To be lapped and have that much in the tank to stay with two runners running so fast they broke away from everyone else, I don’t buy there was not collusion. That looked totally planned

I remember watching that live and it was clear that the Moroccans were working together to defeat the Kenyan, absolutely clear. Even the commentators were questioning it live on TV.

You can tell from the comments exactly who has been a competitive runner and who hasn't! Those who have been in there know exactly how well the tactics of the Moroccan runners impacted the performance of the Kenyan.

It is pretty clear he was making sure the pace was slightly slowed to help his teammate stay tight as save energy. That being said it is kinda impressive he had enough in the take to re-pass them twice though.

It definitely impacted the Kenyan because he cut him off twice and messed up his momentum. If you’ve never ran track before you absolutely would not understand. The moroccan gained an advantage by his teammate cutting the Kenyan off. That’s hard to recover from. It takes a lot out of you.

As a former distance runner this is very upsetting to get distracted as you know as a distance athlete you want to set yourself up for a steady pace and if anything is left in the tank you sprint the last lap.

Seems simple, if you've been lapped, don't get in the leaders' way. That avoids any appearance of foul play.

I get it, but from the lapped person's perspective, the rule is kind of saying, 'once it gets to this point, you're not allowed to run faster' which feels very... strange... for a race.

Well they're on the same team so psychologically as the Kenyan runner it might mess with you throw your pace off or something if you think they're in on it together.

makes sense, you could never legally help out a teammate if you're lapped in a cycling race where tactics abound. Interesting history! Thx!

In the Tokyo 1964 Olympics ,In the final event 10,000 meters, The favorite Ron clark passed U.S.A Billy Mills but by pushing him aside without going around , Then Kavbundi tunisha also passed through without going around , So Billy Mills of U.S.A fell behind third but still 150 meters to finish line, Suddenly Billy Mills from way behind started speeding up like flying passing by the two leaders and gave a surprise to get first place to take the gold ,, Im still enjoying that moment in History .

I was there at the race in 1992...That summer, I backpacked through Europe with a buddy of mine, and I detoured through Barcelona after we got in a fight and split up...I was right on the rail that night on the backstretch. I had wormed my way down...Security was lax and a lot of the crowd had already gone home...the rest moved up into the lower seats for a better view of the race...It was the last event of that evening's schedule...the race was riveting, though...Being so close on the rail, I could see the looks on every runner's face, every lap...And with each passing lap you could see the looks of desperation as runners were dropped from the lead pack...Finally, it was just Chelimo and Skah duking it out...The race was building to an incredible finish...And then Boutayeb happened...At first, I didn't understand what was happening...why the crowd was booing...but then I figured it out...and joined in...And at this point everyone was cheering for Chelimo...Disgusted by what seemed to be such a blatant attempt at what was - at the very least - dirty tactics...I boo'd along with everyone else at the final outcome...and I remember leaving the stadium that night so angry....I even fantasized that I had been so close to the action that I could have practically jumped onto the track and tackled Boutayeb myself...and maybe have been something of a hero...Looking back, though, I'm glad I didn't do anything crazy like that...I would have probably ended up in jail or accidentally interfered with the two lead runners...And having witnessed the whole race myself, I didn't think that Boutayeb had really done anything that really helped Skah at all...and Skah had brilliantly out sprinted Chelimo to the finish line...It was unfortunate Boutayeb's actions marred what had been a spectacular race...and I feel bad Skah was boo'd for something he may have had nothing do do with...Still...It was a truly memorable night.

That guy reminds me of a lot of drivers on the road. They want to drive slow but they don’t want anybody to pass them. So when you change lanes to pass they speed up. I never get that mindset. If someone was pressuring behind me I’d gladly move out of their way.

I'm pretty sure all that jockeying by the lapped Moroccan did a lot to take Chelimo off his pace. And while Skah could be telling the truth about no collusion, he didn't seem to be doing anything to stop it. I say it was a bad call and the Moroccans should have gotten a DQ.

