Kenyan prodigy denies Mottram gold

It took a brilliant performance from 19-year-old Kenyan prodigy Augustine Choge to deny Australia’s Craig Mottram the gold in tonight’s electric 5000m final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Despite his best efforts, the 1.88m tall Mottram (12min: 58.19sec) came up short against the diminutive Choge (12min: 56.41sec), unable to go with the Kenyan when he kicked at the 250m mark.

But the much-anticipated final event of the night lived up to all expectations and the 25-year-old Mottram could be well-pleased with his performance against a world-class field. Certainly, that was the philosophical position he took after the race.

“I try to draw a positive out of every situation and the people here got to see a world class race,” he said.

“We’re on the right track. I ran super fast tonight, there wasn’t much more I could do, I stuck to the plan Nick and I came up with. Sometimes you can’t predict how things will unfold and Augustine was too good tonight. That’s racing. But I came third at the world championships and I’ve improved on that, so that’s positive.”

Sandwiched for much of the race behind the three Kenyans- Choge, world champion Benjamin Limo and Joseph Ebuya- and just in front of three Tanzanian runners, Mottram lifted the pace with three laps to go and only the teenager could go with him.

The pair left Limo, Ebuya and the rest of the field behind and waged their own personal duel, neither taking a backward step. With 800 metres remaining, Mottram tried to lose Choge but the small Kenyan wasn’t going anywhere, like a pesky mosquito that wouldn’t be swatted away.

The two were still side-by-side into the final lap, but by then Mottram had fired his best shot. Choge sprinted away on the back straight and despite a parochial MCG crowd, the Aussie simply couldn’t keep up, the Kenyan tasting victory in a Games record time.

“The race is never over until you cross the line, but it was always going to be hard to make it up, with 250m to go. Anytime someone makes a move that positively, it was always going to be tough,” Mottram said.

For Choge and eventual bronze medallist Limo, it was another triumphant night for team Kenya, demonstrating their undoubted superiority in middle-distance running.

“The plan was to go faster and faster at the start of the race and to have my teammates help me. I just wanted to run a good race and run a fast time, I just did my best and for all the good people of Kenya,” Choge said.

Mottram still has the 1500m on his Games schedule, but was undaunted by the short recovery time.

I’ll take it easy tonight, wind down, tuck into some of mum’s home-made spaghetti and try to forget about tonight’s race,” he said with a laugh. “I’ll have a couple of easy runs; I should have no problems recuperating from this and I’ll be ready for the 1500m heats on Friday.”

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