Prefontaine Classic: New American continues gold rush
Posted Thursday, 2 June, 2005
By Bob Rodman
The Register-Guard
His decision to become an American citizen, Kenya-born Bernard Lagat insisted, was not driven by politics or economics or athletics.
But it may drive him past a record that has stood for nearly a quarter of a century.
The second-fastest 1,500-meter runner the world has ever seen, Lagat - one of the newest of Americans - may soon overtake the U.S. mile record of 3:47.69, set by Steve Scott in 1982.
An opportunity arrives Saturday, when Lagat is expected to lead the chase in another of the Prefontaine Classic track and field meet's always-magical mile runs at Hayward Field.
Lagat's personal record in the mile is 3:47.28, a performance he supplied in 2001 and the eighth-fastest ever.
Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco has the world record in the mile at 3:43.13 and in the 1,500 at 3:26.00. Lagat's 1,500 PR of 3:26.34, second only to El Guerrouj's world standard, also was recorded in 2001.
"I think I can get these records," said Lagat, who used a 54-second final lap to win the 1,500 in 3:34.34 at the adidas Track Classic in Carson, Calif., on May 22. "My performance is improving every year.
"Everything must be perfect for a race - my body, my mind, even the weather. I need everything to be perfect but I can get it."
El Guerrouj also owns the fastest mile ever run on U.S. soil, his winning time of 3:49.92 in 2001 at the Pre Classic.
Lagat, third in that race four years ago, said his target time at Pre is 3:49. "It would be the best ever run on American soil," he said. "It's always a fast race."
A winner in the 2003 Prefontaine Classic's mile run, Lagat led a sub-four-minute list of 12 athletes in that race with his 3:50.21.
There is still another standard Lagat is chasing - the American record for the 1,500. Sydney Maree, the one-time South African who became a U.S. citizen, set the mark of 3:29.77 in 1985.
"It should not take long from now," Lagat told the Los Angeles Times after his adidas meet victory. "I believe that if I get into one of those fast races elsewhere this year, I'll get it."
While the mile run tickles the fancy of the American track fan, it is 1,500 supremacy that Lagat seeks the most. "The 1,500 is more important because it is the international event," he said.
With El Guerrouj moving ever closer to running longer distances, Lagat - the world's No. 1-ranked 1,500 runner in 2004 - said he plans to stay put.
At least, he said, until after the Beijing Games. "I'll be 34 then, and I'm sure a lot of things will change," he said.
Lagat said his decision to change nationalities was not neither quick nor easy.
"I have been in America for over nine years now," Lagat said. "For years, I have been all over the world, not really belonging anywhere. I wanted to settle somewhere. I thought long and hard about it and I wanted to raise my family here and do my business here."
Now a resident of Tucson, Ariz., Lagat trains with Benjamin Kipkirui of Kenya and Abdi Abdirahman, a Somalian by birth who became a U.S. citizen in 2000.
His coach is James Li, a highly regarded distance coach and an assistant on the University of Arizona staff who had a similar position at Washington State when Lagat was competing for the Cougars.
Life is good, Lagat said, save for a few wrinkles yet to be ironed out.
Lagat, who first gained national and international attention during his years wearing a Washington State uniform, actually secured his U.S. citizenship three months before the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.
However, he still competed as a Kenyan, won the silver medal in the 1,500, and didn't announce his U.S. citizenship publicly until earlier this spring.
According to the Kenya constitution, however, he lost his Kenyan citizenship when he became an American last year - and the Olympics require athletes to be citizens of the countries they represent.
Now, the International Olympic Committee is investigating Lagat's situation.
The Kenya Amateur Athletics Association has yet to release Lagat from a three-year hold that would not allow him to represent the U.S. until 2007. Lagat, 30, is the third well-known Kenyan athlete to renounce his citizenship, joining Nicholas Kemboi and Saif Saeed Shaheen.
"At the moment, we have not initiated any talks with the federation," Lagat said.
"We will go through protocol. I am not worried."
He will not, however, compete in next month's USA Track & Field Championships at Carson, Calif., because he is ineligible for this year's World Championships at Helsinki, Finland, in August.
A scholar - Lagat has two degrees from WSU - who successfully has paired academics and athletics, he was the fifth of his family's 10 children.
He did not begin training until 1992, his sophomore year in high school. Because his coach in Kenya was familiar with Li, Lagat would soon find himself in Pullman, Wash., attending and running for WSU.
Despite the cold and snow of the winters and springs in the Palouse, Lagat prospered as an NCAA and Pac-10 Conference champion.
In 2000, Lagat was the bronze medalist in the 1,500 at the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. He won silver in the 1,500 at the 2001 World Championships.
And on April 15, in his first competition as an American, Lagat won the 5,000 at the Mount SAC Relays, dropping a 13:14.71 on the field - the fastest time by an American this year - in an event he later said "is absolutely the longest I would ever do."
Lagat's first victory as an American "felt good," he said. "Running is running, and I always want to do the best I can. That part of it has not changed."
Neither has his drive for world records and Olympic gold, the two finish lines he has yet to cross.
The quest for Olympic gold will lead Lagat to the 2008 Games in Beijing.
"That is what I want," he said. "It is now my long-term goal. Olympic gold. It would be the fulfillment of my career."
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