Bernard Lagat out of time in 1,500

At the finish line, Bernard Lagat bent over, exhausted. He could not remember being pushed like this in nearly a decade, not in a semifinal...

By Jere Longman

New York Times News Service

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STU FORSTER / GETTY IMAGES

Bernard Lagat checks the scoreboard after his semifinal heat of the 1,500. He had the 13th fastest time, and only 12 advanced.

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BEIJING — At the finish line, Bernard Lagat bent over, exhausted. He could not remember being pushed like this in nearly a decade, not in a semifinal heat of the 1,500 meters.

Still, he was certain he would be OK. He had won two Olympic medals in the metric mile and was the reigning world champion. Surely, he was not done.

The top five from Sunday's two semifinal heats, plus the next two fastest runners overall, had qualified for the 12-man field in Tuesday's Olympic final. Lagat finished sixth in his heat. The aggregate results were not yet posted as he left the track. Still, he felt confident he had been fast enough for that 12th spot.

"I'm sure I made it," said the former Washington State All-American.

The bad news came in a tunnel beneath Olympic Stadium.

Lagat had finished 13th overall, in 3 minutes 37.79 seconds. He had missed the 1,500 final and a chance for a gold medal — after winning a bronze in 2000 and a silver in 2004 — by two-hundredths of a second.

"I didn't make it?" Lagat asked, before turning philosophical.

"Hey, that's life," he said. "I'm going to concentrate on the 5,000. I'm not going to cry."

This was not the way it was supposed to end for him in the 1,500. His two Olympic medals had come for Kenya. Now he was an American citizen, trying to win gold for the United States.

But after a dominant early season in 2008, Lagat had grown vulnerable. He finished third in a 1,500 race in London in late July. Then, in the opening round of the Olympics on Friday, he felt flat.

On Sunday, he seemed similarly deflated. He is 33. Legs are not like pets; they don't always come when called.

"I didn't have it, honestly," Lagat said.

Tuesday, 12 others will line up at the start of the men's 1,500 final. He will not be among them.

"It's going to be like, 'Wow, I really missed it, I missed something huge', " Lagat said. "But I'm going to stay confident. I think there's a lot for me in the future. This is not the end."

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