-old Bahamian timed 49.42 seconds while Guevara took silver in 49.56sec and Russia’s Natalya Antyukh won bronze in a time of 49.87sec.
Williams-Darling came into the straight in the lead but Guevara fought back and for 60 meters they were locked in a no-quarter tussle.
However, Williams-Darling finally got the extra spurt she needed with around 30m to go and Guevara had no response, though she battled gamely on to take the silver while Antyukh came late to deny Monique Hennagan of the United States third place.
Sebrle Crowned Decathlon Champion
Czech soldier and world recordholder Roman Sebrle put together a tally of 8,893 points to claim the decathlon title.
Sebrle follows in the footsteps of legends like Jim Thorpe, Bob Mathias, Bruce Jenner and Daley Thompson and, in addition to his gold medal, he can also claim the mantle of being ‘The World’s Best All Around Athlete.’
His score was the fifth best of all time, despite only taking the lead after the penultimate event.
American champion Brian Clay finished with the silver medal with 8,820 points. Kazakhstan’s Dimitry Karpov ended the two days of competition with 8,725 points.
Sanchez Mind Games Work as Olympic Champion Crashes Out
World champion Felix Sanchez recieved a huge boost to his hopes of winning Olympic gold as defending champion Angelo Taylor of the United States crashed out of the 400 meters hurdles. The 25-year-old clipped the penultimate hurdle and went from second to fourth behind Sanchez, but his time was not good enough to be one of the two fastest losers.
The man he edged out of gold in Sydney in 2000, Saudi Arabia’s Hadi Al-Soumaily fared worse finishing fifth in the same heat. Sanchez said that was exactly what he had hoped for after posting the fastest time of the three semifinals.
South Africa’s Olympic bronze medallist Llewellyn Herbert was also knocked out finishing fifth in a heat won by Jamaica’s Danny McFarlane.
Gatlin, Holmes Advance in Quest for Doubles
Justin Gatlin continued his bid to emulate Carl Lewis with an Olympic sprint double while Kelly Holmes of Great Britain aimed for a double over the middle distances.
Coming off his 100 meters gold on Sunday night, Gatlin won his second round race in 20.03 seconds, just off the leading 19.96 seconds fellow-American Shawn Crawford recorded in his heat. Namibian veteran Frankie Fredericks, a 1993 world champion and two-time Olympic silver medalist in his specialty discipline, also progressed in 20.20 seconds in what is his last career event.
Less than 24 hours after her stunning 800m gold the Briton Holmes was back on the track in her specialty discipline, the 1,500m, and moved into the semifinals with 4:05.58 minutes.
