 Cacho in November 2011 | |
| Personal information | |
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| Born | Fermín Cacho Ruiz (1969-02-16)16 February 1969 (age 56) |
Medal record | |
Fermín Cacho Ruiz (born 16 February 1969) is a Spanishtrack and field athlete, winner of the gold medal in the 1500m at the1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona and the silver medal in the 1500m at the1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
Born inÁgreda, Spain, Cacho had an enviable competitive record in the 1500 m, but it was not until late in his career that he produced a time of corresponding quality.
Cacho's first notable result came in 1990, when he finished second in the 1500 m at theEuropean Indoor Championships inGlasgow. At the 1991World Indoor Championships inSeville, Cacho finished again second in the 1500 m, behindNoureddine Morceli.
At theOlympic Games inBarcelona, Cacho was not considered a serious gold medal prospect. But the Olympic 1500 m final was run at a very pedestrian pace, and Cacho positioned himself perfectly in the final lap, and outsprinted his rivals, with a last lap of 50.6 seconds, to win thegold medal in 3:40.12.
In 1993 atStuttgart inWorld Championships, Cacho finished second, but took the 1500 m title at theEuropean Championships inHelsinki in the next year. InWorld Championships atGothenburg, Cacho only finished in eighth place.
After a relatively lean year in 1995, Cacho was back to his best in the early part of the 1996 season, leading up to theOlympic Games in Atlanta. Although Cacho was the defendingOlympic 1500 m champion, the final inAtlanta was considered to be a match race between Morceli andHicham El Guerrouj, who had filled the first two places at the previous year's World Championships. Approaching the completion of the third lap, Morceli was leading from El Guerrouj, when suddenly the Moroccan tripped and fell. In taking evasive action, Cacho was forced to leap over the fallen El Guerrouj, in a manoeuvre which he later estimated had lost him 5 metres of ground to Morceli, who had commenced his final lap sprint for the finish. Cacho chased Morceli around the last lap, but was unable to catch him. In the end Morceli won by 5 metres from the second-placed Cacho.
At theWorld Championships inAthens in 1997, Cacho won asilver medal again, and at the end of the same season he finally managed to run his world class time, when he finished second at the 1500 m behind El Guerrouj with a time of 3:28.95, which moved him to third on the all-time world list behind Morceli and El Guerrouj. He won thebronze medal at the1998 European Championships inBudapest, and finished fourth in theWorld Championships at Seville in 1999. Cacho suffered anAchilles' tendon injury in 2000, causing him to miss the opportunity to add to his Olympic gold and silver medals at2000 Summer Olympics inSydney.
He held theEuropean record at 1500 m with a time of 3:28.95 for 16 years (1997–2013), untilMo Farah broke it with a time of 3:28.81.
1Representing Europe
Outdoor
Indoor
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| Preceded by | European record holder men's 1500 m 13 August 1997 – 19 July 2013 | Succeeded by |
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European Athletics Championships champions in men's1500 metres | |
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