The first time I won a race, as I got to the line, someone sprinted past me and jumped in the air screaming “YES!”. I remember having the sickest feeling because I thought I was winning by a considerable distance. When he kept running, I was so happy. I didn’t realize I had almost lapped him twice

Dude he was cutting off Richard's momentum each time

That's what happen when you run in circles! To fix this problem the rule should be any "lapped runner" should be removed from the race immediately! 😎

Think this also shows that they need better infrastructure in place (which I don’t think exists even today) to be able to pull a runner mid race that doesn’t involve an official almost taking them out

The Kenyans for years used team tactics against opponents. Hard to say where gamesmanship ends and cheating begins. The lapped runner could be disqualified the moment he’s passed.

if they ban collusion between runners lapped or not then every race that had a pacemaker runner should be null and void. any suspicious behaviour during a race should lead to DQ though like intentionally being lapped and then interfering with the race leaders, but the runner getting unintentional assistance should never be penalized. You should have to be able to prove collusion beyond any doubt to penalize a leading runner. Boutayeb shouldve been removed from the race immediately after staying with the leading pack. Its like a Formula one car being lapped and then trying to overtake the leader while getting a tow down the straight, its very unsportsmanlike

If you have been lapped,it means you're no longer side by side if you put it in a perspective of a stright running track.

This rule makes sense. Because the race is run in a loop and not a straight path, any runners who is at least 1 lap or loop behind may not run in front of the leader of the race, blocking the leader’s path. This lapped or losing runner must always stay behind the leader.

The fact that Ska did not tell Butayeb to FO and die is, to me, an indicator that he welcomed his presence. That is enough to cast doubt in his integrity. And interestingly enough, Ska did not do much after this, losing to Gebreselasse and Jesu regulalry. I guess he did not have "a little help from his friends"...

The higher the level of competition, the more mental it becomes. At the elite levels, the mental game is tremendous, and I can see how this could turn in to psychological “combat”. This is a tough call for sure.

LOVED IT! cant wait to see a 50 min video about this or about Skah. thank you brother :D

We only see bits and pieces caught on video, but the whole crowd boo-ing says enough for me. They cant all be wrong.

Do you have coverage of the fight?! 😅

Dude just proved unwritten rules can and will be broken

The thing with something like this is that it is incredibly difficult to prove that Skah was in on any planning. If he was, the man should be in Hollywood, because he was telling the lapped runner to get out of the way and actually got into a fight with him afterwards.

It doesn't matter what happened here. It's about the difficulty of writing rules.

Wait until you see what happens in a high school race.

I was running a senior games and the meet director made the women run with the men in the 5000 meters. I was by far the fastest woman and had lapped every woman by lap 15 and was starting to lap men. a man in his 70s didn't want to let me lap him and purposefully kept moving in front of me into the 2nd lane to stop me. At first it was funny, then it was just dangerous. The officials laughed, I mean a man didn't want to be lapped by a girl, but he should have been stopped after doing this more than once. Yeah I lapped him pissed me off.

good videos

It says a lot about people too, when you see them behave like this. Not only did they intentionally try to get the head runner out of it’s rythm. If you would have good sportmanship the trainers and everyone around thoose two would have ingrained in them this is bad behavior. Rotten apples don’t suddenly appear. They are made by a culture of unsportsmanlike behavior around them. You see this over and over again in sports were winning and narcissism gets the overhand. Skating, cycling, football you name it. Theese man have to be so “proud“ to be forever known for this behavior.

The linked video of the full race doesn't work anymore 😢

The rule should be that if you were lapped at any point in a long distance race that you are only allowed to be in lane 2 if you are within 50 meters from those runners. Only if you are completely clear in front and behind are you allowed back into lane 1. Understandable how you can be lapped in such a long race but being in the vicintiy of the other runners is obstructing their running.

Because this was the Olympics (A worldwide Brand) and what was happening was damaging that Brand, it wouldn't have been unreasonable for the Track Official to gently pull Hammou Boutayeb out of the race.

its pretty obvious that the teammate saw what was happening and decided to do what he can to disrupt the pace of the Kenyan Racer. It might not have been collaboration, but assistance was provided and he took it. The speeding up to lap the racer disrupted the pace, his teammate could have won on his own, but we will never know

I think he was trying to be a good teammate and trying to help him despite knowing it is wrong

In motorsports a competitor who is lapped and the starts racing the lappers would be black flagged (disqualified on the spot and forced to pull out of the race) for doing that.

