By Paul Radford
SEOUL, Reuter: Little known Moroccan Moulay Brahim Boutaib followed his master said Aouita to Olympic glory on Monday and could soon be taking his place in the record books.
Boutaib, a21 year old newcomer from a peasant family in the mountains east of Casablanca, raced away to win in the Men’s 10,000 meters clocking the fourth fastest time over the distance
Moroccan Team coach Benjamin Moyer immediately predicted that the youngster would soon break world records in both the 10,000 and 5,000 meters. The holder of the record over the shorter distance is aouita
Boutaib a timid athlete running for only the fifth time over 10,000 meters, was quick to pay tribute to Aouita, the 1984 Olympic 5,000 meters champion who won bronze in the 800 meters on Monday.
“We are brothers,” he said. “I’m sure he will win gold in the 1,500 meters.
Boutaib’s career follows Aouita’s so closely. He is almost in his footsteps:
Both first appeared on the international scene at the World Junior cross country championships Aouita in Glasgow in 1978 and Boutaib in Neuchatel, Switzerland two years ago.
The two have frequently trained together ‘and the younger Boutaib followed Aouita to Italy where he signed for the same manager, Enrico Dionisi.
Aouita and Dionisi later parted company and the two Moroccan athletes no longer run together. “But there’s no problem between us,” Boutaib said. “It’s just that we don’t run the same distances so we can’t train together anymore.”
Aouita may have to adjust to having serious domestic opposition for the first time because Moyer said Boutaib would probably concentrate on the 1,500 and 5,000 meters in future.
He has a great talent but not much endurance,” Moyer said. “He’s too young to be running the 1,000 he needs to improve his basic strength and speed.”
In Monday’s race, it was not apparent there was much wrong with his endurance, taking the lead with 11 laps to go, he stepped up the pace until his main rival, eventual bronze medalist Kipkemboi Kimeli of Kenya, was burned out 2,500 meters from home.
“I knew 10 laps from the end that I ‘had won the gold,” he said. “I didn’t come here as a tourist so I was here with the idea of winning the gold medal. I’ve been dreaming of this since Aouita won gold in Los Angeles four years ago.”
Boutaib clocked 27 minutes 21.46 seconds and could have been close to Fernando Mamede of Portugal’s world record of 27:13:81. But he marked time 20 meters from the finish to allow his friend and training partner Salvatore antibo of Italy almost to catch him
Article extracted from this publication >> November 4, 1988
