Cragg still capable of mixing with best

ATHLETICS:"LIFE IS really simple. But we insist on making it complicated." It's amazing how the old words of Confucius have become so applicable for the Olympics. Alistair Cragg has a tendency to complicate things when it comes to major championships, but if he can keep things simple, keep his head while those around him start losing theirs, then he should at least keep up with the best of them in today's 5,000-metre final.

Cragg has long been capable of mixing it with the best distance runners in the world, albeit doing it on limited occasions. Two years ago at the World Indoor Championships in Moscow he finished fourth over 3,000 metres behind three of the very best, and two of those - Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele and Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge - are among today's 15 finalists.

It's hard to imagine how Cragg can beat those two, and there are two further Kenyans and two further Ethiopians to contend with.

The real challenge for Cragg is to stay in contention for as long as possible, which, naturally enough, will all depend on how the race is run.

With nine sub-13 men in the field it's unlikely to be slow, and that should suit Cragg. The last thing he'll want is to see it develop into a kicker's race, and that may mean he'll need to take on the early pace himself.

Four years ago in Athens he finished 12th, the top European, and given he is now aged 28, this may be his last chance to improve on that. In getting this far, Cragg has ridden an emotional rollercoaster and if he can funnel some of that emotion into his run here he could yet surprise a few people, including himself.

Some old words of Confucius are also perfect for what will be nothing more than a footnote to the Irish performance in Beijing: Jamie Costin; 50km walk; 44th position: "It does not matter how slowly you go, as long as you do not stop" - but that he finished at all is almost as implausible as his being there to begin with.

His time of four hours, 15 minutes and 16 seconds was a full 38 minutes behind the winner, Italy's Alex Schazer. Yet anyone who witnessed what Costin put himself through in the blazing sunshine of Beijing yesterday won't easily forget it.

They'd gathered in the Bird's Nest at 7.30am, the sun already roasting the heavy air. There were 59 of them and they had to walk 25 times around the Olympic Green. A total of 50 kilometres, or 31 miles. Only 47 would make it back - Costin's team-mate Colin Griffin among those that didn't, disqualified at 20 kilometres.

Costin had bided his time from the start because he had to. This time four years ago he was in a full body cast, his back broken in two places. After four years' preparation to get himself ready for the Athens Olympics, Costin didn't even get to compete after crashing his car into a cement truck when returning from training just a few days before his event.

In the four years since, the thought of finishing his event in Beijing was part of his every waking hour. It had to be. Costin has an insatiable competitive spirit and the only thing that could possibly satisfy it was finishing in Beijing. So he defied all the medical diagnosis and advice and put himself through another four years of preparation.

Costin bided his time as every muscle asked him to stop. At the halfway point, 25km, he was over 10 minutes in arrears.

He had to finish.

It was 28 degrees already and no amount of water could quench his thirst. He did not stop. He just staggered across the line as if partly anaesthetised, first sat on the track, then fell onto his back. Recompense had laid its claim on him. Later, much later, after an hour and a half in the medical tent trying to rehydrate, he attempted to put his own words on it.

"It had been a fairly long journey to get back to here. The road to China took a few turns along the way. It did not go as well as I hoped. But it is still a finish.

"It is still an Olympic Games and I managed to get across the line and that was about all I could do today.

"No mattered what happened I was going to finish today. There was no two ways about that. There are a lot of my friends and family who have come over to see me race.

"You don't allow something to happen where you don't finish. You are just trying to get through every step. It is very tough to make sure you keep yourself going. But I had to get to the finish."