Said Aouita

Athlete, born in Rabat, Morocco. A middle- and long-distance track athlete, he won the 1984 Olympic 5000 m title, then set world records at 1500 m and 5000 m in 1985 to become the first man for 30 years to hold both records. He went on to break world records at 2 mi, 2000 m, and 3000 m. The overall Grand Prix winner in 1986, 1988, and 1989, he was the 1987 World 5000 m champion. Knighted by King Hassan, the Rabat to Casablanca train was dubbed ‘The Aouita’.

Olympic medal record
Men's Athletics
Gold	1984 Los Angeles	5000 m
Bronze	1988 Seoul	800 m

Saïd Aouita (Arabic: سعيد عويطة) (born November 2, 1959) is a former Moroccan athlete, winner of 5000 meters at the 1984 Summer Olympics. He was the only man at the time capable of running 800 m in sub 1:44, 1500 m sub 3:30, 3000 m sub 7:30 and 5000 m sub 13:00. The defeats were against world champion Steve Cram over 1500 m, Olympic bronze medalist Alessandro Lambruschini over 3000 m steeplechase, Olympic champions Joaquin Cruz and Paul Ereng over 800 m and world champion Yobes Ondieki over 5000 m.

Aouita's first major international competition was the 1983 World Championships held in Helsinki where he contested the 1500 m. After this experience, Aouita decided to run 5000 m at the Los Angeles Olympics. The 5000 m final was run at a very fast pace set by Antonio Leitão from Portugal, which suited Aouita much better than the tactics used in Helsinki.

In the next season, Aouita ran two world records: at first in 5000 m (13:00.40) and then in 1500 m (3:29.46). Aouita's 1500 m world record was remarkable for its slow start. Aouita passed the first 400 m in a mediocre time of 57.0 seconds, at 800 m he was still just under 1:54 min before he accelerated dramatically. In 1987, Aouita broke Steve Cram's 2000 m world record with a time of 4:50.81. Only six days later, he broke his own world record for 5000 m, and in the process became the first man to break 13 minutes, finishing in 12:58.39.

For the World Championships held later that year, Aouita had provisionally entered the 800 m, 1500 m, 5000 m and 10 000 m (probably to keep his opponents guessing), but eventually decided just to contest the 5000 m. Instead of staying within the comparative security of 5000 m competition, the distance at which he was the reigning Olympic and World champion, he decided to concentrate his efforts on the shorter distances. In the 800 m final, a very fast pace was set to try to nullify Aouita's fast finish. Aouita ran according to his race plan, but in the end he was outkicked by the 800 m specialists and finished third. His bronze medal made him the only man in Olympic history to win medals at both the 800 m and 5000 m.

In the next year, Aouita won the World Indoor Championships in 3000 m. Later, he ran his last world record, breaking Henry Rono's record in 3000 m by the time of 7:29.45. A few days after the 1991 World Championships he won a race in Cologne where he defeated most of the 1500 m elite except the world champion Noureddine Morceli who was absent.

1992 started very promisingly for Aouita as he set a new world indoor record over 3000 m in Athens.