The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
7 — Tuesday, April 14, 2020
Sports

‘One of those classic races’: Kevin Sullivan and the 2000 Olympics

Kevin Sullivan stood at the 

line and took it all in.

It was the Canadian’s first 

Olympic games, and it was 

electric. 110,000 people filled 

Stadium Australia on the night 

of Sept. 29, 2000. They were 

anxiously waiting to see one of 

the deepest fields in Olympic 

history try to capture glory for 

themselves and their country. 

“It’s like you’re in Michigan 

Stadium 
for 
a 
track 
and 

field meet,” Sullivan, now 

the track and field coach 

for 
the 
Wolverines, 
said. 

“It’s not something you see 

every weekend. So from that 

perspective, it’s a little bit of an 

eye opening experience.”

On your mark.

Sullivan 
hunched 
over, 

anticipating the sound of the 

gun that would send him and 11 

other men into a race that could 

define their careers.

The official raised an arm 

high into the night sky and 

fired. The runners were off.

***

Flashback to the summer of 

2000, Sullivan was preparing 

to qualify for Sydney after 

missing 
out 
on 
the 
1996 

Olympics due to injury. He was 

confident and running as well 

as he ever had before, setting 

personal bests in the mile, the 

1500-meter and 1000-meter all 

in the months leading up to the 

trials in August. As expected, 

he qualified and then set his 

sights to September’s Olympic 

games.

“When 
you 
miss 
one 

(Olympic games), you’re not 

sure if you’re ever going to get 

back again,” Sullivan said. “So, 

for me there was that sense of 

oh yeah, I’m still the athlete I 

was four years ago or better.”

Sullivan built a level of 

confidence 
heading 
into 

Sydney. Leading up to the start 

of the games he beat every 

runner in the field except 

the eventual gold and silver 

medalists — Moroccan runner 

Hicham 
El 
Guerrouj 
and 

Kenyan runner Noah Ngeny. 

He knew he could compete 

with the best runners in the 

world, and he was ready to 

show it.

***

Sullivan jostled for position 

on the back straight, and the 

race started shaping into what 

he had expected. Moroccan 

runner Youssef Baba grabbed 

the lead around the 200-meter 

mark and strung out the field 

with a blistering pace. Baba 

wouldn’t be able to keep this 

up and he knew that, this was 

just to help his teammate El 

Guerrouj — the world record 

holder in the 1500-meter — by 

turning it into an honest race 

just as El Guerrouj likes it. 

The Moroccans employed this 

strategy frequently whenever 

they had a second runner 

alongside El Guerrouj.

“As soon as the second 

Moroccan made the final, our 

coaching staff and I were pretty 

confident in what was gonna 

happen,” Sullivan said. “So 

from that perspective, it wasn’t 

a surprise when it went out that 

way, we were pretty prepared 

for that.”

Led by Baba, that first lap 

went by in a scorching 54 

seconds. Sullivan described 

that beginning as a “shock to the 

system” after having run two 

races earlier in the week. But, 

standing back around eighth 

place, he wasn’t panicking. He 

was ready to move up.

Then, the second lap came 

and with it, a blessing to 

everyone in the field — except 

El Guerrouj. Baba fell off pace 

earlier than expected and 

posted a 60-second lap that 

allowed the entire field back 

into the race. Sullivan worked 

his way up into sixth place, a 

spot that put him in position to 

cover a move by El Guerrouj.

***

But first, before looking at 

Sullivan’s finish, it’s important 

to look back at how he even got 

to the finals. A few hundredths 

of a second separated him from 

his opponents in the semifinals. 

If not for those key seconds, 

he’d have missed the chance 

to compete for a medal on the 

world’s biggest stage.

Sullivan 
always 
found 

preliminary races to be more 

stressful than finals. His heat of 

the quarterfinal is an example 

why. It was a tactical race early 

on, with no one wanting to take 

the pace out of themselves. So, 

they ran together, congested, 

waiting for someone to make 

a move. As the race started 

heating up, all the runners were 

fresh and could keep up with 

the pack.

