00:00He was only a few steps away from winning the 10,000 metre final, but in the last moments of
00:05the race he did something that wouldn't only destroy his chances of winning a medal in this
00:09race, but would become a stain that would follow him over 20 years after this moment. See the Kenyan
00:16runner Josefat Machuca had been dominating, leading just about every lap in the 25 lap
00:21world junior championship race. But as the runners came down to the final straight and Machuca was
00:26close to victory, he felt the Ethiopian runner Haile Gebre Selassie catching up and he no longer
00:32had the energy to fend him off. So as Gebre Selassie passed him in the final metres, that's when he
00:38lashed out. Gebre Selassie crossed the line in first place. He took home the gold and thankfully he was
00:45okay. In fact, funnily enough, the hit kind of gave him a boost. That propelled him across the line a
00:51second faster than it would have been if he hadn't punched him on the back of the head. Machuca was
00:55disqualified for the outburst and his silver medal went to the Kenyan who crossed the line in third
01:00place. Surprisingly, Gebre Selassie wasn't upset. He shrugged off the assault and after this moment,
01:05he would go on to become one of the greatest distance runners in history, winning two Olympic
01:10gold medals, four world championship titles in the 10,000 metres and setting 27 world records.
01:16As for Machuca, he also tried pushing forward in the sport but his running career quickly fell apart.
01:22And nearly 20 years later, when he was questioned about the incident by a local news channel,
01:26he didn't take ownership of what he'd done. Instead, he blamed his coaches,
01:30saying that they didn't prepare him well enough to handle moments like this.
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