News14 Aug 2008


Lagat cautiously optimistic as double ambitions begin

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Bernard Lagat wins the 1500m to complete 1500m/5000m double at US Olympic Trials (© Getty Images)

BeijingWith the start of his quest to succeed Hicham El Guerrouj as the Olympic 1500 and 5000m champion now just a day away, Bernard Lagat believes he is ready and indeed up for the daunting challenge.

“This is the one I’ve been looking forward to,” the reigning world champion over both distances said. “My preparation has really been at the top.”

The first round of the men’s 1500m is scheduled for Friday evening, the first five races on the Kenyan-born American’s busy Beijing schedule. Lagat said that both distances will pose their unique challenges, but that it’s the 1500m that may pose the stiffest test.

“I think both are going to be very difficult. The 1500 has three rounds and those three rounds are very taxing. So I think that is the race that’s going to take a little bit more out of me.”

Lagat has already captured Olympic bronze (2000) and silver (2004), and like El Guerrouj, is hoping to finally strike gold in his third appearance on the world’s biggest stage.

Lagat said he wasn’t too distressed about his third place finish in the mile in London late last month, his final pre-Beijing outing and his first loss of the 2008. It didn’t illustrate a lack of fitness, he said, but was rather the result of a simple mistake he’s hoping to not repeat here.

“What happened in London was that I wanted to run a smart race but it wound up not being a smart race,” he said. “I wanted to run basically strong at the end. But I got boxed in with about 250 metres to go. I wasn’t planning that but I’ll use that as a learning process.”

“Otherwise I felt strong,” he added. “Once I got out of that trouble I started to kick hard. I wasn’t really disappointed but I learned something out of that race.”

Underscoring the state of his current form, Lagat said his training sessions at his European summer training base in Tubingen, Germany, and at the U.S. camp in Dailen, China, have been going exceptionally well. He ran a 1000m time trial in 2:19, with which he was pleased.

“That was good enough for me. That’s a good indication that my training’s been going well.”

While his primary focus is on the 1500m, Lagat given some thought to the 5000 which he describes as a wide open race.

“Everybody who makes the final, especially the 5000 metres, has a chance to win the race,” he said. But he did single out World record holder Kenenisa Bekele, whose entry has changed the dynamic of the contest, as the one to chase.

“Everyone knows he can really run tough anytime he wants, at the beginning of the race or at the end of the race. So it’s really going to change everything.”

“But my thinking is that everyone’s going to be tough. But I also want to believe that my preparation coming here has been fantastic and I want to believe that I’m going to be ready for any kind of race that’s going to develop.”

As the most experienced man in the field, he’s certainly ready for whatever he’ll face in the 1500, come fast pace or slow.

“I’ll be happy either way,” he said. “If it is fast from the beginning that’ll be better because I’m used to that. The only thing that I have to be very careful about is not to get tripped, boxed in or pushed around. It’s important to know my position when I’m running. That’s the most important thing. And to know when to run hard.

Should he succeed in the 1500m, Lagat would at 32 become the oldest Olympic champion in the event. But age for Lagat means little. In fact, he said, in his mind he’s still 22, and insists that whatever might transpire in Beijing over the next 10 days, he’s not going anywhere.

“This is not the end of my running career,” he said. “This is what I love.” Even a defeat at Beijing’s National Stadium won’t take that away.

“If I don’t get it, you know, life is not about winning all the time. After the race, even if I don’t get a medal, I will embrace whoever won it because they worked hard and they deserve it.”

Bob Ramsak for the IAAF

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