3000m/5000m/10,000m
These races are metric adaptations of the 3 miles (4828m) and the 6 miles (9656 m) and are
the track events that most challenge human endurance.
Back in the 1920s Paavo Nurmi revolutionised these events by training twice a day over
long distances, skiing in the winter, and carrying out gruelling sprint repetitions.In the
1940s, as a result of Gunder Hägg (see 1500m), the "natural training method"
including "fartlek" (speed-play) became popular while in the 1950s, thanks to
the phenomenal successes of Czechoslovakia's Emil Zátopek, interval training came into
vogue again. Zátopek’s training was incredibly intense. He often ran 60 x400m with
short recovery times. Each day he covered 40km, 25 of them on the track. His long runs
were usually made in army boots.
In the 1960s Ron Clarke (Australia), a disciple of even pace, put natural preparation
first and overturned all the received wisdom.
Today Africa boasts the greatest distance runners. Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia, who has
continuously astounded the world with his world records at 5000m and 10,000m, was born at
altitude, like his predecessors Kip Keino, Miruts Yifter, Henry Rono and John Ngugi.
Gebrselassie has succeeded in blending two previously incompatible attributes - speed and
endurance.
Women first ran the 3000m distance in Britain in 1953 and official world records have been
accepted since 1974. The IAAF held a 3000m race at its inaugural World Championships in
1983 and it made its Olympic debut the following year. The event was replaced by the 5000m
in 1995, although the IAAF had recognised world records at this distance since 1981.
The first women's 10,000m races were held in the sixties with IAAF world records
recognised since 1981. The event received World Championships status in 1987 and Olympic
recognition a year later. |
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