Matthew Centrowitz always wanted to be an Olympic runner. Kind of like Matt Centrowitz.
Like father, like son — as the tattoo across his chest says.
Only that the son, who goes by Matthew, is bringing home a gold medal and neither he nor his dad, known as Matt, can believe it.
Photo: AP
During his victory lap after a surprise win in the 1,500m at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics on Saturday, the US runner suddenly spotted his dad in the stands.
“I was like: ‘Are you kidding me?’” Matthew Centrowitz recounted. “It hasn’t sunk in. We’re both just absolutely astonished right now.”
Centrowitz surprised himself as he took the lead in a leisurely paced race with two laps remaining. He only got stronger with the finish line in sight. It was the first title in the event for the US since Mel Sheppard won the “metric mile” more than 100 years ago at the 1908 London Games.
“I’m a confident guy, but I don’t know if I was this confident,” Centrowitz said. “I thought, on the best day, maybe I’d get a silver medal, but sure, in the back of my head, I thought I could get a gold.”
He was motivated by a good-luck e-mail from running great Jim Ryun, a silver medalist in the 1,500m in 1968. He was spurred on by a rock-solid race plan — depending on what transpired. And he was in awe of the person handing out the gifts at the medal ceremony — Sebastian Coe, the president of the International Association of Athletics Federations and a middle-distance running icon.
Seeing dad and the rest of his family was a big highlight.
Distance running just so happens to run in the Centrowitz family. His father represented the US at the 1976 Montreal Games. His sister, Lauren, competed in college for Stanford.
Then there is Matthew — a confident runner who always believed he was going to be the next big thing in the 1,500m.
“I have a lot of respect for everyone in that field,” Centrowitz said. “I never took anything for granted.”
That is why he had so many race plans, so nothing would surprise him.
The US runner and Spain’s David Bustos set a slow early pace, Algerian defending champion Taoufik Makhloufi boxed in the chasing pack with Kenyan favorite Asbel Kiprop.
The opening two laps were timed at a relatively pedestrian 66 and 69.7 seconds respectively.
Kiprop motored up through the field as the pace accelerated.
Morocco’s Abalaati Iguider and Djibouti’s Aynaleh Souleiman pushed Centrowitz through the bell for the last lap, with all eyes on Kiprop and Makhloufi.
As expected, the Kenyan made his move with 300m to run, the Algerian following, but Centrowitz kept his nerve as the pack entered the home stretch.
“After the first 800m when no one came around me, I thought: ‘OK. no one’s going around me now,’” he said.
Steadily pulling away, then holding on at the end, “Centro” finished in 3 minutes, 50 seconds, beating Makhloufi by 0.11 seconds.
Nick Willis of New Zealand captured bronze.
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