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Tergat re-lives Sydney Olympics experience

Principal Correspondent

Tergat has won five World cross country championships
Says he is disappointed at not making it to Beijing

LEGEND IN TOWN: Paul Tergat, one of the all-time great long distance runners, will be a star attraction at the Sunfeast World 10K run.

BANGALORE: There was a tinge of emotion as Paul Tergat, a legend amongst distance runners, re-lived the epic duel with Ethiopia’s Haile Gebrselassie in the final lap of the 10,000m at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

“It’s one of the most memorable races in my career…and it’s still very fresh in my mind, as if it happened only yesterday” said the 39 year old Kenyan, one of the ‘big’ names for the Sunfeast World 10K, to be run here on Sunday.

“I was boxed out by another Ethiopian runner (Assefa Mezgebu) and when I realised it was a ‘game plan’ I panicked. Though I did put everything into my ‘final’ kick, I had to settle for the silver…it was a momentous silver all the same,” recollected Tergat. He clocked .09 seconds behind Haile, who holds the world 10000m record with 27:02.00s.

“Haile is a very good friend of mine and the fiercest competitor too” admits Tergat who has won five World cross country championships in addition to two World championship and Olympic silvers in the 10,000m.

Tergat, who once held the marathon world record and made his Olympic debut at Athens Olympics (he finished tenth), is not in the Kenyan team for Beijing.

“I’m disappointed at not making it to Beijing (Olympics)…but then there are a whole lot of talented runners in Kenya who have been in my shadow for so long. They too need exposure. I’m selective of the events I run now and it’s not more than 4-5 races a year…and mostly run to raise charity” said the genial Kenyan.

“This is the first race of the year as my preparations for the London marathon too came to nought because of the political upheavals in Kenya”.

Unlike other runners from his country who turned to Europe and other places to train, Tergat believed in staying home “though even indoors it was not safe”.

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