6/19/08

Eight years after winning the 1500 meters at the 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials as a 21-year-old Stanford junior, Gabe Jennings, now 29, will attempt to repeat his triumph in the 2008 Trials. Much has changed during that time - Jennings has bicycled 6,000 miles from California to Brazil, nearly died from hepatitis, trained in Kenya with the African elite, worked with a half-dozen coaches, run a marathon, and shifted from being an acolyte of Che Guevara to one of John Adams - but much remains the same: Jennings' combination of intellectual curiosity, spiritual questing, and competitive rage still make him one of the most compelling and popular figures in the sport. We caught up with Jennings the day after he ran a 1500 at a last-chance Olympic Trials qualifying meet in Eugene, Oregon, his home for the last year. Jennings easily won the race, but his 3:41.07 clocking again left him short of the "A" standard for the distance.