Steve Ovett was on top of the world in 1980. Shortly after winning the 800 metre gold medal at the Olympic Games in Moscow, Ovett returned home to race a 5000 metre race at Crystal Palace. Also in the race was American Bill McChesney, who qualified for the U.S. Olympic team in 1980 but did not race in Moscow due to the American boycott and Irishman John Treacy, twice the World Cross Country champion in 1978 and 1979.
The stage was set for Ovett to win with ease in front of a home crowd. He was after all the Olympic champion at 1,500 metres and this was just a formality to display his domination. The only problem though was that John Treacy forgot to read the script....
Fantastic finish. Very nearly repeated in Dungarvan 2011 ;-)
ReplyDeleteFantastic finish, John Treacy is just a legend!
ReplyDeleteLegend! Just shows never ever give up before the line!
ReplyDeletethe man from villerstown -a legend
ReplyDeleteovett arrogance was something to behold. even after the race - he still thought he won- the looks exchanged between the two at the end were class- 2 fierce rivals
ReplyDeleteMy all-time athletics moment would have to be watching the Olympic marathon from LA and seeing him win the silver medal ..behind Carlos Lopes ( Portugal ) and ahead of Charlie Spedding ( GB )
ReplyDeleteJohn, Ovett won the 800 in Moscow not the 1500. See the quote below from Ovett........ "I have a 90% chance of winning the 1,500 metres" wrote Steve Ovett in an article he did for one of Britain's Sunday papers just before the start of the Olympics. After he won the 800 metre Olympic gold, beating world-record holder Sebastian Coe, Ovett stated that he would not only win the 1,500 metres, but would beat the world record by as much as four seconds. Ovett had won 45 straight 1,500 meter races since May 1977. In contrast Coe had competed in only 8 1,500 meter races between 1976–1980. Coe won, however, holding off Ovett in the final lap. Ovett finished third.
ReplyDeleteComment#5 obviously hasn't read Ovetts autobiography, he actually includes the photo of Treacy dipping under his arm on the line in the book. Perhaps Ovett is a little more humble than we'd like to think.
ReplyDeleteWas it ever confirmed?
ReplyDelete