Flying Farah fine tunes for Moscow
Mo readies for worlds with dominant display in London
Mo Farah delivered another devastating display of his power, confidence and versatility as he crushed the field to win the Diamond League 3,000m on an emotional return to the Olympic Stadium on Saturday.
Two weeks after becoming the sixth-fastest man of all time over 1,500m and two before he bids for another 5,000-10,000 double at the Moscow world championships, Farah turned on the after-burners with 500 meters to go to triumph in 7 min, 36.85 sec.
It was not the British record many had predicted but was a personal best and was more than enough to satisfy 60,000 screaming fans doing their best to recreate the noise that helped drive him to his stunning distance double on the same track 12 months ago.
"This is where I love to run and last year at the Olympics was a really big year for me. This is where I made my name," said Farah.
"I'm enjoying my running and it's great to have the country behind you and I just want to make the country proud."
If Usain Bolt was the international face of the 2012 Games, then Farah was the man who got the home nation's blood pumping with two amazing and truly memorable performances to win the coveted distance double.
When he toes the line now the 30-year-old is expected to win but it is easy to forget what a quantum leap he made from impressive European to an athlete finally able to break the east African hegemony of world distance running.
Two years ago, when he suffered an agonizing defeat to Ethiopian Ibrahim Jeilan in the 10,000m world championship final, he could surely never have imagined how things would take such a positive turn.
A week later he bounced back to win the 5,000, the first global long distance title won by a British man, and the following year delivered that golden Olympic double that propelled him to super-stardom and gave the world his "mobot" celebration.
His relentless pursuit of a last-lap kick has given him an acceleration that nobody in the world can live with and earlier this month his 3:28.81 1,500m set a European record and broke Steve Cram's 28-year-old British mark.
He now holds the British record at 1,500m, 5,000m, 10,000m and half-marathon - and is poised to add the full marathon when he makes his debut over the distance in London next April.
(China Daily 07/29/2013 page23)
