London Diaries, Day 2: Mo Farah, Galen Rupp go 1-2 in 10,000 meters, by Larry Eder

Mo Farah, Galen Rupp, London 10,000 meters, photo by PhotoRun.net

Mo Farah, Galen Rupp, Tariku Bekele, London Oympic 10,000 meters,

photo by PhotoRun.net

The 10,000 meters, the longest race on the track is 25 laps. In those 25 laps, one has many times to make an error. A championship 10,000 meters is even more fraught with complication. Last year, at the World Champs 10,000m, Mo Farah out ran all but one in the race. Mo Farah obviously learnt from that race.

The 1,2 finish of Mo Farah and Galen Rupp was not just two great training partners, two mates training well and racing well, it was the cooperation of coaches, supporters in two countries. Athletes from Great Britain’s rich tradition, Dave Bedford, Ian Stewart and Sebastian Coe were involved. Uk Athletics Neils de Vos and Charles van Commenee gave support. And Alberto Salazar brought the two young men, under his wing. Last February, Alberto and Ian told me how please they were that both guys were training together so well.

It is one of the greatest successes of Uk Athletics in this Olympics and one of the greatest successes of Team USA as well, as Mo Farah won the first 10,000m gold for the British team and Galen Rupp took the first silver medal for US in the 10,000m since 1964 (oh, before that, was 1912).

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This championship race was not going to be a fast one. Kenenisa Bekele, the WR at the 10,000m and 5,000m, led the first kilometer in 2:54.88, with all in tow. Wilson Kiprop of Kenya, the Olympic Trials champ for Kenya, lead the second kilometer, in 5:59.56,

running an even slower 3:05. Kiprop would drop out of the race later.

Zersenay Tadese, from Eritrea, took over the pace, and hit the 3,000m in 8:42.45, a proper kilometer split as the field started to string out. Both Bekeles, Tariku and Kenenisa were there, as was Galen Rupp, Dathan Ritzehein, Matt Tegenkamp, and of course, Mo Farah. The top Kenyans were there as well as all three Ethiopians.

Tadesse took the field through 11:23.16 for 4000 meters (2:41), and hit the 5,000 meters in 14:05.79 (2:42). A solid pace, but not killer. Yet.

The pack was down to twelve as Tadesse pushed along, the 6,000 meters hit in 16:52.7, which slowed the pace down, giving the field time to breathe again. During this jaunt, Galen Rupp looked relaxed and Mo Farah moved around a bit, checking out the field, dodging and weaving, like a boxer.

That Mo Farah has eyes in the back of his head is a given. This guy has spidey senses. A strong tactician before, Mo Farah is the complete distance runner, which is what Alberto Salazar is all about-completeing the education of elite distance runners. Galen Rupp would say afterwards how Alberto and Galen had talked about the Olympics since he was a sophomore in high school. Those talks obviously were paying off.

The pace might now be quickening, but the pressure was. Moses Masai took the lead though the seventh kilometer, the fastest of the race, at 2:40, hit in 19:32.58. It just past here that

Wilson Kiprop, the Kenyan Olympic Trials champ, dropped out.

What I could not figure out afterwards was why the Kenyans, and Ethiopians for that matter, gave the race to Mo? They actually thought they could outkick the Brit, who had shown, for the past 18 months, that his last 700 meters, and especially, his last 400 meters were deadly? Galen Rupps’ 52.4 last 400 meters in the US Trials at 5,000 meters should have given them pause.

Moses Masai continued to lead through the 8,000 meter mark, in 22:15, which was a 2:43, and did not drop anymore in the top eight. Mo Farah was there, Galen Rupp was there, Tariku and Kenenisa Bekele, Tadesse, Masai and Gebre Gebrariam, former ING NYCM marathon champion, and the man who dropped the pace between 8 kilometers and 9 kilometers.

The pace dropped down to 2:36 for the ninth kilometers, hit in 25:01.97. Gebre Gebremariam found Mo Farah next to him, Tariku and Kenenisa Bekele, Galen Rupp and Tadesse in tow. The crowd was screaming, willing Mo Farah on, as the pace became faster and faster.

