The 800

By LEN JOHNSON

We pretty well began these columns writing about what a wacky event the 800 metres was and how it had replaced unpredictable events like the pole vault as the flakiest on the championship program.

It was noted it had been 10 years, since current world record-holder Wilson Kipketer in 1999, since one man had dominated the event (adding an honourable mention to Andre Bucher in 2001).

The disparity between what happens in the one-off races on the international circuit and what happens after three, cut-throat rounds at a championship was likewise pointed out.

Talk got us nowhere. What has happened in 2009? The women's event threw up a sensation in Caster Semenya, of course, in which matters are still to take their full course, but the men's side has brought simply more of the same. One event veteran, Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, won the world championships just short of his 29th birthday to succeed another veteran, last year's Olympic champion at age 28, Wilfred Bungei, as event global title-holder.

Abubaker Kaki dominated the pre-world championships part of the season, winning five races and running three times at 1:43.50, or faster. Ultimately, he also lived up to his reputation as disaster-prone, injuring his hamstring in Oslo, then tripping himself up in the world championships semi-finals.

(Let's digress here on the horrible three semi-finals draw for the 800, with only the first two guaranteed progression to the final. Berlin's second men's semi-final had the first four in the final, plus Asbel Kiprop and Ismail Ismail. The race was overwhelmingly loaded. Kiprop got a check and jogged home and Ismail was a 'dnf', thus saving it from being even more ridiculous.

Three semi-finals in the 800 is an abomination. In the words of Beavis and Butt-Head: "This Sucks, Change it!")

David Rudisha, a Brother Colm O'Connell trained Kenyan, failed to make the final in Berlin, flailing about over the last 10 metres of his semi-final, losing both form and the vital second place which would have advanced him.

Rudisha has bounced back to win in Zurich, Brussels and Rieti, the last in an African record 1:42.01 which leaves him behind only Kipketer (1:41.11), Sebastian Coe (141.73) and Joaquim Cruz (1:41.77) on the all-time list. He may well win at the World Athletics Final, too.

Tall and strong _ I sat in on a conversation between Kenyan journalists in Berlin during which he was criticised for being "timid" in failing to take advantage of his physical presence _ Rudisha does not turn 21 until the end of the year. His father, Daniel Rudisha, was in Kenya's 1968 Olympic silver medal 4x400 metres relay team.

An interesting point, that. Kenya once was once a force in 400 metres, winning the 1972 Olympic relay after taking the silver in 1968. At world championships, Kenya was fifth in 1987 and 1991, second in 1993 and a finalist in 1995; at Commonwealth Games, Charles Asati (1970-74) and Charles Gitonga (1994) have been individual champions and Kenya won the relay in 1970, 1974 and 1978.

When was the last time you saw a Kenyan 400 runner? Kenya's decline in 400 roughly tracks parallel to its relative decline at 800. Its last period of dominance (if we include the early part of Kipketer's career here) was the early 1990s, about the last period in which it was producing quality one-lappers.

Perhaps most of Kenya's world-beating 800 runners came from the 400 end of the spectrum. David Rudisha certainly does, both from his direct family bloodlines and his own earlier participation in decathlon and 400.

At the minute, Rudisha is just one more confirming example of the uncertainty of the 800, but it's going to be interesting to watch him develop.

There were some virtually unnoticed Australian advances late in the season. Lachlan Renshaw put an otherwise-forgettable European tour behind him with a win in personal best 1:45.73 in Leverkusen on 31 July. Because this came on the eve of the championships and too late to have Renshaw added to the team, it was largely overlooked. Then, in the B-race in Rieti, Ryan Gregson improved to 1:47.38 and Mitch Kealey to 1:48.39. Collis Birmingham ran 3:35.76 in the 1500.



There's no major break-through along the lines of Mottram, Ritzenhein or Tegenkamp just yet, but surely it cannot be far off.


 

Len Johnson was The Melbourne Age athletics writer for over 20 years, covering five Olympics, 10 world championships and five Commonwealth Games. He is the author of The Landy Era, From Nowhere to the Top of the World, and a former national class distance runner (2.19.32 marathon) who trained with Chris Wardlaw and Robert de Castella.

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