DAZZLING OLYMPIC DEBUTS

Wanjiru added his name to a distinguished list of runners who took to the world stage for the first time in stunning style. Here are our top three debuts

Emil Zátopek London 1948

The Czechoslovak was little-known beyond his homeland when he started the 10,000m final on the first day of the first postwar Games. By the finish, he was a sensation, and had lapped so many people on his way to his first gold medal that race officials became confused and recorded finishing positions only for the first 11 runners (two of which were later reversed). Four days later, Zátopek’s lastlap sprint to finish second in the 5000m final made him a household name. And his distance-running treble at the Helsinki Olympics was still four years away…

Abebe Bikila Rome 1960

Until the final day of the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, no sub-Saharan African had ever won an Olympic medal.

Few Europeans expected that to change. The sight of Bikila, a 28-year-old Ethiopian, sprinting barefoot up the Appian Way, which was lined with Italian soldiers holding torches, was one of the defining images of the decade, heralding a new era of truly global sport. Bikila’s winning time, 2:15:16.2, was a world record, as was the 2:12:11.2 with which he retained his Olympic title in Tokyo four years later (in shoes).

Ed Moses Montreal 1976

Five months before his first Olympics, Edwin Moses was just a 400m runner who also ran the 110m hurdles. He did his first 400m hurdles race in March 1976 and by

August he was lining up for the Olympic final in Montreal. With his stunning 13-strides-ahurdle technique (it was normal for hurdlers to take 14 strides, or 15 later in a race), the 6ft 2in US novice with the

9ft 9in stride set a new Olympic record, beat teammate Mike Shine and inaugurated a decadelong reign as undisputed king of his event.