Keino Outdistances American Runner Jim Ryun.

Keino Outdistances American Runner Jim Ryun. The contest in the 1500-meter race between Kenyan distance runner Kip Keino and American track star Jim Ryun, then the world record holder for the mile, was one of the highlights of the 1968 Summer Olympic Games. . Keino Duels Ryun Track-and-field experts knew that Mexico City's 1380-m (7350-ft) elevation would please the long-distance runners from eastern Africa who were competing at the 1968 Olympic Games. Runners from the mountainous, high-altitude countries of Ethiopia and Kenya, in particular, would hold a distinct advantage--even if only a psychological edge--over competitors from the world's lower-lying regions. The most dominant Kenyan at the Olympics was a 28-year-old police inspector named Kipchoge "Kip" Keino. He was also the busiest. In a span of several days in mid-October, Keino ran a qualifying heat in the 10,000 meters, earned a silver medal in the 5000 meters, and then dashed to gold in the 1500 meters--the "metric mile." His Olympic-record time in the 1500 meters was nearly 3 seconds faster than that of world record holder Jim Ryun of the United States, then the most dominant miler on the track-and-field circuit. Both Keino and Ryun were tired when they lined up for the 1500-meter finals on October 20, 1968. Like the other ten finalists, they had run a qualifying heat on each of the two previous days. Ryun, who had beaten Keino in the semifinals a day earlier, looked to be the freshest. Keino certainly had a right to be tired. He had entered the 10,000 meters but failed to advance to the finals. Then, after reaching the finals of the 5000 meters, he lost a thrilling duel with Tunisia's Mohamed Gammoudi to finish second and earn a silver medal. When the starting gun was fired to start the 1500 meters, Keino's teammate Ben Jipcho bolted into the lead. His pace was exceptionally quick, particularly at such a high altitude. Jipcho led until the race's midway point. Then, with two laps remaining, Keino darted to the front of the pack. Jipcho drifted back to fourth, while Ryun lagged in the tenth position. As the bell lap neared, Ryun turned on the steam. By the time he reached the final turn he was in second place. Passing the other runners, Ryun could see on their faces the agony reaped by gulping oxygen-poor air. Not even the fabled "Ryun kick" was enough to catch Keino. "He had such an incredible lead at that point," Ryun said, "it was just a matter of how many other runners I could get by." He finished second. Wearing a big smile, Keino took a victory lap around the Olympic Stadium track, accompanied by Jipcho. Ryun collected himself for a few minutes on a bench. "God, it hurts," he said to a friend. Still without a gold medal after his second Olympics, Ryun walked dejectedly through a stadium tunnel. Keino's time of 3 minutes 34.9 seconds was a new Olympic record, besting by 0.7 seconds the mark set by American Herb Elliott at the Olympic Games in Rome, Italy, in 1960. Ryun's world record, 1.8 seconds faster than Keino's time, was still intact. Ryun earned the silver; Bobo Tümmler of West Germany collected the bronze. Keino's gold was the third for Kenya, whose runners had already won the 10,000 meters and the 3000-meter steeplechase. As for Jipcho, he came in tenth, a whopping 17 seconds behind Keino. At a prerace meeting, the Kenyans decided that Jipcho would try to tire the rest of the field by setting an unrealistic pace. When Jipcho himself finally faded, Keino would take his place in front. 'We asked [Jipcho] to sacrifice for Kip and take the people very, very fast,' Kenyan coach Charles Mukora said in the documentary Olympic Series."We knew we would beat the opposition if he took the pace very, very fast on the first two laps." Ryun did not take the Kenyans' handiwork in stride. "If there was a plot, there was a plot. It takes away some of the credibility of Kip's victory, though he ran very well," Ryun said in the documentary. "What the Olympics are supposed to be are man against man, not team against man." Jipcho, who later apologized to Ryun, echoed the American's sentiments in an interview for the Olympic Series. "It was unfair to people like Jim Ryun, to Tümmler, and probably to me. I feel Jim Ryun would have won the gold medal. But because of the whole thing, it destroyed almost everybody," Jipcho said in a documentary. Immediately following the race, Keino denied that such a strategy existed. "[We] had no plan at all," he told the New York Times. "I knew Jim Ryun to have a fast kick in the last lap, so I tried to build a good margin going into it. I guess I just found my level." Keino and Ryun met in a rematch four years later at the 1972 Games in Munich, West Germany. Hearts sank when Ryun, competing in his third and final Olympics, fell while coming around the final turn in a 1500-meter qualifying heat. His head struck a railing, knocking him briefly unconscious. Keino won that race but settled for a silver medal in the final. Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.