Tergat: My fifth world cross title the best in tough race 

Athletics great Paul Tergat was unbeatable for five straight years in the World Athletics Cross Country Championships, creating an aura of invincibility around him in the 90s.

After hanging up his spikes following a glittering career, he has transited from a tall, lanky youth wearing shorts and running vests to one of the most influential international sports administrators trotting the globe to promote events.

Tergat will be returning to Australia for the World Athletics Cross Country Championships scheduled for February 18 in the New South Wales city of Bathurst as the World Athletics Goodwill Ambassador on the 50th anniversary of the World Cross Country Championships celebrations.

The visit will happen 23 years after Tergat’s painful loss of the 10,000 metres gold medal by the “thickness of the running vest,” to his great track rival Ethiopian legend Haile Gebrsellasie during the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games in Australia.

In a candid interview, Tergat who spoke to Nation Sport from Lyon, France where he is attending the World Skiing Championships said that the Sydney showdown was just another competition. However, he said that winning his fifth straight world cross country title in Belfast, Ireland in 1999 was his toughest cross country race.

“About my return to Australia, two decades plus later, it feels extremely nostalgic and exciting,” said Tergat, who is the President of the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOC-K).

“Contrary to what many imagine, sports creates friendships after intense rivalry. I remember Sydney 2000 as such a wonderful event. I gave the very best, but lost to a better athlete at the wire,” he added.

“I was very happy with myself, and more so, for my worthy opponent and great friend, Haile, for his gallant last-gasp push to grab gold,” recalled Tergat who battled the Ethiopian twice at the Olympics and three times at the World Athletics Championships.

This epic Tergat versus Haile battle inspired a Hollywood movie “Endurance” in which Gebrselassie played himself. The movie tells of how Haile overcame huge odds as an African boy to excel in sports. 

Tergat is one of the long-distance running greats and it was in cross country that his success story really began. The first of his five individual world cross country crowns was claimed in Durham, England in 1995 and he would go on to bag gold at the next four editions — in Stellenbosch, South Africa in 1996, Turin, Italy in 1997, Marrakech, Morocco in 1998 and Belfast, Ireland in 1999.

“Belfast was the toughest, but the best cross country race in my career. It stood out because of the tough conditions at the Barnett Demesne playing fields of Queens University.

“We all battled the muddy course with all its turns and twists, but I was eventually rewarded with another world title to make it five straight senior men’s world cross titles in a row. That was truly special. My country Kenya equally picked its 14th successive team title.

“Cross country is always a tough event on any given day. Indeed, every sports competition is never easy and it is even tougher for cross country. The race does not have a standard course like the track, therefore, no one may predict precisely how the next one will turn out to be,” said the two-time Olympic 10,000m silver medallist. 

The singlet Tergat wore when he won the cross country title in Turin in 1997 is on display in the Museum of World Athletics.

During the world cross country event in Australia, Tergat said that he would be rooting for Team Kenya which he describes as having everything to win. 

“The Kenya team in Bathurst will be carrying the dreams and aspirations of millions of Kenyans, and I am confident of a great performance,” said Tergat, who is also a two-time 10,000m world silver medallist.

“They have all the support and goodwill from Kenyans for another exceptional outing,” he said.

Tergat’s rise to the top was a classic example of determination for three years at the Kenya Armed Forces residential training camp in Kibiku, Ngong which is 27 kilometres south of the capital Nairobi. He was the slowest among the giants of cross country, and as he once told me that he was always the last to return to camp during morning runs.

“I resolved to close the gap,” he once said.

In 1992, an injury ruled Tergat out of the Boston World Cross Country Championships.
He took everything thrown at him with fortitude; from track to the road races where he was outstanding.

Tergat is among the few former sport personalities who have transitioned to management with ease.

“Because of my love for the sports, I have taken all opportunities both to learn and apply towards making an impact within it. I was an active athlete but with a higher goal and desire to transition to the next level of administration in a sports environment,” he said.

“So, whenever I look back on the journey from cross country running with all its thrills and adrenalin, to the marathon with all the highs and lows, I find fulfilment that I am still part of something I love most— sports.”