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By the end of 1995, Fermin Cacho had well and truly established himself
as one of the world's most competitive middle-distance runners,
especially from his performances at major championships. Cacho had
spent most of his career in the shadow of Noureddine Morceli (Algeria),
although he had recorded a significant victory over the Algerian in the
1500m at the 1992 Olympic Games. After a relatively lean year in 1995,
Cacho was back to his best in the early part of the 1996 season leading
up to the Olympic Games in Atlanta.
On 3 July, at Lausanne, he finished
fourth in a 1500m behind Morceli, and then two days later, at the
Bislett Games in Oslo, Cacho again finished second to Morceli in a high
quality 1 mile field, which saw the first 11 finishers all recording
times inside 3min 55sec. Cacho's time of 3min 49.56sec was a personal
best and moved him to 19th on the all-time world list. Although Cacho
was the defending Olympic 1500m champion, the final in Atlanta was
considered to be a match race between Morceli and Hicham El Guerrouj
(Morocco), who had filled the first two places at the previous year's
world Championships.
Approaching the completion of the third lap,
Morceli was leading from El Guerrouj, when suddenly the Moroccan tripped
and fell. In taking evasive action, Cacho was forced to leap over the
fallen El Guerrouj, in a manoeuvre which he later estimated had lost him
5 metres of ground to Morceli, who had commenced his final lap sprint
for the finish. Cacho chased Morceli valiantly around the last lap, but
was unable to catch him. In the end Morceli won by 5 metres from the
second-placed Cacho, who immediately shook hands with the victor (see photo above) following the finish. (Ron Casey)
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