Bernard Lagat

Bernard Kipchirchir Lagat (born December 12, 1974) is a Kenyan-American former middle and long-distance runner. Quotes Even when I was a little boy, I was seeing running in my family. I was seeing my older sisters, Mary and Angelina, and my brother William running. And I thought this means family and it is something that I love doing. You have to be patient. All of us have to have patience in working so hard towards our goals. I think that is the thing that has actually set me aside. I have always said I want to be the best I can be, and I want to train as hard as I can. “The two gold medals in 2007 was the best performance ever for me, I was able to represent the United States for the first time and I didn’t come home with just one medal but two. Two gold medals. I try to put my emphasis on helping children … because I truly do think we need to be giving them the best opportunities they can have, so that they too can grow up to be successful in something they love. Bernard Lagat,n.d There are so many younger athletes ten years younger than me, some of them are 20 years old, fourteen years younger, These are young guys and I am still out there thinking 'if you are strong enough, come and beat me.  I am tough, and if you are not tough enough you know you aren’t going to beat Bernard Lagat. If they are tough and you are training well those people there are a lot of them who have given me a hard time. And sometimes I lose to them and they lose to me. That has given me the motivation to prove to the young guys ‘Hey it doesn’t matter the age, you can still be good. I went to Germany to train for a week after the Olympic Trials and then I had big, big problems on my left Achilles, It felt like it was going to pop whenever I ran.  It got worse and worse and even in the village I thought ‘it’s not going to be good.’ But I didn’t tell anybody except my agent James Templeton and my coach James Li. They knew I had problems. I kept treating it even during the Games. There were a lot of expectations from people that I was going to go and win. Even with all those problems I kept telling myself ‘I am still strong. I want to be strong.’ But you know what? There is always something called reality. You know what motivates me this year? It’s the failure of having an injury and not coming anywhere close to a medal in Beijing. That was the biggest disappointment in my athletics career, In most of the major championships I have medalled and in this one I did not. So I am more motivated than ever to go to the podium in Berlin. It is easy to get up in the morning and know what I want to achieve. My motivation is to medal in Berlin and hopefully get the gold medal. My intentions are to run two events in Berlin, I have the qualification for both events now. I can’t see any reason why I won’t do that. Not running two would be like giving up something. But the reality is I will be doing the 1500m first just like in Osaka. The 5000m comes after. So it would not be wise for me to back off doing the 5000m after I am done with the first event. Lagat aims at defending precious World Champs double,August 12 2009 I am contemplating that, I think it is highly likely. Depending on how I feel, I am going to run the two events at the US trials (in Eugene, June 27 – July 6). If I qualify in both we (Lagat and his coach, James Li) will leave our options open for Beijing unless things happen down the road in training. What we are thinking is: ‘Train hard but let’s keep the options open’.” The Beijing timetable mirrors Osaka, in that the 5000m follows the 1500m, but the US trials feature the 5000m first. When I decided to run both events in Osaka, I was thinking all the time of how El Guerrouj did it, He made it look so easy but there is no way it is easy. I thought: ‘If El Guerrouj did it, I can try my best to do it too’. But it is no longer (a case of) ‘El Guerrouj did it at the Olympics and I am going to do it at the Olympics’. Now can I live up to myself – what I have set for myself. In Osaka I was living up to what El Guerrouj has set but now can I live up to what I have set for myself. Can I do in 2008 what I did in 2007? It’s going to be a big task and we have to make sure that we lay down all the strategies in order for us to win both, if we decide to do both, or we do one and try to win one. It was so good, They had seen the pictures of Miika, and had an idea of how my son is, but seeing him - the facial features, him running around – it was so emotional. I love snorkelling, It is something for me that is so different. I saw some big, big turtles – I am talking huge turtles, a lot of them. Once the season is over I just pack away my running shoes and never see them until November 1. I don’t do anything at all. I just ride a bike with my son a little bit, maybe just on my driveway. Since 1998 I have timed my start to be November. I go for 30 minutes all of the first week – one run a day then eventually I will do twice a day and increase the distance. No, I think I cannot run 3:26. I know I can still run 3:28 and that is plenty good enough. I don’t have to prove anything by trying to run 3:25, which I know is not practically possible. But my time is in the books and you know what? I am still competing at the age of 32 and I am still beating the young guys. Train hard but let’s keep the options open’ - history beckons for Lagat in Beijing, November 08 2007 External links Category:Track and field athletes Category:Sportspeople from Kenya Category:Immigrants to the United States Category:Living people Category:1974 births