article by Nicola Pucci
There is no race in the world of athletics that has seen an absolute domination of a nation like the 3000 steeplechase by Kenyan athletesjust think that, after the two initial victories of the German Ilg and the Italian Francesco Panetta at the first two editions of the World Championships (1983 and 1987), in the subsequent 13 successes always belonged to a steeplechaser from the highlands, including the Qatari Saif Saaeed Shaheen, who established himself in Paris in 2003 and in Helsinki in 2005, who was none other than the Kenyan-born Stephen Cherono.
At the Olympicssimilarly, after the absence due to the boycott in Montreal 1976 and Moscow 1980, Since Los Angeles 1984, gold has never escaped a Kenyanwho also won five silvers and four bronzes.
Throughout this period, after the era of Moses Kiptanui, three-time world champion in Tokyo 1991, Stuttgart 1993 and Gothenburg 1995 but only silver at the 1996 Atlanta Games after not being selected (!!!) for the Barcelona Games in 1992, the scepter of leader of the African patrol passes from hand to hand until it reaches the most medaled athlete ever, namely Ezekiel Kemboi.
It is he, in fact, just 21 years old, who is the last to surrender to the defector Shaheen both in Paris 2003 and Helsinki 2005, only to be defeated by his compatriot Brimin Kipruto at the World Championships in Osaka in 2007 and then add two consecutive successes at the Berlin 2009 events – with the championship record of 8’00″43 – and the Daegu.
Kemboi looks like this from clear favorite at the 2012 London Games to go in search of his second Olympic gold after the one already won eight years earlier in Athens in 2004when he got the better of his compatriots Kipruto and Paul Koech, and, above all, redeem the only “empty passage” of his career at the Olympic or world level, namely the disappointing seventh place in Beijing 2008 in the race won by his bitterest rival on the track, as well as friend in life, Brimin Kipruto, first in 8’10″34.
With the selection for the Olympics always very difficult in Kenya, for London the seasonal leader Paul Koech is left out – author of an astonishing 7’54″31 per “Golden Gala” of Rome (just 0″68 cents from Shaheen’s world limit) -, giving preference to more consistent athletes on big occasions, namely Kemboi himself, Kipruto and Abel Mutai.
With no surprises in the batteries, 15 athletes will present themselves at the start of the final on August 5th 2012with European hopes pinned on the Frenchman of Algerian origins Mahiedine Mekhissi-Bennabad, already silver in Beijing 2008 behind Kipruto and twice victorious at the European Championships in Barcelona 2010 and Helsinki 2012.
With the race taking place at a slow pace, eight more athletes have the chance to win the gold medal at the bell on the last lapincluding the three Kenyans (of which Kipruto had to pay for a fall, however returning to the leading group), the Ethiopian Roba Gari, the American Evan Jager and Mekhissi-Benabbad himself, and the first to break the deadlock is the Ethiopianwith the clear intention of anticipating the sprint of the highland athletes.
At his reach, Kemboi, Mutai and Mekhissi-Benabbad respond immediatelywith Jager and Kipruto slightly distanced, with the two-time world champion attacking in turn at the exit of the penultimate corner, taking a clear advantage on the straight in front of the finishing line, to which only his compatriot Mutai attempted to react, however wasting energy which cost him the silver , being overtaken by Mekhissi-Benabbad who, in 8’19″08, replicates the silver from Beijing 2008 while Kemboi takes his second Olympic gold around his neck triumphing in the otherwise not exceptional time of 8’18″56 (but we know that in these cases the placings and the times count very little), with a curious deviation in the last meters that led him to cross the finish line almost in eighth lane.
Kemboi confirmed himself as the undisputed leader in the following years by winning two more world titles in Moscow in 2013 and in Beijing in 2015in both cases preceding his compatriot Conseslus Kipruto by a “quatern” which has no equal in the specialty, and then participate in his fourth Olympics in Rio de Janiero 2016 where, now 34 years old, he hands over the scepter to the youngest of the Kiprutos, Conseslus, being deprived of the bronze he won for having put his foot off the track at the exit of the last rivieraa decision that was a little too severe for a champion of this kind.
Sin, it would really have been a nice way to say goodbye to the five-circle Arengo…