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Khannouchi disappoints again Marathoner drops out, blames blisters
Updated: Saturday August 04, 2001 3:20 PM
EDMONTON, Alberta -- He stood quietly on a paved walkway behind Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium late Friday night, expressionless as darkness fell. At all times, Khalid Khannouchi is a small man, perfectly suited to marathoning. Yet at this moment, in this place, he seemed somehow smaller and more vulnerable than ever before. Friday night was to be his moment of sweet excellence, when an eight-year odyssey that began when he moved to the United States from Morocco in 1993 would end with Khannouchi wrapped in the U.S. flag, kissing the track after winning the marathon at the track and field world championships. There would be no more doubts about his motivations, no more questioning whether he is a one-dimensional time-trialer or a devoted, championship-level marathoner. Instead, there was only the worst type of disappointment. Khannouchi dropped out of the worlds marathon at 16 miles, the first time in six career marathons that he has failed to finish. He blamed blisters on his toes, causing pain that wouldn't let him continue. Yet he also said he was wearing the same New Balance racing flats he always wears and which have never caused him blisters before. The explanation rang faintly hollow. Then Khannouchi himself went further toward the truth. "To win a race like that, you have to be a tough, tough man," he said. "And I just wasn't today." Those are harsh words. Khannouchi, who has run 26.2 miles faster than any person in history (2:05:42), found out that championship racing is vastly different from the carefully planned, professional, paced record attempts he has previously run on dead-flat courses in Chicago and London. In Edmonton, he found himself in a tactical pack that numbered, at times, more than 20 runners. They ran slowly, by Khannouchi's standards (a half-marathon in roughly 1:07), yet it was a jostling, physical crew. Far from the best runner in the world, Khannouchi looked green. "I was uncomfortable running with the group and there was a lot of pushing," he said. "The pace was just too slow and I wasn't used to it. My legs just got too heavy because of that, and I got the blisters on my toes." The obvious answer would have been to force a faster pace. If Khannouchi is the best in the field, then make the others hurt. But he did not. "I knew everybody was watching me and I was just very nervous," Khannouchi said. "I couldn't make myself run faster and I didn't want to." His words sound like marathonspeak for choking. Even if that isn't the case, if it was strictly the blisters, he comes off as simply weak. It could get worse. Khannouchi ran only 16 miles, and at a leisurely pace for him. He could easily resurface and run a fast fall marathon; then he will be criticized for not finishing this one, in whatever time he could and at whatever expense. Behind him, fellow American Josh Cox staggered home in 2:26:52, and you bet it wasn't any fun for him. But he finished. That counts for more than Khannouchi can understand.
Montgomery is confident of a surpriseWhen sprinters first become players on the international stage, they either shrink from the attention or embrace it. Case in Point: In 1996 Frank Fredericks of Namibia (and Brigham Young) suddenly went from just fast to faaast, becoming not only the Olympic 100-meter favorite but the underground choice to derail Michael Johnson's double-gold train by knocking off MJ in the 200. Didn't happen. Turns out Fredericks didn't like being the Man. Hated it, in fact. Dude was allergic to limelight. He ran great for silver medals and in places like Zagreb and Lausanne, but wanted no part of people expecting him to win an Olympic gold medal. Case in Point II: In 1997 Maurice Greene came out of nowhere to win the U.S. nationals in 9.90 seconds, and suddenly the track world propped him alongside reigning Olympic champion Donovan Bailey of Canada, calling them rivals. Greene not only accepted the challenge but threw his arms around it and trounced Bailey at the world championships. Tim Montgomery has chosen to take his first moment under the microscope and run with it. In a one-hour, one-on-one interview with me for Sports Illustrated Friday morning, he flatly stated, "I know I'm faster than Maurice Greene," and predicted that he'll win Sunday night's final in 9.75 seconds, .04 under Greene's two-year-old world record. That's fine. Later in the day Montgomery was trotted out for the world media at a press conference hosted by USA Track & Field, and again he dropped the number 9.75, thus feeding the need for a war of words between two sprinters, essential to any major track meet. I'll take Montgomery's approach over Fredericks' anytime. Ten days before the '96 Olympic final, I sat in a Tallahassee, Fla., apartment interviewing Fredericks, and he was so uncomfortable that I felt sorry for him ... and was convinced that the only way he'd take home gold from Atlanta was by purchasing a chain at some Buckhead boutique. (He did win two silvers, which isn't shabby.) By contrast, Montgomery was pretty loose Friday. He spent a little too much oxygen explaining to me how his 9.84 last month in Oslo, with a max 2.0-meters-per-second tailwind, was genuine, but that's to be expected. He's proud of that race. And he's been running against Greene for six years and is absolutely convinced that he's quicker. "My frequency is faster than Maurice's, but his pattern never changes," Montgomery said. He has unshakeable faith in his coach, Trevor Graham, with whom he began working in the fall of 1999. Saturday morning the competitors begin running. First round early, second round in the late afternoon. Two more races on Sunday, including the final. You want to talk about different approaches: On Thursday Greene and his HSI training partners, Ato Boldon of Trinidad and Tobago and Bernard Williams of the U.S., bet who could advance through the rounds with the slowest winning times. Montgomery, meanwhile, promised on Friday to smoke early. "I want to make a statement," he told me. Hey, he's already done that. Now it's time to run.
Sports Illustrated senior writer Tim Layden covers track and field for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com.
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