Noureddine Morceli: 1999 World Championships at Seville
I made the trip to the 1999 World Champs at Seville this August and watched
Morceli in the heats and final. The following is an account of the races as I
saw them. By the end of October I'll have detailed splits and photos (granted
they come out) with the text.
Heats: August 21
Morceli ran in the third and final qualifying heat of the night. El Guerrouj
won his heat in an effortless 3:35.63 which earned him the disticntion of
the fastest heat ever (Track and Field News). Spanish star Reyes Estevez (bronze in
the 1997 Champs) cruised in with up-and-coming Algerian Ali Saidi-Sief a
tenth behind in 3:41.34. Morceli ran close to Kenyan Noah Ngeny most of the
heat and was content to ease up in the homestretch behind Ngeny (3:37.41 to
3:37.63). This was the first time Morceli had ever finished anything but
first in his heat. Morceli didn't look too bad tonight form wise.
Semi-finals: August 22
The following night, El Guerrouj easily won his semifinal (the first) over
the Spaniards Cacho and Estevez. Morceli was in the second heat with Ngeny
and Spaniard Diaz. Diaz took the lead immediately pushing the first lap just
under 60 seconds. Morceli got a bad start and was in the back of the pack
most of the first half of the race trying to move up. Ngeny had the lead at
800 with a 1:59 but Diaz passed the Kenyan at the bell after a 57 second
third lap. Morceli has moved closer to the pair at the bell and the trio
hada small gap on the rest of the field going into the homestretch. Morceli
was positioned comfortably behind Diaz and Ngeny (running side by side) with
100 to go but either he was easing up or not able to keep up the final sprint
and he was passed by Adil Kaouche, David Lelei, and Graham Hood in the final
meters. He was lucky that he ran fast enough to be one of the two
time-qualifiers. Morceli finished in 3:37.32, Ngeny won in 3:36.13.
Final: August 24
When the athletes walked to the warmup area near the long jump pit, the
stadium erupted as everyone was cheering for the three Spanish 1500m guys.
Morceli did some strides on the backstretch curve and right before the
race embraced El Guerrouj (despite ElG's position as the #1 Miler they
are actually good friends). The gun went off and Adil Kaouche of Morocco
took the lead with Morceli and ElG right behind. Adil's task turned out
to rabbit ElG at near world record pace to take everyone by surprise (1500m
races are usually tactical). Morceli went through a lap in 54.4 right behind
Kaouche and was passed by Ngeny after two laps but was still with the Kenyan
and the two Moroccans as the group hit 800 in 1:52+. At 1000m a gap opened
between Morceli and the Ngeny and ElG (Kaouche slowed down at 900m) and he
was passed by the Spaniards over the next 100m. By the bell he was 20m arears
of the leaders and dropped out 10m later out. While ElG pulled away from
Ngeny and Estevez, Morceli stood with officials behind the track clock and
watched the race complete. As soon as it was done he promptly left the
track and did not talk to anyone after the race...
There is an article from the Algerian Online News Service "Le Matin" on the 1500m
final here. Be
warned, it's in French.
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