|
Although Algeria had produced two Olympic marathon champions prior to
the end of French colonial rule in 1959, it wasn't until the emergence
of middle-distance runner Noureddine Morceli that they truly had a
world-class male athlete competing under Algerian colours. Morceli's
first significant international competition was for the 1988 junior
world cross-country title at Auckland, where he finished 9th behind
Wilfred Kirochi (Kenya). Later that year, at Sudbury, Morceli won the
silver medal behind Kirochi in the 1500m at the World Junior
Championships, in a time of 3min 46.93sec. While still in the junior
ranks, Noureddine competed in the 1500m at the African Championships in
August 1989, finishing fourth behind a trio of Kenyans.
The following
month, he set a new personal best of 3min 37.87sec at Verona, which made
him the fastest junior over 1500m in 1989. The following year, Morceli
made a spectacular debut in the senior ranks, setting the year's
fastest 1500m time of 3min 32.60sec at Bologna on 18 July, and scoring a
significant victory in the mile at the Grand Prix final in Athens on 7
September. He continued this dominance into 1991, when he broke the
world indoor record for 1500m at Seville on 28 February, setting a new
mark of 3min 34.16sec.
Only nine days later, on the same track, he won
the 1500m title at the World Indoor Championships in a time of 3min
41.57sec. In the outdoor season, Morceli established himself as a clear
favourite for the World Championships in Tokyo, recording the fastest
three 1500m times of the season. At Tokyo, on 1 September, he easily
outclassed the rest of the field (see photo above), beating
second-placed Kirochi by a full two seconds, to avenge his earlier
losses to the Kenyan as a junior athlete. (Ron Casey)
|