“With 200 to go, all 12 guys 

were still in it,” Sullivan said. 

“So that one is one where it’s a 

super stressful situation until 

it really starts rolling. And 

then, when you’re in that last 

lap it’s more about trying to be 

in position, and trying to make 

sure you’re going as hard as you 

need to, and hopefully being 

able to conserve a little bit so 

that you got something left on 

the home stretch.”

Sullivan 
conserved 
just 

enough for that last 100 meters. 

He powered down the home 

stretch to come in fourth 

place and earned one of the 

automatic qualifying spots. The 

runner in seventh place — the 

first spot without an automatic 

qualification — was just 0.26 

seconds behind Sullivan. 

The semifinal went more 

smoothly. Sullivan had a great 

race and came in second in 

his heat, securing the bid for 

the final. He now had only 

one race left in Sydney. And 

it was one where he could 

prove everything if he finished 

highly enough against the elite 

runners that awaited him.

***

Whether it was the taxing 

races leading up to the final or 

the breakneck speed of the first 

lap, Sullivan didn’t respond 

very well to El Guerrouj’s move 

with 600 meters remaining. He 

got shuffled back to seventh as 

the pack strung out once again. 

As 
the 
bell 
sounded 

signifying the final lap, all eyes 

were on El Guerrouj. He was 

in first place followed closely 

by Ngeny and Bernard Lagat 

of Kenya. Sullivan was in 

sixth place just behind Spain’s 

Andrés Diaz. With 300 meters 

to go, he found his way into 

fifth. Sullivan was still out of 

reach of the leaders. 

“In hindsight, I don’t know 

if I would’ve been in a medal 

position, ” Sullivan said. “But I 

could’ve been closer to fourth 

had I positioned myself better 

a little bit in the middle of the 

race.”

Sullivan became merely a 

bystander to what unfolded in 

the front pack over the final 

200 meters. El Guerrouj was 

desperately holding onto first 

place fueled by the expectations 

of his country and the world, 

but Ngeny and Lagat were 

breathing on El Guerrouj’s 

neck. With 100 meters to go El 

Guerrouj tried to open up, but 

the effects of leading for the last 

500m weighed on him. 

Ngeny had just a little bit 

more to give. He sprinted 

past a pained El Guerrouj and 

snatched the gold. He posted 

an Olympic record time of 

3:32.07. He was closely followed 

by El Guerrouj — who would 

have to wait until 2004 to 

finally capture an Olympic gold 

— in second and his teammate 

Bernard Lagat in third. 

Meanwhile, 
Sullivan 

sprinted away from the rest of 

the chase pack over the final 

300 meters to capture fifth 

with a time of 3:35.50. After 

two more Olympics, it would 

still be his highest ever finish. 

“2000 was obviously the 

highlight for a couple of 

reasons,” Sullivan said. “It 

was my first games, it was the 

one I performed the best, and 

it was the best in terms of the 

venues, the atmosphere and the 

crowds, those were all better 

experiences than Athens and 

Beijing.”

Sullivan fondly looks back at 

this race and the spectacle of it 

all. The talent, the storylines, 

everything that came together 

to make this one of the most 

memorable 
Olympic 
1500-

meter races ever. 

Or, as Sullivan put it, “One of 

those classic races.”

SPENCER RAINES

Daily Sports Writer

FILE PHOTO/Daily

Michigan coach Kevin Sullivan came in fifth place in the 2000 Olympic 1500-meter race in Sydney, his best-ever finish in the Olympics.

Boxing, taekwando teams face removal from club sport status

In the midst of collegiate 

sports being canceled due 

to 
COVID-19, 
Michigan’s 

boxing and taekwando club 

teams have found themselves 

in limbo.

