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In the five years prior to 1997, Fermin Cacho had compiled an impressive
competitive record in the 1500m, including Olympic gold and silver
medals, a European title, and a silver medal in the World Championships.
However, despite his success in major competitions, Cacho had never
been able to produce a really fast time of corresponding quality.
Initially though, his primary goal in 1997 was not producing fast times,
but competing at the World Championships in Athens. The 1500m final at
Athens was considered a match race between Cacho's old foe Noureddine
Morceli (Algeria) and Hicham El Guerrouj (Morocco), who had respectively
finished first and second at the previous World Championships.
In the
final at Athens, on 6 August, El Guerrouj took the lead with 600m to go,
and as the field neared the end of the third lap, he had established a
good break over Morceli and Cacho (see photo above). El Guerrouj
went on to win the race, but Cacho tore around the last lap in a
sizzling 52.8sec to comfortably win the silver medal. Exactly one week
later, at the Weltklasse meet in Zurich, Cacho's fast time finally came
when he finished second over 1500m behind El Guerrouj in a time of 3min
28.95sec, which moved him to third on the all-time world list behind
Morceli and El Guerrouj. Cacho continued to perform well at major
championships near the end of his career.
He won the bronze medal at
the 1998 European Championships in Budapest, and finished fourth in the
World Championships at Seville in 1999, registering his fifth successive
World Championship finish in the top eight placings. Cacho suffered an
Achilles tendon injury in 2000, and that caused him to miss the
opportunity to add to his Olympic gold and silver medals in Sydney. (Ron Casey)
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