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Said Aouita
Full Name:Said Aouita Biography Saïd Aouita (Arabic: سعيد عويطة) (born November
2, 1959) is a former Moroccan athlete, winner of 5000 meters at the 1984
Summer Olympics.
Aouita's first major international competition was the 1983 World
Championships held in Helsinki where he contested the 1500 m. In the
final, the pace dawdled for the first 1000 m, tactics that did not suit
Aouita, and he was outkicked by the kickers, finishing third. After this
experience, Aouita decided to run 5000 m at the Los Angeles Olympics. The
5000 m final was run at a very fast pace set by Antonio Leitão from
Portugal, which suited Aouita much better than the tactics used in
Helsinki. He stayed behind Leitão and then sprinted past him on the last
lap to win.
In the next season, Aouita ran two world records: at first in 5000 m
(13:00.40) and then in 1500 m (3:29.46). Aouita's 1500 m world record was
remarkable for its slow start. Aouita passed the first 400 m in a mediocre
time of 57.0 seconds, at 800 m he was still just under 1:54 min before he
accelerated dramatically. These outstanding achievements were preceded by
Aouita's most bitter defeat. In a 1500 m race in Nizza Steve Cram became
the first man to run under 3:30 minutes. Aouita sprinted the final 100 m
of that race in 11.8 s and nearly caught Cram, but his dream of being the
first man under the magic barrier was destroyed. In 1986, Aouita was the
overall winner of the IAAF Grand Prix series. In 1987, Aouita broke Steve
Cram's 2000 m world record with a time of 4:50.81. Only six days later, he
broke his own world record for 5000 m, and in the process became the first
man to break 13 minutes, finishing in 12:58.39.
For the World Championships held later that year, Aouita had provisionally
entered the 800 m, 1500 m, 5000 m and 10 000 m (probably to keep his
opponents guessing), but eventually decided just to contest the 5000 m. In
the 5000 m final, John Ngugi from Kenya set a fair pace, but by no means
fast. Aouita, always in control of the race, made his move just before the
bell, leading a mass sprint for the finish that he won in 13:26.44.
Aouita sought new challenges for himself in the Olympic year of 1988.
Instead of staying within the comparative security of 5000 m competition,
the distance at which he was the reigning Olympic and World champion, he
decided to concentrate his efforts on the shorter distances. At the Seoul
Olympics he attempted to try the 800 m/1500 m double. Aouita easily won
his heat and semi-final in the 800 m, but had his left leg heavily
bandaged to protect a recently sprained hamstring. In the 800 m final, a
very fast pace was set to try to nullify Aouita's fast finish. Aouita ran
according to his race plan, but in the end he was outkicked by the 800 m
specialists and finished third. His bronze medal made him the only man in
Olympic history to win medals at both the 800 m and 5000 m. However, the
race had aggravated his hamstring injury, and although he qualified for
the semi-finals of the 1500 m, he withdrew before they started.
1992 started very promisingly for Aouita as he set a new world indoor
record over 3000 m in Athens. However, the IAAF refused to ratify the
record for formal reasons. In May Aouita won the Mile at the New York
Games and a 1000 m race in Jena. However, due to injury problems he did
not participate in the Olympic Games in Barcelona. Further comeback
attempts in 1993 and 1995 failed.
After his athletics career ended Aouita worked with mixed success as a
national distance coach in Morocco and Australia. In the later case he
left his post as middle distance coach for Australia under a cloud having
been accused of encouraging athletes to improve their perfomance by taking
drugs.
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