The 
University 
of 

Michigan’s 
Recreational 

Sports 
Department, 
in 

collaboration 
with 
the 

office of Risk Management, 

decided to revoke both teams’ 

status as a club sport based 

on audits, forcing them to 

become Voluntary Student 

Organizations (VSOs). 

“Their initial argument 

is about risk management,” 

Michigan 
Boxing 
Club 

President 
Maya 
Irigoyen 

said. The Recreational Sports 

Department did not respond 

to 
The 
Daily’s 
request 

for comment in time for 

publication.

The physicalities of both 

of these sports were enough 

to drive the University to 

take severe action despite the 

value that the partnerships 

provide.

Michigan’s taekwondo club 

— founded in 1964 — is the 

oldest collegiate taekwondo 

club 
and 
continues 
to 

represent the University at 

the national and international 

level.

Aside from the success 

members of the team achieve 

on each level, they also 

represent a variety of cultures 

and communities throughout 

campus. 

“This 
eclectic 
mix 
of 

people 
coming 
from 
all 

over the world creates an 

environment that transcends 

cultural bounds, commonly 

held thoughts about who does 

sports ... and an environment 

who is accepting of all,” 

taekwando 
club 
president 

Liam Blanchard said. “As 

much of a cliche as it is, 

taekwondo is a family.”

The removal of club status 

would harm its ability to 

provide the same level of 

resources to its members.

“All 
of 
our 
practices 

require practice space, which 

is largely provided to us at 

no extra cost through Club 

Sports,” 
Blanchard 
said. 

“This change would then 

have us rent all of our space, 

as many of the free spaces on 

campus cannot accomodate 

a group of our size. With 

the price of insurance, cost 

of renting space, and our 

current club funding, this 

would essentially lead the 

club into financial ruin.”

The Michigan boxing club 

plays a similarly positive 

role to its members. Without 

sponsorship, the club will 

also be hampered. 

“Losing 
sponsorship 

for 
club 
boxing 
would 

mean we would have to 

become a voluntary student 

organization 
to 
remain 

on campus, which is not 

viable,” boxing club treasurer 

Michael 
Zlonkevicz 
said. 

“We lose the ability to use 

any U-M names, logos, or 

indicia. This will impact our 

reputation on campus and our 

ability to fight in collegiate 

tournaments.”

Added Zlonkevicz: “Losing 

sponsorship 
would 
mean 

we are no longer able to 

participate in Giving Blueday. 

Shrinking 
a 
substantial 

revenue stream for us and 

likely causing us to raise 

dues, which no one wants. We 

would lose U-M insurance 

coverage as well, adding to 

our new costs if we were to be 

a VSO.”

The teams were granted a 

year extension for the appeal 

deadline — moving it back 

to April 1, 2021 — in order to 

accomodate for the COVID-

19 crisis.

The decision has not been 

made final, and both teams 

continue to put together 

appeals in an attempt to 

regain their club status. 

“We have been working 

on our appeal,” Irigoyen 

said. “We’ve been … citing 

a bunch of rules from the 

rulebook that establish what 

the safety precautions are. … 

We’ve been getting personal 

statements, reaching out to 

alumni, current members, 

other schools just to show the 

impact that this would have.”

The efforts to petition are 

ongoing, and diverse. Alumni 

and even other teams from 

other schools have offered 

assistance, as well. 

“In light of our decision, 

boxing clubs from Ohio State, 

Wisconsin and Georgetown 

have written letters speaking 

on our impact in the sport 

and how boxing has impacted 

their campus communities,” 

Zlonkevicz said.

Added Irigoyen: “It is just 

a very frustrating thing when 

it feels like the school, who 

is supposed to be sponsoring 

a team who has won them 

many 
championships 
and 

who represents the school 

very well … are just coming 

after us to get rid of us.”

BRANDON TRACHTENBERG

Daily Sports Writer

SOFIA URBAN

Daily Staff Reporter

CLUB SPORTS

