Alistair Cragg
Alistair Ian Cragg ( born June 13, 1980 in Johannesburg) is an Irish long-distance runner of South African origin.
The great-grandson of Irish immigrants received as a child dual citizenship at the request of his parents. His father was a successful long-distance runner and coach, and his son was also successful in this discipline early and started as a junior for South Africa at the World Cross Country Championships in 1998 and 1999 in Marrakech in Belfast.
Then he received an athletic scholarship at Southern Methodist University. He had the breakthrough but only after he moved to the University of Arkansas, where he was supervised by coach John McDonnell. In 2002, he decided to compete in the future for Ireland, and in the same year he finished eighth at the European Cross Country Championships in Medulin.
After his graduation, he became a professional athlete. In 2004 he occupied at the World Cross Country Championships in Brussels on the short distance to 16th place, was Irish champion in the 1500m and came at the Olympic Games in Athens 5000 m to twelfth place.
The following year he won a gold medal over 3000 m at the Indoor Athletics Championships in Madrid. About the same distance he was at the 2006 World Indoor Championships in Moscow fourth. At the European Championships in Gothenburg he came in the 5000m finals. There he was in the final third in the lead, but then had to retire with a hamstring injury.
In 2007, he was sixth in the 3,000 m European Indoor Championships in Birmingham, but resigned at the World Championships in Osaka from about 5000 m in the flow. At the Olympic Games in Beijing, he joined both over 1500 m to 5000 m as above. While he did not it past on the shorter distance on the lead, he qualified for the finals on the longer, but not this time reached the target.
At the World Championships in Berlin in 2009, he failed over 5000 m in the first round. In 2010 he finished seventh at the New York City Half Marathon. At the European Championships in Barcelona, he was again in the 5000 -meter final after 3200 m in the lead, but subsequently dropped to the next one and a half rounds back to the last place and were once more on. At the World Championships 2011 he was Fourteenth. The following year, at the Olympic Games in London, he could not reach the final.
Personal Best
- Hall: 13:28,93 min, 14 March 2003 Fayetteville