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A18 SPORTS
Saturday 5 auguSt 2017
Amazing Race

Continued from Page 17 out with a focused rou-
“It was about believing in tine of sipping and squirt-
my sprint finish and knowing ing a water bottle, a figure
that I have been in that po- of Zen concentration. He
sition before,” Farah said. knew the whole nation was
The last time he was not counting on him.
in that position was when “There’s no place like Lon-
his sprint left him just short don. There’s no place like
for gold at the 2011 world home,” Farah said. “I love
championships. It was the London. I love the people.”
last time he lost a big one, For a half decade now,
and his overpowering kick competitors know a tacti-
has always been his ticket cal race only leads to a
to gold. winning Farah sprint. So
One year after that dis- this time the best of Ke-
appointing finish, Farah nya, Uganda and Ethiopia
earned his first 5,000-10,000 set a punishing pace from
double, and it was at his the start to shake the pack
home Olympics in London. — but not Farah’s concen-
His 10,000 win was the fina- tration. “The guys gave it
le of what became known to me. It wasn’t about Mo,
in British lore as “Super Sat- it was about, ‘How do we
urday,” when home ath- beat Mo?’” Farah said.
letes won three gold med- He held back at first and
als within an hour. then methodically made
The noise that day was his way through the pack.
breathtaking, and if Farah When he briefly took the
is now a sir, it originated at lead with five of the 25
that very moment. laps to go, his rivals were
On Friday, the noise levels already anxiously glancing
were close to the same at him. Sensing victory, the
and Farah knew how to let crowd of 60,000 went wild
it push him to an unprece- with two laps to go. One
dented 10th straight global thought was with him: “I
long-distance title. can’t lose in my hometown. Britain’s Mo Farah celebrates after winning the gold medal in the Men’s 10,000m final during the
After Bolt’s grins and shad- I can’t. I can’t. I can’t.” World Athletics Championships in London, Friday, Aug. 4, 2017
ow boxing, Farah came Then, as if there wasn’t Associated Press

enough drama already, he
was clipped with 300 me-
ters to go. His arms flailed
and he even put one foot
inside the inner railing to re-
gain his balance.
There, too, his experience
counted. After all, he fell at
the Rio de Janeiro Olym-
pics and still won. And af-
ter years of being hound-
ed by suspicions of dop-
ing — never proven and
always denied — nothing
phases him. “Your instinct
is to stand up,” he said of
the moment momentum
was taking him down. “At
the same time, it takes the
rhythm out of you, takes
that stride out of you. It’s
harder to be able to get
back into your routine.”
Yet, he did. In the finish-
ing straight, like so often,
there was no match, as
much Joshua Cheptegei
of Uganda and Paul Tanui
of Kenya tried. “Mo is a
great guy and legend,
so running with him in the
last championship for him
is really great,” Cheptegei
said.q