A costly celebration at Shanghai track meet

Algerian runner Taoufik Makhloufi learned a valuable lesson about celebrating a win at this weekend’s Diamond League meet in Shanghai.

The Olympic 1,500m gold medallist had dropped down to the 800m to practice his speed heading into the summer outdoor track season. Coming down the home stretch in a competitive two-lap race, Makhloufi was in the lead and looked like he was going to pull off the win.

He stretched his arms out in victory, stuck out his tongue and began his triumphant celebration before breaking the line. The only problem was that he would not be triumphant. If Makhloufi had looked right in the last few metres of the race, he would have noticed that he was being passed by hard driving Kenyan Robert Biwott. The 18-year-old Biwott won in 1:44.69. Makhloufi’s official time ended up being 1:44.73. Still good enough for second place, but Biwott would walk away with the $10,000 cash prize for running hard all the way to the finish.