No Ordinary Fool

For most casual fans of the Olympics, there is understandably nothing more thrilling than two 100 metres gladiators going head-to head in the final, with the wearer of the laurel wreath being decided by who’s hair is the longest when they dip for the line. It is simply unadulterated chest-thumping, alpha-male drama at its finest.

For distance running fans, this sort of outcome is pure fantasy.

Normally.

If life was fair, Paul Tergat of Kenya would have been the greatest distance runner of his generation. A silkily smooth runner, he won the World Cross-Country Championships an incredible five consecutive times, including through the mud, wind, and rain of Belfast in 1999 (which I had the good fortune to witness). He also set a world record for the 10,000 metres and world best times for the half-marathon and marathon.

However, Tergat had an arch-rival - the even more remarkable Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia, who is probably the finest long-distance runner ever, winning ten major titles and setting many world record and world best times.

What made their rivalry all the better was that both were good friends and two complete gentlemen in person.

The First Clash of the Titans

The two first clashed in the Olympics at the 1996 Atlanta Games over 10,000 metres. It was a fine race. Around the half-way mark, the Kenyans, working together, injected some pace and whittled the leading pack down to six athletes over the next two miles. At this stage, Tergat made his move, burning around two laps of the track in just over two minutes. The ploy was successful, as it dropped the rest of the pack.

Everyone that is, except Gebrselassie, who attacked going into the final lap and powered his way to a relatively easy win in the end. It had been a superb race between two giants of men.

The Night Every Step Mattered

Four years later, in Sydney, the two men squared up to each other again over the same distance. It would prove to be the most dramatic 10,000-metre race of all time.

The race had been a tense affair, with no decisive moves getting made prior to the final lap of twenty-five. With 200 metres to go, Tergat went for home, sprinting clear of the pack. Gebrselassie followed him, straining every muscle in his pursuit. He was gaining and gaining, but still Tergat hung onto the lead.

Was Gebrselassie’s record of five straight wins in major 10,000-metre races, stretching back to 1993, about to come to a shuddering halt?

Tergat covered the last 200 metres in an astonishing 26.3 seconds. Gebrselassie produced a time of 25.4 seconds, which would have been world-class finishing speed over 800 metres. He won by a margin of 0.09 seconds. In the 100 metres, at the same Games, Maurice Greene defeated Ato Boldon by 0.12 seconds.

Simply put, it was competitive distance running at its breathtaking finest. However, Tergat would never be Olympic Champion. As remarkable as he was, there was that one man who had the edge on him both times.

It is moments like this that give the right to be Olympic Champion its glorious essence.