Khalid Skah ( ar, خالد سكاح) (born 29 January 1967) is a
Moroccan track and field
Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...
athlete, winner of the
10,000 metres at the 1992 Summer Olympics.
Born in
Midelt
Midelt (Berber language: ⵎⵉⴷⴻⵍⵜ, Arabic: ميدلت) is a town in Morocco, in the high plains between the Middle Atlas and High Atlas mountain ranges. With a population of 55,304 recorded in the 2014 Moroccan census, Midelt serves as t ...
, Morocco, Skah established himself first as a good
cross country runner
Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open coun ...
by winning the
IAAF World Cross Country Championships
World Athletics Cross Country Championships is the most important competition in international cross country running. Formerly held annually and organised by World Athletics (formerly the IAAF), it was inaugurated in 1973, when it replaced the Int ...
in 1990 and 1991.
Racing career
1991 World Championships
His first major tournament on track was
1991 World Championships where he at first won a bronze in 10,000 m and then finished sixth at the 5000 m run. This was a disappointing outcome for Skah as, earlier in the season, he had won the 10000 m race in Oslo against a very strong field and had emerged as one of the favourites for the finals in Tokyo. However, for the 10 000 m final
Richard Chelimo
Richard Chelimo (21 April 1972 – 15 August 2001) was a Kenyan long-distance runner, and a world record holder over 10,000 metres. However, he is best known as the silver medallist in the controversial 10,000m at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona ...
and the eventual world champion,
Moses Tanui
Moses Tanui (born 20 August 1965 in Sugoi Nandi District, Kenya) is a former Kenyan long-distance runner who won the gold medal over 10,000 metres at the 1991 World Championships in Athletics in Tokyo.
Biography
At the 1993 World Championships in ...
(both of Kenya), employed some very elaborate tactics and worked as a team.
By the time of the 5000 m final Skah was probably tired.
Yobes Ondieki
Yobes Ondieki (born February 21, 1961, in Kisii, Nyanza) is a Kenyan former 5000 m runner, who won the World Championships' gold medal in Tokyo 1991. In the same year he set a temporary Kenyan 5000 m record of 13:01.82 in Zurich. He partic ...
of Kenya, who won the gold medal in the 5000 m, had expected Skah to be his major rival.
1992 Olympics
The following year, at the
Barcelona Olympics
The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...
, Skah met Chelimo again. With three laps remaining in the 10,000 m final, the two athletes were clear and battling for the gold medal. At this point the pair came to lap another Moroccan athlete,
Hammou Boutayeb, who stayed with the leaders even after being lapped. The rules state that a lapped runner cannot "assist" another runner but, although Boutayeb's actions were interpreted as unsportsmanlike by the crowd, it was certain that there was collusion, Skah gained advantage, Chelimo was disadvantaged. These events incensed the
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
crowd, and the
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
track judge Carl-Gustav Tollemar attempted to stop Boutayeb.
During the final 150 m Skah sprinted away from Chelimo to win the race and was disqualified, making Chelimo the Olympic champion. However, the Moroccans appealed the disqualification and Skah was reinstated as Olympic champion the next morning, because the rule under which he was disqualified did not define a penalty.
Other races
In 1993 Skah won the 5000 m race at
Weltklasse Zürich
Weltklasse Zürich ( en, World Class Zurich) is an annual, invitation-only, world-class track and field meeting at the Letzigrund in Zürich, Switzerland, generally held at the end of August or beginning of September. Previously one of the IAAF G ...
. However, he finished fifth in 5000 m at the
1993 World Championships. He ran his only
world record
A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...
in
2 miles (8:12.17) in the same season. He won the
1994 World Semi-Marathon Championships and finished second in 10,000 m at the
1995 World Championships.
Skah's last major international meet was the
1996 Summer Olympics
The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...
, where he
finished seventh in the 10 000 m. In 1995, Skah was given Norwegian citizenship, where he lived and trained with athletes club
B.U.L. After that, the Moroccan Athletics Association banned him from international competitions. Skah was reinstated in 2001, after which he tried a comeback to re-establish himself as one of the world's best
long distance runner
Long may refer to:
Measurement
* Long, characteristic of something of great duration
* Long, characteristic of something of great length
* Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate
* Longa (music), note value in early music mensur ...
s, finishing tenth in the
World Half Marathon Championships that year.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skah, Khalid
1967 births
People from Midelt
Living people
Moroccan male long-distance runners
Moroccan male marathon runners
Olympic athletes of Morocco
Olympic gold medalists for Morocco
Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics
Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics
World Athletics Championships athletes for Morocco
World Athletics Championships medalists
Fugitives wanted on kidnapping charges
Fugitives wanted by Norway
Prisoners and detainees of France
Moroccan people imprisoned abroad
World Athletics Cross Country Championships winners
World Athletics Half Marathon Championships winners
Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics
Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field)
Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Morocco
Athletes (track and field) at the 1993 Mediterranean Games
Mediterranean Games medalists in athletics
20th-century Moroccan people
21st-century Moroccan people