Two Davids-Lelei And Rudisha: A Column By Len Johnson

By Len Johnson

The amazing thing about many amazing performances is that they look amazingly easy.

Pardon me for overworking the ‘amazing’ word, but it was hard to suppress that feeling watching David Rudisha run 1:43.15 in Melbourne on Thursday night.

Rudisha went through 400 metres a step behind his pacemaker, Sammy Tangui, who split 50.00. Two things were apparent _ three, actually, if you count the fact that Tangui was not going to last much longer; the two salient points, however, were that Rudisha was running very fast, and that he looked totally relaxed doing so.

After his 1:42.01 in Rieti last year, Rudisha has only three men ahead of him on the 800 all-time list: world record holder Wilson Kipketer (1:41.11), former world record holder Sebastian Coe (1:41.73) and 1984 Olympic champion Joaquim Cruz (1:43.77).

Kipketer was the only one of the three whom I saw at his absolute top. That was in 1997 when he won his second world championships and then, having previously equalled Coe’s time, took sole ownership of the world record in Zurich with a 1:41.24 (which he improved 11 days later to the current mark).

It was a privilege. Although I am prepared to say that no-one will ever look as smooth as Kipketer in full flight, Rudisha conveys that same impression of running very fast while looking totally relaxed. It convinces you there is more to come.

Behind Rudisha in Melbourne Ryan Gregson improved his best by another second to 1:46.04 and Tristan Garrett and James Gurr ran ‘pbs’ of 1:46.66 and 1:46.77, respectively. Maurie Plant said on the PA that Rudisha had pulled them to their best times, which I reckon was only partly right.

Lachlan Renshaw actually did the towing as he stayed as close as he could to the flying Kenyans through the first 400. He paid for it, finishing fifth in 1:47.26, but he gave the chasers an unwitting target when they could not even see Rudisha. So Rudisha dragged Renshaw who, in turn, dragged the rest through to personal bests.

Rudisha’s time slashed 0.82 seconds from the Australian all-comers’ record, a record given a touch of poignancy by the fact that the man who set it in Melbourne in 2000, David Lelei, died on 17 February in one of the all-too-frequent accidents on Kenya’s notorious roads.

Lelei was widely hailed for his contribution to Kenyan athletics, first as an athlete and latterly as a local administrator and organiser. He gave of his best in Kenya, and he gave Australia his best performance. The 1:43.97 he ran in Melbourne remained his fastest time.

It was difficult to grab the headlines that night. Among the other highlights were the titanic battle between William Chirchir and soon-to-be-Olympic champion Noah Ngeny over 1500, won by the former 3:32.55 to 3:33.45, an 8.30-metre long jump by Peter Burge, Luke Kipkosgei beating Daniel Komen over 3000 metres, and a pulsating battle in the women’s 400 won by a certain Catherine Freeman over Mexico’s Ana Guevara, 50.31 to 50.41.

Over that summer, thought, the 800 was supreme. Lelei was but one of many big names racing Down Under over two laps.

Atlanta Olympic Games bronze medallist Fred Onyancha (‘pb’ 1:42.79) was top of the bill, but there was also Andre Bucher of Switzerland, a regular visitor for summer training in that period, Djabir Said-Guerni of Algeria and David Kiptoo of Kenya. In addition, Ngeny and Chirchir both stepped down to 800.

It was a challenge for any Australian to step up to that level. Grant Cremer was not racing, but a newcomer named Kris McCarthy broke through, first in a solo run in Canberra, then by chasing the likes of Lelei, Bucher and Said-Guerni.

To give some idea of how the season went, Martin Byron just nipped McCarthy (1:47.56 to 1:47.59) at the Zatopek meeting in December, 1999. With the injection of international competition, McCarthy slashed two seconds off this to get down to 1:45.57 by season’s end, while Byron ran 1:46.45. Both remained their lifetime bests.

Olympic year opened with McCarthy breaking through to 1:45.77 in Canberra to avenge his Zatopek loss to Byron (1:46.45 pb).

Lelei made his first appearance in Hobart at the end of January, defeating Byron 1:47.15 to 1:48.75.

In Brisbane on 11 February, Said-Guerni had his first race, a 1:45.16 to 1:45.59 win over Lelei. Two days later in Sydney, Said-Guerni was beaten by Ngeny, 1:45.74 to 1:46.00. Bucher was third in 1:46.42 ahead of Kiptoo and McCarthy.

At the end of February, the national championships were the test event for the Sydney Olympic Stadium. Said-Guerni beat Lelei, 1:44.28 to 1:44.58, with both men breaking Peter Bourke’s Australian all-comers’ record of 1:44.78. McCarthy took the national title with 1:45.91 in third.

A few days later in Melbourne, Lelei found another half-a-second to win in 1:43.97, another all-comers’ record. Bucher’s excellent 1:45.20 left him a distant second, a couple of metres ahead of McCarthy’s 1:45.57. Kiptoo, Onyancha, New Zealand’s Shaun Farrell and Byron followed, the first seven going sub-1:47.

The final of the domestic grand prix in Adelaide the following week saw Chirchir step down. He won in 1:45.15, 0.20 ahead of Bucher, with McCarthy just missing a fourth 1:45 for the season with 1:46.05 in third.

Eight weeks brought two Australian all-comers’ records (the previous one having survived almost 18 years) and the three fastest 800s ever run in this country, a big break-through for a local talent, and many thrilling races. In addition, Tamsyn Lewis ran 1:59.21, the second-fastest 800 by an Australian woman.

At the end of it all, however, it was David Lelei who stood top of the heap. He stayed there until Rudisha’s great run.