Athletics: Champion deserves place in history

By TERRY MADDAFORD


Twenty-eight years after his own Olympic triumph, John Walker yesterday watched in awe as Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj won a similarly tactical 1500m final in Athens.

"He is number one. It would have been a travesty if he hadn't won," Walker said. "He deserves his place as an Olympic champion."

Walker was in no hurry to compare this victory with his in Montreal.

"You can't compare eras. He should have won in Atlanta and in Sydney. When I won I was in the lead with 500m to run. He went to the front 800m out. That was the right tactic.


"He showed just how good a competitor he is. For much of the year in Europe these guys run in races with three pacemakers which ensures there is always a fast pace.

"A lot of these runners don't get to run too often off a slow pace."

Walker said that from the time El Guerrouj "whacked in a 53s lap in the semifinals and kept it going" he was confident he could take the final.

"If the final had been run at 3m 30s pace, the Kenyan [Bernard Lagat] would have beaten him. With the race being run at a slower pace it allowed El Guerrouj to produce a big kick.

"But even then, when Lagat got alongside him I thought he was gone and it was going to be Sydney all over again. That would have been a crying shame. The best man won."

Walker said El Guerrouj's victory "made the Games for me".

He also warned that Athens might not have seen the last of the 29-year-old, 1.76m, 63kg Moroccan.

Walker still rates El Guerrouj, who also holds the world mile and 2000m records, as a chance in the 5000m.

"Unlike the 1500m in Montreal, when we raced three days in a row, he has had two days' rest between his races here. That allows you to race flat out.

"In the 5000m much will depend on how the Ethiopians run. If they gamble on a slow pace, he [El Guerrouj] can win it."