It’s so unfortunate that the incident spoiled a fascinating race and discredited the winner. A tarnished gold due to the actions of an athlete not in contention in the race. Crazy.

People telling the lapped runner to run faster. He did run faster that is why he was sble to pass them both twice

Let us not forget the political tension between Morocco and spain, in 1992 The Green March was still fresh in people’s mind, I am sure it played a role in the reaction of the public. Like it or not but politic plays a large role in international sport just look at state-organized doping scandals.

I remember watching this LIVD on tv. Still boils my Kenyan blood.

the link to that video you mention with the uncut footage of the race is no longer a valid link

There needed to be this rule in place, its obvious by the timing and distancing this was an unspoken plot to manipulate the race.

It appeared he distracted the top 2 runners in favor of 2nd runner of same country

I can't say for sure that Khalid was in on it, but it clearly disadvantaged Richard immensely

it is a matter of Pride. being lapped hurts.

I think there was advantage and disadvantage, but not so much that it would had altered the results.

I completely understand a desire not to finish the race lapped. It's a thing in motor racing that a lapped car who has the pace tounlap itself may do so and I feel for an athlete who is not allowed the dignity of pushing that last bit harder to keep fro being down a whole lap in the biggest events of their life. It's happened controversially in racing even where the team doing the unlapping has nothing to gain by doing so other than running their own race against other lapped cars.

It is strange to expect a lapped runner to not run their race in a way that would be legitimate for an unlapped runner.

Can someone please explain what a lap is? I don't understand what happened.

Full video link is unavailable...

Weird that the spectators booed in the same way as the race finished and also during the medal ceremony.

One way to reduce the incidence of this, would be to 'split' the track in to two halves... From the start until the first time past the finish line the entire track is open, after this as the runners enter the front straight they either transition from the inside of the track to the outer half, or they transition from the outside to the inner half. If you are approaching the transition area and are NOT in the leading group, you must ensure that you do NOT block or interfere with someone who is, instant DQ, you are flagged off, and if you keep running, banned for the next 5 years. A runner that is about to be lapped on the same portion of the track (about 800m behind the leaders, so not going to happen often) is required to run 2 lanes out while lapping runners are within 10 metres.

My question is why those 3 where munched up on 2 lanes? Why didn't they stick to separate lanes?

I don’t know if anyone can confirm this, but when I tried to follow the link, it said the video is unavailable.

I don't study sport racing and the possible manipulative techniques used to gain advantage in any detail, but it may well be that the lapped contestant was present there not because of any detriment (say fatigue, strain or injury) but rather by being slow the leaders would necessarily lap him and having been slow he had also been able to husband his energy to allow him to then deliberately hinder the expected (barring any misfortune) winner - sadly he met with that particular pre calculated misfortune in the body of that lapped and recurring obstacle and his chance to win passed. Poor sporting as the audience seemed to agree - another case where you know it when you see it.

I t is obvious that the Moroccan won as he easily outkicked the other runner despite being interfered with as much if not more by the lapped runner.

These things happen in Race cars too. Boxing and similar events have some sort of ghost losers just to add advantage to the main player from their country.

They (morocans) took advantage of the lax/unspecified penalties of the rules. They found a loop hole in the law and used it to their advantage. This happens everywhere: F1 racing, Banking industry, contracts, etc. That is the reason why your insurance policy is extensive, it needs specificity to limit loop holes or misunderstandings. They used their brain, bravo. 👏

Bad sportsmanship. If its not your day then don't spoil it for others. Would have made me angry and possibly push to be rid of the guy ruining my kick. Crowd shouldn't have booed the other runner, though.

Slowed down his pace. Making the other guy rest. There are two types of runners. Ones with sprint at the end and the other who goes fast throughout the race with no kick at the end. They screwed him over nasty.

