Saïd Aouita

Saïd Aouita (Arabic: سعيد عويطة, DMG Sa ʿ ʿ īd Awīṭa; born November 2, 1959 in Kenitra ) is a retired Moroccan middle and long distance runners, the 1984 Olympic champion in the 5000 m.

Saïd Aouita dominated during the 1980s, the medium-range distances 800-5000 meters. As he was about 10000 m and 3000 m steeplechase in the advanced world class, it is referred to often as the decathlete among long-distance runners. To date, there was only Aouita 800 m under 1:44 minutes, 1500 meters under 3:30 minutes, 3000 meters under 7:30 minutes and 5000 m below 13:00 minutes to run. He won the race against the Olympic champions Joaquim Cruz ( 800 m ), Peter Rono (1500 m ), John Ngugi (5000 m) and Alberto Cova ( 10000 m ) to their respective specialty distances.

Aouitas first great success he achieved at the World Athletics Championships 1983 in Helsinki over 1500 m. In the final run Aouita showed but still tactical weaknesses and had Steve Cram and Steve Scott to defer. Thereupon Aouita decided the following year at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles to compete in the 5000m. The 5000 -meter final was first given at a high pace of António Leitão from Portugal. In the last round succeeded Aouita to overtake Leitão in the sprint.

In the next season Aouita set two world records: 5000 m in 13:00,40 min on 27 July in Oslo and 1500 m in 3:29,46 min on 23 August in Berlin. This was preceded by Aouitas bitterest defeat ( and one of only four in 119 races 1983-1990 ). In a 1500 - meter race in Nice on July 16, Steve Cram had broken the world record and had been the first man under 3:30 minutes. Aouita was only second place, even though he ran the last 100 m in this race in 13.0 seconds and Cram had almost beaten yet, what established his reputation as a super sprinter. 1986 Aouita won the IAAF Grand Prix. In 1987 he succeeded to break min also held by Steve Cram over 2000 m world record in a time of 4:50,81. Only six days later, he improved his own world record in the 5,000 m and ran the first man that distance under 13 minutes 12:58,39 min.

In the World Cup 1987 in Rome about 5000 m John Ngugi from Kenya ran first a moderate pace. Aouita familiar to its higher top speed and won the race after a bunch sprint on the last lap in a time of 13:26,44 min for themselves.

At the Olympic Summer Games in Seoul in 1988, he tried the double, but not as expected in advance about 5000 m and 10,000 m, but over 800 m and 1500 m. While there, he managed to make it to the finals of the 800 -meter run, due to an injury he had to eventually but be content with the bronze medal. Aouita is thus the only athlete in the history of the Olympics, the medals in the 800 - and won the 5000 -meter run. Because of the injury, he could no longer compete for the semi-finals over 1500 m.

The 3000 m at the World Indoor Championships the following year could Aouita decide for themselves. In the outdoor season, he finally succeeded in the ASV - sports festival in Cologne, to break the world record of Henry Rono about 3000 m, which he had repeatedly attacked in vain. Again he entered in 7:29,45 m the first man under 7:30 minutes uncharted territory. By the early 1990s, however, accumulated injuries and Aouita could not go on old times. 1991, it was only a 11th place over 1500 m at the World Championships in Tokyo. In 1992 he volunteered again with an indoor world record over 3000 m ( 7:36,66 min ), who, however, was denied him by the IAAF because Aouita had transgressed a limit travel brand. More comeback attempts in 1993 and 1995 failed.

Saïd Aouita is one of the great legends in the middle and long distance running. He held temporarily the national records of Morocco on all routes from 800 m to 10,000 m, including 3,000 m steeplechase. In the " eternal " world leaderboard he advanced at different times of his career up to the following items before: 800 m (13 ); 1000 m (6); 1500 m (1); 1 miles (2); 2000 m ( 1); 3000 m ( 1); 2 miles ( 2); 5000 m ( 1); 10000 m ( 6); 3000 m steeplechase (82). A reasonably comparable bandwidth can show in the history of track and only the Kenyan Kipchoge Keino.