Posted: 7/2/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Eric Gay, The Associated Press Bernard Lagat signals his victory in the men's 5,000 meter final at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials in Eugene, Ore., on Monday.

EUGENE, Ore. - With a high leg kick and his trademark burst, Bernard Lagat has become an expert at putting people away in the last lap of races.

For this race, though, it was getting ready for the first lap that posed the biggest challenge.

He kept telling himself he had to stay focused, not get carried away by what was happening on the track in the moments before the 5,000 meters Monday at the U.S. Olympic trials, where dozens of newly selected Olympians were parading around in their new, blue uniforms.

"I'm watching the entire parade and they're running on the track. I'm telling myself, 'I've got to concentrate,'" Lagat said.

He did, and now he's the owner of one of those uniforms, the next step in a dream that began in his native Kenya and will carry on to Beijing, where he'll be not just an Olympian, but an Olympian for his new country, the United States.

"This is the one thing I've been thinking about," he said. "This is very special."

Having secured his trip with a time of 13 minutes, 27.47 seconds, he'll also compete later this week in the 1,500 meters - his better race. And when he heads to China, he hopes to win the gold medal that has eluded him in two previous Olympic trips.

He hopes to win it for the United States, the country he adopted four years ago.

"The best thing that could happen for me is winning the gold for the United States," Lagat said in an interview this spring. "Being an American is not something I'm going to take lightly. When I took that oath, I meant every piece of it."

No American has won the 5,000 since 1964, and no U.S. runner has ever won the 5,000 and the 1,500. Lagat has not yet decided if he'll go for the double or concentrate on the 1,500, where he has won silver (Athens) and bronze (Sydney) but has yet to stand on the top step of the podium.

The 33-year-old became the first runner to win both last year at the world championships.

"This is something I've been thinking about since Osaka," Lagat said. "I've been looking forward to running in this meet."

On Monday, he ran the last lap in 58 seconds flat, sprinting from fourth to first, with plenty of room to spare. He beat Matt Tegenkamp by more than 2 seconds, then turned around and hugged him at the finish. Later, he donned the cap given to all new Olympians, waved the American flag and took a bow, smiling through it all.

Continued...

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