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Many distance runners compete on the track, on the road, and in
cross-country competition, but only a talented few, like Carlos Lopes,
rise to world-class in all three disciplines. Lopes' early performances
certainly gave no indication of the champion athlete that he would
mature into. At the 1971 European Championships he came 33rd in the
10,000m and was eliminated in his heat of the 3000m steeplechase. Carlos
did not fare much better at the Olympic Games in Munich the following
year where he was eliminated in his heat of both the 5,000m and 10,000m.
By the end of 1975, and at the age of 28, Lopes had a personal best of
only 28min 30.6sec for 10,000m, and it seemed that he would see out his
career as only a bit player on the international scene. However, Lopes
made an astonishing breakthrough in 1976, starting with a win at the
World Cross-Country Championships at Chepstow on 28 February, and then a
sensational lowering of his 10,000 best to 27min 45.71sec at Munich on
29 May. After these performances, he was being seriously considered as a
gold medal contender at the Olympic Games to be held in Montreal later
that year. In the 10,000m final at Montreal, held on 26 July, Lopes set
the pace from just before the 4km mark, and tried to break the field up.
Eventually he caused everyone to lose contact except defending
champion Lasse Viren (Finland), who passed Lopes with a lap to go to win
the gold medal, with Lopes (see photo above), easily winning the
silver medal in a new personal best time of 27min 45.17sec. Following
the Olympics, Lopes further lowered his 10000m personal best to 27min
42.65sec at Stockholm on 9 August, which moved him to 6th on the
all-time world list. (Ron Casey)
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