Eamonn Coghlan winning the 5000m at the World Athletics Championships at Helsinki in 1983 followed by the medal ceremony. Commentators - David Coleman, Ron Pickering, Brendan Foster and Dave Moorcroft. BBC Coverage.
Coglan is one of the greatest runners to never win an Olympic medal. He would have been a big favorite in Los Angeles if he hadn't gotten injured just before the games. I always will remember his mile duels with Steve Scott at the now defunct Pepsi Invitational, which was held at UCLA's Drake Stadium.
I remember a couple of years when Scott and Cruz had very close races at UCLA in the 3:53-3:55 range. It seemed at that pace that they were almost evenly matched coming down the homestretch.
As soon as the race finished at 3-15pm it was a mad rush 1 mile drive up to Phoenix Park racecourse (in Dublin) for a concert headlined by U2, Eurythmics, Big Country & Simple Minds for the ludicrously cheap price of £15 a ticket - even with inflation, concerts were a lot cheaper then. Just as we got there at the end of a set, the compere announced to the crowd the words "Eamonn Coghlan has won the Gold medal at Helsinki" and the crowd erupted. If ever a man deserved it, it was him.
I was sitting in Croke Park watching the All-Ireland football semi final between Donegal and Galway, when the announced that Eamonn had won the gold medal during halftime, the place went nuts, Donegal lost by a point, but it was still a great day for Irish sport.
Great story Francis,i remember it so well.Eamonn was from my area so you could only imagine how emotional we all were,what a great moment in Irish sport :)
Steve Ovett was my idol, but massive respect to Eamon who showed his class here & well deserved too, was great to see him lift a major medal here, always gave 100% & he must have loved that final bend 👍
The biggest cheer of the day at the U2 concert in Phoenix Park on 08/14/83 was when Dave Fanning announced that Eamon Coughlan had won the gold in Helsinki. Still gives me goose bumps!
I remember watching this when I was 4. My name is Eamonn and Eamonn Coghlan lived just a couple of hundred metres down the street from us. It was massive!
Coghlan was over zealous in the heats / semis of 1500m in Montreal, taking too much out of himself and leading early on in the Final. Coghlan said that he had suffered from a bout of food poisoning leading up to Moscow, leaving him weak and causing him to miss a lot of specific speed preparation. He certainly didn't look his usual sharp self in the 5000m at Moscow.
@@bfc3057 The Montreal Games came too early in his career. He had not learned enough about race tactics, which showed in the final when he went to the lead far too early.
It seemed a bit arrogant to celebrate before even making his move, but an athlete at that level knows what they can do and they know their competitors. He knew when he checked back with about 250m to go that nobody else was there and he could just wait a bit longer to make his devastating kick that had destroyed so many of the best 1500m-mile runners over the years, so he knew he was finally going to win a big one.
Man, was Eamonn in top shape. What a final 120. Have to be happy for the greatest indoor miler of them all finally winning that elusive outdoor gold! Ireland was ecstatic after this race.
I'm lucky enough to have seen this live. He made the near impossible look effortless. That was a field loaded with the best in the world and he beat them with ease. There has never been a more intelligent runner than Eamonn.
Thank you very much for posting most of this 5,000-metre final on RU-vid! I watched it back in August 1983 (aged 10), and I've read a Finnish athletics book's description of it often, but never in adulthood had I seen more than the last few laps of the race, except for a few flashbacks to the race's earlier laps. Keep up the good work! Greetings from Finland!
OMG if he could have held this peak for just one more year it would have been a crazy race against Saïd Aouita in the 84 Olympics and also imagine if the 82 David Moorcroft, had that year in 84. It would have probably been the greatest 5,000 meter in Olympic history 😎
He and Steve Scott were 2 of my favorite runners from that era. Amazing race, he knew as he passed the guy on first that it was his race. He wasn't disrespecting the other runner, anyone that has raced before knows what that feeling is like when you know the other is beat. Coghlan had the best kick for any middle distance runner at the time.
I had forgotten about this championship for Coughlin - he was one of my favorites at the time. The Chairman of the Boards was not to be denied outdoors in 83.
Единственный раз, когда на 5000 м состязались в три круга- забеги, полуфиналы и финал. Великий милевик Коглан выиграл, начав праздновать за 150 м до финиша, а у Дмитриева украли медаль на последнем метре. Земляк Толя Крохмалюк все силы оставил в полуфинале, в финале просто дотянул до финиша. Сорок лет с тех пор пролетело
That british guy goatier or something, who is leading at 1.20, looks exactly like seb coe from a distance. His posture, height, body type, all exactly the same as Coe. Fucking brilliant to watch.
As a runner, no matter what level you are at, when the day comes you know you are flying, and you know no one is going to beat you, is an extraordinary feeling. I think that is what Eamonn felt that day.!!
