Steve CRAM

                                                  1985 A Champagne year for records

Between June and August 1985 Steve Cram set seven personal best performances from 800m to 2,000m. Three of them were World Records and two were UK All-Comers records. In many respects it was his best ever year but as luck would have it not a major championship took place during his "Champagne year". Having set a personal best 1,500m. time of 3:31.34 sec. in Oslo on June 27th he next contested a race over that distance in Nice on July 16th where a field was assembled to have a crack at Steve Ovett's World record of 3:30.77sec. It turned out to be the race of the year as, not only did Steve break the World Record he also became the first man to break the 3:30sec. barrier, when he just beat Said Aouita (Morocco) to win in 3:29.67sec.

His tactics were perfect against Aouita, a decisive break with a lap to go enabled Steve to open up a 6 metres advantage around the final bend which proved too much for the Moroccan. Aouita covered the last 100m. in 11.7 sec. but failed to catch Steve on the line although he too broke 3:30 (3:29.71sec.) in a breath-taking finish. From France Steve moved to Scotland where he set a UK All-Comers 1000m. record (celebrated in style above- photo G.H.) and then on to Oslo where he took on Seb Coe and his one mile record of 3:47.33sec. in the "Dream Mile". Steve's last lap took just 54.2sec. and he took the record with 3:46.32sec. A week later in Budapest he set his third World Record (in just 19 days) by running 4:51.39sec. for the 2,000m. After that, at Gateshead, he ran a second UK All-Comers record for the 1,000m. of 2:12.88sec. and his final personal record came in Zurich on August 21st. when he ran a life-time best of 1:42.88sec. for the 800m. beating Olympic Champion Joaquim Cruz. Not a bad year's work for the 1985 Northern Cross Country Champion. (G.H.)

                                       1986 another double gold medal year.

After his stunning record breaking year of 1985 when he recorded life time bests for every distance from 800m to 2,000m. but during which no major championships took place, 1986 brought the opportunity for Steve to re-establish himself as a Champion and the first opportunity to run against Seb Coe since their Olympics clash two years earlier. That moment came with the 13th Commonwealth Games, taking place in Edinburgh and the 800m. final on August 31st - or didn't as was the case. Coe scratched from the race leaving Steve to face the not insignificant threat of Peter Elliott and local man Tom McKean.

They proved to be no real threat in the end as Steve raced to a convincing victory in 1:43.22sec. from McKean (1:44.80sec.) almost his season's best time. (He ran a 1:43.19sec. on 7th Sept). He then, two days later, retained his 1,500m. crown with 3:50.87sec. from John Gladwin in 3:52.17 sec. thus becoming only the third man to win the 800m/1,500m double. However, later that month, the long-awaited clash with Seb did take place in Stuttgart - with mixed results. The first final was the 800m. and not only did Steve not win the race he "only" got the bronze medal.

Coe won in 1:44.50sec. from McKean 1:44.61sec. with Cram third in 1:44.88sec. amazingly it was Seb's first-ever gold medal over 800m. The 1,500m. was also a closely contested race but this time Steve finally got the better of the Olympic Champion over 1500m. winning with a time of 3:41.09sec. to Seb's 3:41.67sec. (see photo above) and thereby becoming the first man to retain both 1,500m. titles. Earlier in the year Steve had retained his AAA's 800m. title (from Peter Elliott) and in Brussels on September 5th won the 1,500m. with a seasons best of 3:30.15sec. (George Herringshaw)

                                                    World and Olympic setbacks in 1987 and 1988.

Steve Cram's defence of his World 1,500m title was a big disappointment. Having the year before retained both his European and Commonwealth 1500m. titles he had good reason to believe he could do the same in Rome. Despite losing the European Cup Final 1,500m. in June he ran a 3:50.08sec. mile on July 4th and on August 19th in Zurich posted a 1,500m. time of 3:31.43sec. - the fastest of the year by anyone contesting the World title (Aouita was entered for the 5,000m.).

He thus went as the favourite but although trying to control the race from the front (he led at the "bell") - he left the stadium almost as an also-ran. The title went to Abdi Bile of Somalia in 3:36.80sec. with Steve trailing home in last (8th) place in 3:41.19sec. The great racer and record-breaker was finding it difficult to peak when he most wanted to.  1988 developed in a similar pattern - an early season defeat by David Sharp over 1000m. was followed by a superb win in the "Dream Mile" in Oslo in 3:48.85sec. followed by victory in the AAA's 800m. in 1:44.16sec. from Tom McKean (1:45.10sec.) on August 6th.

He then repeated his 1987 performance of running his fastest 1,500m. of the season on exactly August 19th. on this occasion in Brussels, winning with 3:30.95sec. a time that no one bettered in the world in 1988. Then the Cram injury jinx then struck and he damaged his calf three weeks before the Seoul Olympic Games. He was forced to withdraw from the 800m. but qualified for the 1,500m. final. In a slow tactical final 'new boy' Peter Rono of Kenya controlled the race from the front and won in 3:35.96 secs from Peter Elliot (3:36.15) with Steve in 4th place 3:36.24sec. (see photo above). Rono's best time put him 17th in the 1988 World ranking lists, but he was the Olympic Champion, not Steve.

                                                  The final years in the 1990s

Injuries continued to plague Steve Cram's career throughout the early 1990's as they had during the 1980s. In 1989 he had managed just two races albeit winning both (a 3:35.41sec. 1,500m. and a 3min. 51.55sec. mile - the latter topping the UK rankings) but 1990 started with his Commonwealth 1,500m. title going to Peter Elliott and concluded in August where Elliott just pipped him in the European Champs where he finished 5th (3:39.08sec to Elliott's 3:39.07sec !).

1991, a World Championship year, saw the former champion survive no further than the semifinal where he finished 7th in 3:41.67sec. almost the same time as he had recorded when finishing fourth in that year's AAA's championships. A 3:34.18sec. in Brussels, however, took him to 3rd on that year's UK 1,500m. ranking list to give the 1991 season some respectabilty. Injury struck once more in 1992 before June had finished and the Olympic year was ruined. But the 1993 World championships in Stuttgart, now bi-annual, would give him a chance to challenge once more for one of the two premier athletics gold medals.

Alas, the Steve Cram of old was now not only fighting age (he was 32) and the ordeal of continually getting injured, but also the inevitable challenge the younger generation presented. He met two of them in the 1,500m. semifinal, Noureddine Morceli and Abdi Bile, both of whom had succeeded him as World Champion. He was unable to make the final and finished last the in the race (see photo above). A season best 1500m. of 3:35.63sec. ranked him second in the UK behind Matthew Yates's 3:35.04sec. Steve did however rank 3rd in the mile World ranking with 3:52.17sec. behind Morceli and Bile. His final year in the UK ranking lists was 1994 when he was listed 24th in the 1500m. and 40th in the 800m. but he was by then following a new career in the media. (George Herringshaw)