The final kilometer of the race was run in 2:29, with the final 800 meters under 1:53 as Mo Farah, who moved to the front at 700 meters, began to relentlessly increase the pace, as Farah strung out the field. Gebre Gebremariam started to fall back as Kenya’s last hope, Bedan Muchiri, Tariku Bekele and Kenenisa Bekele challeged Farah.

Mo Farah was reletentless, he would not give an inch. Farah would run the last lap in just over 53 seconds, but his penultimate lap had taken the sting out of his competitors kicks.

And yet, the race was not over! As Mo Farah focused on the two Bekeles, and Muchari, Galen Rupp his training partner, moved into lane two and flew down the last stretch. Never far back, Rupp passed Muchari, then Kenenisa Bekele, and then, finally, with thirty meters to go,

Tariku Bekele.

As Mo Farah, with a face that showed surprise, pleasure and release that the pressure of running for the gold was over, looked back, sensing Galen close and saw his team mate take the silver, the photo was priceless.

Mo Farah had won the first 10,000 meters for Great Britain, and Galen Rupp had taken the first medal by an American male in the 10,000 meters since 1964!

A few nights later, when meeting with Ian Stewart, the bronze medalist at 5,000 meters in Munich, Ian reminded me that he had told us how well Mo Farah would do, last February. Smiling, Stewart looked at me, and said, ” Why don’t you believe?”.

I am a believer now.

————————————————————————————-
The XXX Olympic Games
London (GBR) – Saturday, Aug 04, 2012
10,000 Metres – M FINAL

————————————————————————————-

04 August 2012 – 21:15

Position	Bib	Athlete	Country	Mark	.
1	1808	Mohamed Farah	GBR	27:30.42	.
2	3250	Galen Rupp	USA	27:30.90	.
3	1680	Tariku Bekele	ETH	27:31.43	.
4	1679	Kenenisa Bekele	ETH	27:32.44	.
5	2313	Bedan Karoki Muchiri	KEN	27:32.94	.
6	1599	Zersenay Tadese	ERI	27:33.51	.
7	1597	Teklemariam Medhin	ERI	27:34.76	.
8	1686	Gebregziabher Gebremariam	ETH	27:36.34	.
9	3073	Polat Kemboi Arikan	TUR	27:38.81	(PB)
10	3114	Moses Ndiema Kipsiro	UGA	27:39.22	.
11	1293	Cameron Levins	CAN	27:40.68	.
12	2311	Moses Ndiema Masai	KEN	27:41.34	.
13	3247	Dathan Ritzenhein	USA	27:45.89	.
14	2904	Robert Kajuga	RWA	27:56.67	(PB)
15	1600	Nguse Tesfaldet	ERI	27:56.78	.
16	3110	Thomas Ayeko	UGA	27:58.96	.
17	2371	Moukheld Al-Outaibi	KSA	28:07.25	.
18	1279	Mohammed Ahmed	CAN	28:13.91	.
19	3257	Matthew Tegenkamp	USA	28:18.26	.
20	1061	Ben St.Lawrence	AUS	28:32.67	.
21	2497	Diego Estrada	MEX	28:36.19	.
22	2234	Yuki Sato	JPN	28:44.06	.
23	1621	Ayad Lamdassem	ESP	28:49.85	.
24	2138	Daniele Meucci	ITA	28:57.46	.
25	1837	Christopher Thompson	GBR	29:06.14	.
26	3136	Mykola Labovskyy	UKR	29:32.12	.
.	1253	Ali Hasan Mahbood	BRN	DNF	.
.	1575	Bayron Piedra	ECU	DNF	.
.	2301	Wilson Kiprop	KEN	DNF	.

Intermediate	Bib	Athlete	Nation	Mark
1000m	1679	Kenenisa Bekele	ETH	2:54.88
2000m	2301	Wilson Kiprop	KEN	5:59.56
3000m	1599	Zersenay Tadese	ERI	8:42.45
4000m	1599	Zersenay Tadese	ERI	11:23.16
5000m	1599	Zersenay Tadese	ERI	14:05.79
6000m	1599	Zersenay Tadese	ERI	16:52.71
7000m	2311	Moses Ndiema Masai	KEN	19:32.58
8000m	2311	Moses Ndiema Masai	KEN	22:15.49
9000m	1686	Gebregziabher Gebremariam	ETH	25:01.97

Author

Larry Eder
Larry Eder has had a 52-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys. Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."
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