A series of injury setbacks will force Saif Saaeed Shaheen, the world record holder in the 3000m steeplechase, to miss next month’s Olympic Games.
The 2003 and 2005 world champion from Qatar lost his race to regain fitness after missing the entire 2007 season due to knee and Achilles tendon injuries.
“Although he has made great progress over the past three months he does not feel that he is well enough prepared to put two races together in three days in Beijing,” his manager Ricky Simms said. “He sets himself very high standards and would not be satisfied with anything other than the gold medal.”
Shaheen, the former Kenyan Stephen Cherono, was unable to compete at the 2004 Olympic Games due to his nationality switch, and was forced to watch Ezekiel Kemboi lead a Kenyan podium sweep from his home in Nairobi. Ten days later Shaheen shattered the world record, clocking 7:53.63 at the Van Damme Memorial in Brussels.
“It could have been a very interesting race for me,” Shaheen said of the Olympic final after his world record run in Brussels. “They were very, very happy. The way I saw it was that they were celebrating because I was not here. If I was there, they would have maybe been second or third. Because I would have scared them. Because they fear me so much.”
The event’s dominant force in recent years, Shaheen has produced seven of history’s 11 fastest performances.
After early season outings in Belgrade and Eugene over 5000m and two miles respectively, he was forced to drop out of the steeplechase after four laps at the Super Grand Prix in Athens two weeks ago with a pain in his knee. It was his first steeplechase contest since winning the IAAF World Cup on the same track in September 2006, and put an abrupt end to his 24 race win streak in the event.
“Fortunately the knee pain was not serious and he is now back in full training,” Simms said. “However having missed so much over the past year he wants to take things slowly in an attempt to be at full fitness for 2009 and beyond.”
Shaheen, 25, has yet to decide if he will compete on the track again this season, and may also consider the Fifth Avenue Mile in New York City or the 3km at the Great North Run in Newcastle, England.
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