Fam Should Make Beijing Steeplechase Final An Honest Effort
Posted by Jimmie R. Markham | August 18, 2008
Anthony Famiglietti wants a bronze medal in Beijing. He has stated that he can’t do any better than that because many of the other athletes are cheaters.
Even so, he’ll most likely have to get a huge PR in the Beijing final. Of the 15 men in the final, Fam is ranked only 12th, both in season’s best and in PR. He may even have to set an American record to get on the medal stand. Since Dan Lincoln’s AR is 8:08.52 and Fam’s PR is only 8:17.34, that would be an improvement of 8.52 seconds for him. But even that may not be enough. Seven men in the final have PR’s faster than Lincoln’s AR. The good news is that Fam has the 3rd fastest qualifying time from the heats. That probably won’t mean anything in the final, though.
Look for Fam do do what he did in the heats (watch the video of that race here) and take it out hard in a pure guts race à la Prefontaine. If the other runners let him go in the final, he just might get on that medal stand. Any way it turns out, it definitely won’t be a plodding 7 lap jog followed by a furious half lap kick, not if Fam can help it. After all, unlike some of the athletes he’ll be facing in the final, he’s all about honest efforts.
| Athlete | NAT | SB 2008 | 2008 Rank | PB | PB Rank | Heats Time | Heats Rank |
| Ezekiel Kemboi | KEN | 8:09.25 | 3 | 8:02.49 | 1 | 8:17.55 | 4 |
| Brimin Kiprop Kipruto | KEN | 8:13.60 | 6 | 8:02.89 | 2 | 8:23.53 | 13 |
| Mustafa Mohamed | SWE | 8:11.10 | 4 | 8:05.75 | 3 | 8:17.80 | 5 |
| Richard Kipkemboi Mateelong | KEN | 8:07.64 | 1 | 8:05.96 | 4 | 8:19.87 | 9 |
| Bouabdellah Tahri | FRA | 8:12.72 | 5 | 8:06.91 | 5 | 8:23.42 | 12 |
| Tareq Mubarak Taher | BRN | 8:08.53 | 2 | 8:07.12 | 6 | 8:23.66 | 15 |
| Abdelkader Hachlaf | MAR | 8:15.58 | 8 | 8:08.78 | 7 | 8:23.62 | 14 |
| Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad | FRA | 8:16.95 | 11 | 8:14.22 | 8 | 8:16.95 | 2 |
| Benjamin Kiplagat | UGA | 8:14.29 | 7 | 8:14.29 | 9 | 8:20.22 | 10 |
| Abubaker Ali Kamal | QAT | 8:15.80 | 9 | 8:15.80 | 10 | 8:21.85 | 11 |
| Yacob Jarso | ETH | 8:16.88 | 10 | 8:16.88 | 11 | 8:16.88 | 1 |
| Anthony Famiglietti | USA | 8:17.34 | 12 | 8:17.34 | 12 | 8:17.34 | 3 |
| Youcef Abdi | AUS | 8:17.97 | 13 | 8:17.97 | 13 | 8:17.97 | 6 |
| Ion Luchianov | MDA | 8:18.97 | 14 | 8:18.97 | 14 | 8:18.97 | 7 |
| Ruben Ramolefi | RSA | 8:19.86 | 15 | 8:19.86 | 15 | 8:19.86 | 8 |
Photo courtesy of RunFam.com.
Topics: Blog, Middle Distance, Olympic Games |