Maria Mutola of Mozambique wins the 800m final (© Getty Images)
For all of her competitive life, Maria Mutola has gone it alone. But tonight, she and training partner Kelly Holmes indulged in some teamwork and turned a tactical 800 metres final into a brilliant one-two finish.
It was the third World Championships gold medal for the Mozambique runner, and her 1:59.89 winning time was by far the slowest of her three wins. But the leisurely pace, off a 61.20 opening lap, allowed Mutola the flexibility to design the race she wanted.
As the pack of seven runners entered the final curve, Holmes moved to the lead and held a two-metre advantage over Mutola and Natalya Krushchelyova as only 100 metres remained.
Finally, Mutola was able to move outside, and with Holmes holding tight to the curb, the pair matched strides all the way into the finish, effectively blocking the Russian from making any last-gasp sprint.
“I knew I had to run from the front if the race was slow,” said Mutola later. “I needed to make sure I stayed away from problems, not taking any chances running from the back. f you remember, I almost fell in the first round when I was trailing.”
Was the Sydney Olympic champion’s win a bit of “noblesse oblige” on the part of Holmes? No one was saying, but for the 33-year-old British runner, who chose the 800m over the 1500m only one day before the Championships began, the silver medal was a most gratifying season highlight after an injury-plagued year. Only two weeks earlier, in Berlin, she had run her only outdoor 800 of the year.
“It was a relief that some luck has finally come my way,” said the former British Army judo champion. “The year has been my toughest one, both physically and emotionally.”
In one sense, the World Championships were a “necessary nuisance” for Mutola, coming just days before the final installment of the Golden League series, in which she stands to become the first-ever athlete to collect the entire million-dollar jackpot. And perhaps tonight’s “team” victory was a welcome respite from the pressure that the Golden League series and its must-win requirement can put on an individual.
Mutola may have a difficult time finding a place in her trophy case for tonight’s gold medal, coming as it does after two previous World Championships golds, an Olympic win, two Commonwealth victories, five World Indoor crowns, and five African championships wins (including one in the 1500). Only the world record in the two-lap race - a standard which last month passed into its twenty-first year - remains to be conquered.
Half of Mutola’s thirty years have been spent in international competition, starting with an appearance at the 1988 Olympics as a 15-year-old. Eventually, an Olympic Solidarity scholarship, bestowed by the International Olympic Committee, enabled her to come to the United States in 1991 for specialized athletics training.
Her assigned US location was in Oregon, where she became acquainted with the two people who are still the most significant in her professional life, her manager Jeff Fund and her coach Margot Jennings.
Eventually, she succumbed to the pollen-laden spring air in Oregon, where allergies are legendary, and two years ago she relocated her training base to Johannesburg, partly for reasons of health and partly to be closer to her family after the death of her father in an auto tragedy.
Now, with 148 career performances under two minutes for the 800 metres, one might suspect that Mutola is starting to eye an opportune moment to wind down her career and seek an exit path. Several news articles over the past year have touched on this subject and have even quoted her as saying she was not interested in next year’s Olympics in Athens.
Mutola scotches those reports, saying “Athens is definitely part of my plans. I hope to go there, run well, and successfully defend my Olympic title. After that, I’ll take things one year at a time.”
