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| Deciding to go to the Atlanta Olympics at the last minute turned out great. As the first week of preliminary events were going on, Ed and I decided we HAD to be there for the final weekend. Buying our tickets from the 800 ticket number the week before, we expected expensive nosebleed seats. We ended up in the second row, just after the start of the homestretch! Great seats! It turned out, our seats were in the middle of the VIP section. When not taken by the VIPs, they were released for sale. What incredible luck! |  |
| Arriving in Atlanta mid-afternoon, we went directly to the stadium for the Men's 4x100 relay semi-finals. Ed and I were close enough to have a quick conversation with Dennis Mitchell (lane 3) as he prepared for his race. He took our advice to "Kick some butt!", at least until the finals where they had their own butts kicked by the Canadians. |  |
| The soon-to-be victorious Canadians qualify for the finals of the 4x100. |  |
| Sitting directly behind us were some pretty quick runners, Paul Tergat, silver medal 10,000 in 27:08:17, and Paul Koech, 6th place in the Olympic 10,000 in 27:35:19. The woman in the white hat is the sister of Moses
Kiptanui, the then steeplechase world record holder and race favorite.
We had great conversations through the night, talking track with some of the best. Tergat willingly retold his 10,000 meter race from the night before, despite his "only" getting a silver. "He was just too fast." |
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| The steeple was one of the best races of the evening. The highly favored Kenyans wre expected to sweep all three places going away. The Italian, Lambruschini, had other ideas as he hung on the Kenyan pack, waiting for his chance to make a move. American, Mark Croghan, had a similar stategy as he trailed the pack closely. |
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| The final sprint! Once the gears shifted the speed was amasing! Showing the world record holder Kiptanui his speed, Keter blasts into the final straightaway. They were flying! |  |
| Pulling even, Keter went past in the final 50 yards for the gold medal. The Italian passed the fading third Kenyan for a surprise bronze medal. Mark Croghan placed an excellent 5th place. |
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| During the victory lap, the winners came over to us, seeing our Kenyan flag. Kiptanui seemed happy for his friend to take the gold, even if it meant only getting a silver. |  |
The third-place Italian joined the others right in front of us. Here are all three Steeplechase medalists!1 Joseph Keter KEN 8:07.12 2 Moses Kiptanui KEN 8:08.33 3 Alessandro Lambruschini ITA 8:11.28 The Kenyan flag in Kiptanui's hands is the one we were using to wave earlier. He used it for the rest of his victory lap. To replace the flag, his sister gave us Kenyan Olympic pins, "Not as a gist, but as a blessing." Tergat added to wear the pin the next week when I ran the Pike's Peak Marathon as it "would make you run like a Kenyan!" |
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| Next up was the Woman's 10,000 meter. The eventual winner, Fernanda Ribeiro (Portugal, 31:01.63) is currently in 3rd place, while silver-medalist and world-record holder Wang Junxia (China, 31:02.58) is in second. |  |
On to Day Two of |
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