Olympic Post #3 Men's 1,500 Meter Final

Instead of giving an overview of events from the London Olympics today I will just focus on the Men's 1,500 Meter Final.  This was an amazing, awe inspiring event that really caught my attention.  They clear favorite, Asbel Kiprop of Kenya, had strained his hamstring in the preceding days and would still run but not be in contention.  An Algerian named Taoufik Makhloufi, got disqualified from the Olympics earlier due to a lack of effort in 800 meter qualifying, but was reinstated when the Algerian Track Team said he had suffered from an injury and it wasn't lack of effort that did him in.  Two Americans were running and neither of them was supposed to medal or even fair that well.  They were Leonel Manzano and Matthew Centrowitz.  Leo Manzano is a personal favorite standing at only 5'5'' and weighing 126 pounds.  Manzano was born in Mexico but moved to the United States at 4 years old.  He attended the University of Texas, Austin and his main hobby is listed as "hanging out with friends in coffee shops."  Manzano stayed near the back during the entire race and even looked like he was laboring harder than expected.  With around 200 meters left, Makhloufi (the "cheating Algerian" as my dad started call him) took what looked to be an insurmountable lead and the race for the silver was on.  Silas Kiplagat of Kenya and Mekonnen Gebremedhin of Ethiopia were dueling it out until the last 75 meters when they started to lose energy.  Manzano and Moroccan Abdalaati Iguider came on strong.  Manzano had worked his way up from the back of the pack and was moving quicker than Iguider.  He surpassed Iguider with around 30 meters to go and would end up taking the silver by .34 of a second.  The final times would turn out to be: Taoufik Makhloufi, 3:34.08; Leonel Manzano, 3:34.79; and Abdalaati Iguider, 3:35.13.  The other American, Matthew Centrowitz very nearly took the bronze with a time of 3:35.17.  Overall, it was an incredible race and the hustle and work ethic of Manzano really caught my attention.  If you haven't already I strongly recommend you learning more about this Olympian and watching him in the future.