5 Funniest Track-and-Field Moments of Olympic Hopefuls

5. How Not to Be a Good Sport

SPOILER: This next blooper features two future Olympians. It comes at the end of the 10,000 meter run at the 1992 World Junior Championships. The two runners–Josephat Machuka of Kenya and Haile Gebrselassie or Ethopia–would go on to become among the top long distance runners in the world with Gebrselassie winning the gold medal in the 10,000 meter run at the 1996 and 2000 Olympics. In the 1992 junior race, Machuka didn’t take to kindly to the idea that somebody would pass him in the home stretch. So just as Gebrselassie goes by, Machuka takes a swing at the back of the other runner’s head. The best part is that when he connects he actually sends his rival further ahead of him.

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About the Author

Michael Starkey

Michael Starkey is an engineer 9-5, but in his spare time he writes about music and cultural history. His work includes "'Mercy, Mercy Me, The Ecology': Environmental Themes in Black Music" and "Hidden from Sight: African Americans and the Wilderness", presented at the annual conference of American Society of Environmental History, in 2006 and 2007 respectively. He is currently working on a book based on his master's thesis, "Wilderness, Race, and African Americans: An Environmental History from Slavery to Jim Crow." Michael lives and work in New York, NY. He currently resides in East Harlem with his wife and splits his work time between offices in Queens and Manhattan. He enjoys bicycling, listening to music, and playing soccer.