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News02 Jul 2000


Saïdi-Sief still favours the 1500

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Mark Butler for the IAAF

3 July 2000 - In the wake of his brilliant 5000m run at Friday’s IAAF Golden League in Rome, Algeria’s Ali Saïdi-Sief repeated his intention to revert to his familiar event at the Olympic Games. "It will definitely be the 1500m," he said to me at the closing banquet of the Golden Gala, "definitely." The 22 year-old could be excused for changing his mind when he reflects on his terrific performance in Rome. Content to follow a series of Kenyan pacemakers for most of the race, he slipped in front with 900m remaining and went on to cover the last two laps in 1:56.6; no-one else, not even the great Paul Tergat, was quicker than two minutes for their closing 800s. Saïdi-Sief’s total time of 12:50.86 was far and away the quickest of 2000 and destroyed the Algerian record of Noureddine Morceli. It was also good enough to give him fifth place on the all-time list, not bad for someone making their début at the 12.5 lap event.

It was a defeat of Morceli in last year’s Zürich 1500m which was Saïdi-Seif’s biographical headline prior to this season. This was Morceli’s first loss to a fellow Algerian since 1986. The first signs that Saïdi-Sief had reached a new level this year was a solo 3:32.5 1500m in Algiers on June 6. This was followed by a crushing win at 3000m in Paris (7:27.67), then Rome. Now Saïdi-Sief plans a period of intensive training in Europe, with possible appearances at the African Championships then Zürich or Monaco, where he might try a 1500m.

Saïdi-Sief,  was born on Constantine on March 15, 1978. Since July 1999, he has been based in Angers (France), where he is coached by former French international 800m runner Philippe Dupont.

"This year I have trained very hard," said the young Algerian. "In Paris I expected to run 7:24-7:25, but I was very happy. For me, it is all down to the volume of my training."

Managed by the colourful Italian Enrico Dionisi, Saïdi-Sief had previously been based in Siena (Italy). In Angers, he has been running up to 180km per week. "Before it was the same," he explained, "but now the planning is better." Dupont has also added intensive weight training to the Algerian’s schedule for the first time. A third change has been less competition."Before I trained hard but also raced a lot," he said. This year a sponsorship deal has eased the need to run for money. Having taken Morceli’s scalp and record, Saïdi-Sief would dearly love to take his Olympic 1500m title. In order to do this he faces the daunting prospect of having defeat one of the biggest favourites in any Olympic event, Hicham El Guerrouj. It was El Guerrouj, of course, who took over from Morceli as the world’s number one miler after Atlanta. Then, the Algerian was favourite with the Moroccan - until his untimely fall at the bell - his biggest challenger. Will the tables be turned in Sydney ?

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