I think the lapped runner was scarred for life.

If Ska gained an advantage from drafting Bultaib, then so did Chulimo.

Colluded 💯

This was 100% deliberate.

Definitely unsportsmanlike but who wants being lapped on their resume and he owes no loyalty to runners from other countries. I personally would have never done it but tactics like this has always been around, where non contenders affect the favorites in attempts to take them out of their rhythm and comfort zone. Unfortunate to say the least and although it wasn’t good at least he got the opportunity to get a medal at the Olympics.

I am a retired sprinter. Once you get passed, that is it. He has bad sportsmanship but being an athlete is a job. I do not agree with his bad sportsmanship but I understand (as a sprinter) that when you want to win, you win. Has no normal people with a job ever gotten a promotion over someone else???

Poor sportsmanship! No matter what his intentions were, it’s a violation of the rules. Rules aren’t subjective. They’re there to guide the race . Once you go against that, you should be disqualified. They should have drove up on with cart like, “What are doing? C’mon…get your ass off of the track!” 🤷🏾‍♂️

Disgusting tactics and not only from this footage but if you look at all the coverage it is VERY clear that this affected the race.

Interesting story, i like your videos !! big love from Morocco

Well that's not really fair, they should get to fight to stay on the lead lap. What if a caution comes out and bunches the field back up? Force him to restart a lap down

No question they were working together to win it

That is why everyone must run separately from each other and compare the time after. But no - Olympic is a show, which must bring money - it is not about fair records. It does not even allow anyone to participate. Also, you can run faster than anyone on the planet but it does not mean you may be allowed to take part in the competition if you want to.

they better start setting the baton down too in those races... cant go helping your teammates

Chelimo's stride pattern was clearly affected.

That is a bunch of crap since they cannot prove he got assistance. I think he rightly won and they should have been sued. There is not one bit of visible assistance.

Skah kidnapped the children he had with his norwegian wife back to Morocco so the mom could not meet them anymore. But they were later kidnapped back.

The karma comes in lack of commercial sponsors because the big money goes to popular athletes.

I dunno if they were working together. But I don't know what the one dude ran in his last few races. Maybe he was lapped on purpose and was pacing and blocking.

Lapped? What is this? Is it a synonyms to overtaken?

That guy clearly had a bruised ego and didn't help either runner and messed them both up.

Very unsportsman like

This was not just against the rules, but against the rules of humanity and respect of others, shame on them for shaming their country's flag...

What is exactly is the advantage to the athlete who's in the lead??

If it would have been a photo finish I could see the charge. But he beat him by quite a lot.

how does this affect anything though? the athlete about to be lapped is still so far back in the race that even if he starts running faster to keep up he can't possibly win the race even if it looks like he's running with the finalists and the finalists can just keep running, or overtake the guy that's behind it he's too slow for them and will win regardless

Apart from the rules, he should have let the runners that were actually competing for the gold a clear pass. Thats sportsmanship. Nobody cares about his egotistical pursuit to not get lapped.

In many cultures in the world they live by a statement if you can cheat then cheat. Uganda did it against the USA in FIFA 2012. Morocco did it to Kenya in 1992.

There was assistance whether or not there was collusion. And the idea that the rule didn't apply because it didn't specify the penalty is ludicrous. The crowd was right: this was a disqualification.

why is video with commentators now avalable?

Collusion, he had plenty of time to be concerned about getting lapped…

Boutayeb was clearly impeding Chelimo by cutting in front so quickly.

The sport is called running! People do every thing to gain advantage. From doping, poisoning and paying just to win.

What i don't get, they are all competing for the number 1 spot. If they overtake him, he is not allowed to fight to overtake them for number 1 again? Then how is that fair tho? If i am running against someone and they overtake me, if i still have it in me after all that running, i will give it my best to overtake him and go for gold no? Doesn't that make sense ?

It’s just people running in circles, should not matter to anyone...

As a distance runner, I know the exact number of M&Ms in a king size bag and you don't

I agree with not blocking the person in front but if he can run faster why not