Khalid KHANNOUCHI - London Marathon

La notizia ha quasi due mesi, ma è ugualmente valida. Si parla dell’ex recordman mondiale di maratona Khalid KHANNOUCHI che spera di tornare a buoni livelli nei prossimi mesi, nonostante i 40 anni compiuti e le difficoltà famigliari con la (ormai ex) moglie Sandra che rimane comunque la sua allenatrice. Una simpatica inversione dei ruoli in cui molto spesso è l'atleta femmina a innamorarsi dell'allenatore maschio (numerosi esempi a ogni livello).

New York, NY — American marathon record-holder Khalid Khannouchi and Sandra Khannouchi, his coach and manager of 16 years, have announced that they will be divorcing amicably later this year. The couple met at a road race in 1994 and a year later began working together as coach and runner. They married in 1996. The couple will continue their working alliance. Both are relocating from Ossining, NY to Colorado Springs, CO this month.

Ms. Khannouchi, who will keep her married name for professional reasons, coached Mr. Khannouchi to successes including four Chicago marathon titles, the standing American record at the 2002 London Marathon, and numerous course records at shorter distances.

“No one can coach me better than Sandra can,” said Mr. Khannouchi. “So it makes sense that if I want to finish out my career on a high note, she is the person I should work with to get there.”

Mr. Khannouchi, who placed fourth in the 2008 Olympic Marathon Trials, has been recovering and training through a series of surgeries to resolve a chronic injury issue. He expects to be racing again in the coming months.

Un capolavoro di comunicato stampa! La storia di KHANNOUCHI mi ha evocato ricordi che si allacciano alla prossima grande trasferta, ovvero la maratona di Londra. Ritaglio il breve resoconto ufficiale della stratosferica gara del 2002, che ho avuto la fortuna di vedere in TV, quando Khalid mise d’accordo i grandi contendenti Paul TERGAT e Haile GEBRSELASSIE, realizzando il record del mondo. Di qui ebbe inizio la grande rivoluzione degli anni successivi.

Moroccan-born USA citizen Khalid Khannouchi achieved his ambition of winning the London Marathon and in a fascinating race he shaded his own world record by 4 seconds.

Meanwhile, Kenya’s Paul Tergat finally vanquished his nemesis Haile Gebrselassie and ran to within 6 seconds of the old world record, while Gebrselassie himself made an amazing debut of 2:06:35 (pushing deposed course record holder Antonio Pinto down to 4th on the all-time London lists). Such was the power of Khannouchi’s final surge, however, Gebrselassie finished nearly a minute down on the winner.

Defending champion, Abdelkader El Mouaziz, had the galling experience of falling at 20km. Although he recovered enough to reduce his best time to 2:06:50 and finish in 4th place, this was obviously small compensation to the highly competitive Moroccan. Behind him, South Africa’s Ian Syster removed over 6 minutes from his previous best to post 2:07:06 and move into world class, 23 seconds in front of European champion Stefano Baldini who in turn set a personal best.

The decisive moments of the race came as three leaders – Gebrselassie, Khannouchi and Tergat – wound up the pace on The Embankment with Big Ben in sight. The Ethiopian had been looking good at the front but when Khannouchi started a long surge for home he was quickly dropped. Although diligently drinking water throughout, the man who had set 15 world records ignored the sports drinks on offer and was now suffering the consequences with cramping in his legs. As in 2001, Paul Tergat chased the leader hard but was once again the bridesmaid. On this occasion he finished in a time that was out of the reach of all but one other man – unfortunately for Tergat that other man was also in the race.

Torniamo al 2010. A meno di 3 mesi dalla maratona è già annunciato il velocissimo parco partenti.

Tsegaye Kebede, ETH, 2:05:18

Patrick Makau, KEN, 2:04:48

Samuel Wanjiru, KEN, 2:05:10

Abel Kirui, KEN, 2:05:04

Bazu Worku, ETH, 2:05:25

Jaouad Gharib, MAR, 2:05:27

Emmanuel Mutai, KEN, 2:06:15

Viktor Röthlin, SUI, 2:07:23

Abderrahime Bouramdane, MAR, 2:07:33

Yonas Kifle, ERI, 2:07:34

José Manuel Martinez, ESP, 2:08:09

Marilson Gomes dos Santos, BRA, 2:08:37

…

Io arrivo dopo 20'. Dathan RITZENHEIN vince la speciale classifica "entro per ultimo ed esco per primo dalla lista". Dispiace che il suo talento non trovi adeguata espressione in prestazioni recenti.

Non è stato difficile individuare la colonna sonora della trasferta, ovvero "The flood" dei Take That. Nella seconda metà del video (dopo 3'30") ci sono grandi riprese del centro di Londra, sia dall'alto sia dalle sponde del Tamigi. Anche loro una storia da raccontare.