After the spit, the polish. No sooner had Usain Bolt revealed that Justin Gatlin, the two-times drugs offender, had spat in his lane at a race last year than Mo Farah cut through the phlegm-flam with a stunning run that reasserted him as the favourite for the Olympic long-distance titles.
Farah was fast and flawless as he saw off a field of top Africans, including Kenenisa Bekele, to win the 5,000 metres at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon. “Happy days,” he said. His coach was more effusive. “I think Mo is the best distance runner in the world right now,” Alberto Salazar said.
It is rare to see a British athlete so dominant in an event that had become a closed shop to Europeans. Farah’s time of 12min 56.99sec was his second-best ever, the best in the world this year — and too good for Bekele, of Ethiopia, who faded to fourth behind Isiah Koech, of Kenya, and Farah’s friend and apprenctice, Galen Rupp.
Such is Farah’s progress that he no longer regards Bekele in awe. Instead, he expects to beat him and did so in style. Few events at the Olympics build to a natural crescendo of noise and drama like the distance races and, although Farah led a four-man breakaway at the Diamond League showpiece, nobody could outkick him on the last lap.
Farah will not be getting ahead of himself and a sign of how tough it will be came from the 10,000 metres race in Eugene, which doubled as the Kenyan Olympic trials. To give an idea of the depth of talent, the 11 fastest men in Kenya from last year did not make it.
Advertisement
Bekele, too, will get better, according to his manager, Jos Hermens, as he is still easing back to peak fitness after long-term injury and only three weeks’ training on his self-built track designed to reduce the toll on his body. Rupp, too, can no longer be discounted.
It was a weekend that truly ushered in the Olympic Games. Farah’s majestic run came two days after Bolt had fuelled optimism that London could be the venue for more record-breaking fancy with his 9.76sec demolition of another good field. He also revealed that Gatlin, the 2004 champion and 100 metres winner in Eugene, now on the comeback trail after a four-year ban, had spat in his lane last year in Zagreb in an attempt to intimidate him. “I thought it was funny,” Bolt said, nothing more than mildy amused by Gatlin’s old-school braggart schtick.
But if the good displays whetted the appetite, the flip side is the anxiety caused by injuries this close to the Games. Two British medal hopes have tested the nerves in recent days. First Yamilé Aldama, the world indoor triple jump champion, hurt her shoulder competing in Rome, resulting in a torrid 24 hours as she waited for scan results to reveal only a stretched tendon that will take a week to heal. The next night in Eugene, Phillips Idowu, the Olympic silver medal-winner, pulled out midway through a high-class triple jump competition.
His agent said that was precautionary and that he may still jump at the Diamond League meeting in Olso on Thursday. However, those British jumpers who are managing to complete events look in fine form.
After Greg Rutherford’s long jump triumph in Rome, Shara Proctor won the women’s event in Eugene, seeing off a top-class field that included the world and Olympic champions. Her leap of 6.84 metres puts her in the world’s top five and underlines her ambition to win the gold in London.
Advertisement
It is not just the British who are building a head of steam. Sanya Richards-Ross clocked 49.39sec in the 400 metres, the sort of time that would surely be beyond Christine Ohuruogu if the American does it again at the Olympics. But perhaps the only performance to truly rival Farah’s came from Liu Xiang.
The Chinese hurdler equalled the world record of 12.87sec only to be told that it was too windy for it to count. Four years ago Liu, a national icon in China, walked out of the Bird’s Nest Stadium before competing in the 100 metres hurdles because of injury. If he and Farah can repeat their weekend feats in London, the memories will be indelible.
Whether Oscar Pistorius will be there to join them is still in doubt. He was a distant last in the 400 metres, almost four seconds adrift of LaShawn Merritt, and still needs to gain the qualifying time to be selected for the South Africa Olympic team.