“My ears are gone, my legs are gone. I’m proud of the performance I put out there today,” Kerr said. “I said to myself I’ll control my controllables. I did that today. I executed the fastest [race] that I’ve ever run by almost two seconds.”
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The smiling Nuguse won bronze behind them, after sticking to his strategy to “just roll with it, whatever happens” – knowing he would be strong enough to pull through. “It’s like the exact kind of race I wanted – a really fast race where you can go all out and not be impeded by anything,” he said. “Just like a crazy race for the finish. That’s exactly what I got today.”
And Hocker? The boy from Indiana had his eyes on this all along.
“Winning gold was my goal this entire year,” he said. “I wrote that down and I repeated it to myself even if I didn’t believe it.”
There was good reason not to believe it. For one thing, it took breaking an Olympic record to deliver gold.
Hocker didn’t win with a last-minute kick in a sluggish race, as the last American winner of this event did in 2016 – in Rio de Janeiro, Matt Centrowitz won the slowest Olympic 1500 metres since 1932. Hocker ran each of his last six 100-metre blocks faster than the last. He wasn’t kicking – he was winding up. Maybe he knew all along.
United States gold medallist Cole Hocker had faith in his ability when few others did.Credit: AP
“My performances showed me that I was capable of running [3 minutes, 27 seconds], whatever it took,” he said. “I knew I was a medal contender, and I knew that if I get it right, it would be a gold medal. I’ve been saying that.”
The media attention on Ingebrigtsen, in a way, was a blessing. It let Hocker cruise into this race under the radar, unsuspected and unseen, reflected on the final turn when he snuck along the inside rail to take the lead.
He thanked the stadium for carrying him, and God, too, and his body and mind, as dozens of journalists crowded around him and his medal. One of them stood unashamedly beaming.
David Woods of The Indianapolis Star has covered Hocker since high school. Woods had his gold medal story pre-written, in an act of faith, or an attempt to manifest a miracle. The headline: SHOCKER!
“He might not be the most elegant runner, but he has tremendous speed,” Woods said. “I call him the Barry Sanders of 1500 metre running, because he can dart to daylight. Which is what he did tonight.”
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