Olympic Final was on Saturday August 8th, after heats (10am!) on Monday the 3rd and Semi Finals Thursday the 6th. Many, or at least myself, thought David Kibet would take up the pace at some point of the race. He had won the Bislett stadium Dream mile on USA Independence day, and ran 3:36.32 in the first round of the Games to win his heat.
Morceli - not in shape? Let's see.... 11 days later he won in Zurich in 3:30.75
Pl. Athlete Nat. Birth Result Zurich
1. Noureddine MORCELI ALG 70 3:30.75
2. William KEMEI KEN 69 3:32.41
3. Fermín CACHO ESP 69 3:32.69
4. Jim SPIVEY USA 60 3:32.94
5. Jens-Peter HEROLD GER 65 3:33.78
6. Mohamed SULEIMAN QAT 69 3:34.12
7. David KIBET KEN 63 3:34.15
8. Jonah BIRIR KEN 71 3:34.39
9. Wilfred Oanda KIROCHI KEN 69 3:35.06
10. Joseph CHESIRE KEN 57 3:37.84
And, 18 days later on September 6th in Rieti, Italy, set the World record in 3:28.86.
I do not believe Chesire was a paid rabbit in 1992. You may be thinking of the 1993 World Championships final in Stuttgart, where the Moroccan Taki ,I believe you can find reports that he was paid by the Morceli camp to rabbit, and then was banned for a year (?) in 1994 by the IAAF. Morceli did win the '93 1500m race.... and my coach who was with me that day after the final, was a bit ticked as Cacho had his arm around Morceli after the race for a long time, acting like they were the best of friends. Clearly, Morceli wants to run the victory lap alone.
I was very fit for the Olympic final, yet the silver and bronze went to a 20 and 21 year old, not a 32 year old. Running 3:32.9 in Zurich in my next race, proved that I was fit on the day. Just kept waiting for someone to take the pace and push it.... hmmmm, like someone did at the 1992 USA Olympic Trials. Very disappointing race, to this day - not due to the place, but that I did not apply the way I had been trained. Take up the pace with 800-900 to go, and if you get last/12th, you can at least look in the mirror and ask, did I do the best with the talents I have been given, and answer, out loud, yes. At least learned the lesson for the '93 Worlds, and took the lead after the 400 and was more than happy to let Taki take the pacing duties, albeit did not know he was a paid rabbit.
I always felt the Zurich race was the true outcome of how the Olympic final should have been, with Morceli winning. Kemei from Kenyan, a fellow Kim McDondald athlete, did not make the Kenyan team. But that's what the Olympic final is impressive - no rabbits (we hope).
And it was $1M for any gold medal won by a Spanish athlete.
J Spivey