There are a lot of great races that hum with drama and excitement, but that leave the established world order firmly in place. The 2012 Olympic 10,000m in London was not one of them.
Instead, in the final flat-out 400 meters, most of what we had come to expect as inevitable in the realm of championship distance running was overturned. Mo Farah, one of Britain's great hope in the Games, endured the bumps and changes of pace throughout the unevenly paced run, took the lead with about 500m to go, closed in 53-something for the final lap, and became the first-ever runner from Great Britain to win 10K gold.
Farah's training partner, Galen Rupp, ran brilliantly and only a few tenths slower over that final lap, moving from fourth to second and taking the Silver. Rupp, the Oregon kid who somehow has never been taken entirely seriously as a great runner, became the first U.S. man to medal in the 10K since Billy Mills in 1964, and the first non-African-born man to medal since Salvatore Antibo in 1988.
Behind Rupp and Farah, a trail of disappointment. Keninisa Bekele, the four-time world champion, two-time defending Olympic champion, and perhaps the greatest 10K runner teh world has ever seen, finished a beaten fourth and out of the medals. Not only was it the first time he had ever lost a 10,000m race he had finished, he also surrendered the bronze to his younger brother, Tariku, who looked absolutely crestfallen to make the podium ahead of Keninisa.
The Kenyan men also looked well-beaten, with Bedan Micheri 5th, Moses Ndiema Masai 12th, and pre-race medal hope Wilson Kiprop a DNF.
With that last lap, American distance running (and coaching!) suddenly seemed to become world-class again. All of a sudden anything seemed the possible. A medal in the 5000m? Yes! ...maybe two!! A medal in the steeplechase or 1500? Why not?!
As the final 200 of the race was unfolding, I was screaming for Rupp to go past Mucheri and then Bekele -- and when, incredibly, he did that, then I was just screaming. Afterwards, the phone started ringing and I found myself talking deliriously to family and friends who had also spent the last few minutes screaming at their TVs. It reminded me of what it was like when the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004; we all couldn't wait to talk to other people about how we had just seen the world change before our eyes.
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