Mohammed Gammoudi

Mohammed Tlili ben Abdallah also known as Gammoudi (born February 11, 1938) is a former Tunisian athlete, winner of 5000 m at the 1968 Summer Olympics.

Born in Sidi Ach, Tunisia, Mohammed Gammoudi was one of the pioneers of the African long distance running revolution which changed the face of the sport in the final decades of the 20th century.

Gammoudi first came to international attention at the 1963 Mediterranean Games in Naples where he won the 5000 m and 10 000 m. Despite of that, Gammoudi was still a virtual unknown when he arrived at the Tokyo Olympic Games. The favourite, world record holder Ron Clarke from Australia, ensured that a fast tempo was maintained throughout the race. With one lap remaining, Clarke had dropped all his main rivals, but Gammoudi and Billy Mills from USA, both relatively unknown, and both running much faster than they ever had before. Coming into the home straight, Clarke was leading, but then Gammoudi sprinted forward. With 50 m to go Gammoudi seemed to have won the race, before Mills swept past him to win the gold medal. Two days later, Gammoudi won his heat in the 5000 m, but for reasons never fully explained, he withdrew from the final.

Gammoudi successfully defended his 5000 m and 10 000 m titles at the Mediterranean Games in Tunis in 1967, and became one of the favourites at long distances at the Mexico Olympics. In the 10 000 m final, Gammoudi was always in the leading group, which had been reduced to three at the bell. Gammoudi, Naftali Temu from Kenya and Mamo Wolde from Ethiopia sprinted around the last lap, but the opponenst outrun Gammoudi leaving him with the bronze medal. Two days later, Gammoudi qualified easily for the 5000 m final. In the final there were again three athletes in contention at the bell, with Gammoudi leading before Temu and his compatriot Kip Keino. The last lap was run at a furious pace, and although the two Kenyans tried valiantly to pass Gammoudi, he stubbornly held on to his lead, and went on to win the gold medal.

On the next Mediterranean Games, at Izmir in 1971, Gammoudi's only medal was a silver in the 5000 m. Nevertheless, with his formidable Olympic record, nobody was discounting Gammoudi's chances at Munich Olympics. In the 10 000 m final a tightly bunched leading group of nine runners was travelling at sub world record pace just before the 4800 m mark, when Lasse Virén from Finland suddenly stumbled and fell over, causing Gammoudi to tumble over the top of him. Virén recovered quickly and went on to win the race, but Gammoudi took much longer getting to his feet, and after running for a lap and a half in a futile attempt to close the 100 m gap that had opened between himself and the leaders he dropped out. By contrast, the early stages of the 5000 m final were run at a dawdling pace with Gammoudi always prominent in the pack that remained tightly bunched for the first 3000 m. The pace picked up considerably in the last 2000 m and in the sprint to the finish Virén narrowly beat Gammoudi in the latter's last major competitive race.

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