A Runner's Quest

This is the first article in a series that will follow Bernard Lagat as he pursues Olympic gold at the Beijing Games.

 

TUCSON — Bernard Lagat leaned forward at his dining room table, staring at his laptop computer. He felt beneath his right arm.

“I’m sweating,” he said.

On the screen was the start of the 1,500-meter final at the 2004 Athens Olympics. The announcers spoke German. The fact that he could not understand their words filled Lagat with possibility.

“Every time, I think I’m going to win,” he said.

For four years he has replayed the race, always leaning forward, always sweating, always thinking he will cross the line first. He makes a move, but his kick is too early and he loses each time, always by 12-hundredths of a second, to Hicham el-Guerrouj of Morocco.