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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Alistair Ian Cragg | ||||||||||||||
| Born | 13 June 1980 (1980-06-13) (age 44) Johannesburg, South Africa | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Alistair Ian Cragg (born 13 June 1980 inJohannesburg) is a South Africantrack and field athlete. He has since lived inEngland andUnited States where he attended theUniversity of Arkansas. He races forIreland and competes most often over3000 metres and5000 metres. He holds theIrish national records in both the 5000 metres and the10,000 metres. He holds theEuropean road running record in the 5 km in 13:26, set inCarlsbad, California.[1]
Cragg's father was a coach in South Africa and now lives inFayetteville, Arkansas with his wife. Alistair's older brother, Duncan, went toSouthern Methodist University from 1994 to 1999. Alistair followed him there in 1999. His first cross country season there, he was injured and finished the season poorly at the regional meet inDenton, Texas. Arkansas coachJohn McDonnell saw him after the race and said something about how he should not run if he was injured. The next spring, Alistair was the top freshman finisher in the 5000 m at theNCAA Championship meet, smashing SMU freshman records in that event.[2]
The following autumn, one of Cragg's brothers died and Alistair dropped out of SMU.[2] After taking a year off, SMU had given away his scholarship and Alistair needed a new home. McDonnell made room for him on the Arkansas roster. Alistair had an outstanding college career with theArkansas Razorbacks with McDonnell, winning individual NCAA titles at 3,000 m, 5,000 m and 10,000 m on the track, as well as indoor titles. In 2004, he was votedSoutheastern Conference athlete of the year,[3] and theTrack and Field News magazine Collegiate Athlete of the Year.
Cragg is theUniversity of Arkansas recordholder for 3,000 m and 5,000 m, and the only Razorback to win the 10,000, 5,000 and 1,500 meter races at a single SEC Outdoor Championship meet (2004) . He won seven NCAA championships while at theUniversity of Arkansas including five indoors: 5000m (three straight from 2002-2004) and 3000m (2003 and 2004) and two outdoors: 10000m (2004) and 5000m (2003) .[citation needed]
Cragg declared forIreland in 2003, having represented South Africa as a junior athlete in a cross country race. He qualified for an Irishpassport on the basis of his Irish ancestry[4] and first obtained Irish nationality in 1985.[5]
It was seen as a controversial move as he had never lived in the country and only first visited when he was 24 years old.[4] He currently runs forClonliffe Harriers, a club inDublin.
Cragg made his début for Ireland at the 2003European Cross Country Championships, where he finished a respectable 8th. In the2004 Summer Olympics inAthens he finished as top European in the 5000 m at 12th place. Cragg won the gold medal in the2005 European Indoor Championships for 3,000 m. Unfortunately for Cragg he could not build on this success as injury forced him to miss most of the outdoor season, including the2005 IAAF Athletics World Championships.[citation needed]
Cragg began the 2006 season well and finished 4th in theWorld Indoor Championships, just missing out on a medal. He was one of the favourites to win a medal in the 5000 m at theEuropean Championships, but dropped out whilst leading the slow run final with around 800 metres to go. It is believed he had suffered anAchilles tendon injury.[citation needed]
During the early part of the 2007 season, Cragg made Olympic 'A' standards for the2008 Olympic Games in the 1500 metres, 5000 metres and 10,000 metres. Whilst recording the standard in the latter event, he broke the seven-year-old Irish record for the distance. Cragg finished second behind Cathal Lombard at the 2007 Irish Cross Country Championships, held inBelfast.[6]
In the2008 Summer Olympics inBeijing, Cragg competed in the 1500 m and 5000 m track events. He failed to qualify from heat section in the 1500m, finishing 8th with a time of 3:44.90.[7] In the first heat of the 5000 m, he finished sixth in his heat of the 5000 m with a time 13:38.57.[8]
Immediately after this race, thinking he had failed to qualify, Cragg was emotional when he was interviewed about the pressures that are associated with being anIrish athlete. He criticized Irish media, who he said, place too many demands ontrack and field athletes, and the Irish public, for criticizing the Olympic team too hastily.[9][10] He criticized Ireland's former middle-distance athletes for lambasting his performances, saying he could match the likes ofEamonn Coghlan and others in a race. Cragg sat by himself watching the other two heats, dejected at his performance. However, it turned out that he had qualified for his second Olympic final as a fastest loser, with the sixth fastest time of all the qualifiers. He went on to participate in the 5,000-metre final, but did not finish.[8]
In May 2009, he ran one of the best 5,000 metres of his career at theAdidas Track Classic inCarson, California in a time of 13:16.83. He also won the 2009 Irish 5000 m championship in August 2009.
He came second at theRock 'n' Roll Arizona Half Marathon in January 2011 behind AustralianShawn Forrest.[11]
He reached the 5000 m final at the2011 World Championships in Athletics, but finished in fourteenth place overall.
The following month he ran at theGreat South Run and claimed third place due to his well-timed pacing.[12]
Cragg again competed in the 5000m, finishing 17th in his heat with a time of 13:47.01. A female reporter for RTÉ asked him,"Realistically, should you have come to the Olympic Games?" Bernice Harrison, writing inThe Irish Times, called this criticism "harsh".[13]
On 1 December, Alistair Cragg ran 2:23:05 and finished 26th.[14][15]
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | European Cross Country Championships | Edinburgh,Scotland | 8th | 9830 m | 29:13 |
| 2004 | World Cross Country Championships | Brussels,Belgium | 16th | Short race | |
| 2004 | Olympic Games | Athens,Greece | 12th | 5000 m | |
| 2005 | European Indoor Championship | Madrid,Spain | 1st | 3000 m | 7:46.32 |
| 2006 | World Indoor Championships | Moscow,Russia | 4th | 3000 m | 7:46.43 |
| 2006 | European Championships | Gothenburg,Sweden | — | 5000 m | DNF |
| 2008 | Olympic Games | Beijing,China | — | 5000 m | DNF |
| 2010 | European Athletics Championships | Barcelona,Spain | — | 5000 m | DNF |
| 2012 | Olympic Games | London,Great Britain | 30th | 5000 m | 13:47.01 (h) |
Some were heart-breaking: sailor Annalise Murphy on Monday was a lip-trembler, and the most candid one of the week was when the woman from RTÉ asked Alistair Cragg, who was full of excuses after his disappointing performance, "Realistically, should you have come to the Olympic Games?" Harsh maybe, but it was what we, by that time so full of boxing hope, were all thinking.
