Bloodied Campbell feeling the pain
WITH blood slowly dripping from his finger, Kemoy Campbell had a look of pain on his face. Deeper inside was anguish that no one could ever see. He was suffering and he was hurting.
Campbell fell while running in the 5,000m at the World Championships and was basically trampled on, but bravely got up and finished the 12-lap event in 15th position with a time of 14:00.55 minutes, thereby failing to advance to the final. The race was won by Ethiopia’s Hagos Gebrhiwet in 13:45:00 minutes ahead of American Ben True (13:45:09); Kenya’s Edwin Cheruiyot Soi (13:45:28); Tom Farrell of Great Britain (13:45:29); and Ethiopia’s Imane Merga, who finished in a time of 13:45:41 minutes.
“This is my first World Championships and I wanted to be up there with the elite athletes and try to qualify for the final,” said Campbell, inhaling deeply before releasing his breath slowly, as he tried to cope with his disappointment.
“It was a great experience, but I wouldn’t say it was a good race. I was really disappointed with the time and I am disappointed that I fell in the race,” he added.
The former Bellefield High (Manchester) standout who dominated at the local and Caribbean levels, is thought of as the great hope of long-distance running in Jamaica.
In 2010 he won Jamaica’s first-ever high school boys’ 3,000m race at the Penn Relays. At the 2013 NCAA Division One Outdoor Track and Field Championship, Campbell placed fifth in the men’s 5,000m.
This year, he achieved the World Championship qualifying mark for the 5,000m after setting the national record with a time of 13:20.39 minutes, but he could not contain his frustration.
“I have been really working hard for the past months and I was really prepared for this. I was making a move for the head spot, but I got tripped and it just turned out to be a most disappointing race,” he explained.
“I am just looking forward from here, trying to improve where I can and do my best and beat some of these guys,” he added.
Campbell is well aware that to beat the best in the 5,000 m he will have to try other things and he has already worked out his plan.
“I am going to start running some 1,500m to help me in the 5K for some speed work. But if I get really good in the 1,500m, I might just stick with that as well. I might just do both events but we will see what the future holds,” said Campbell.
“At the end of the day, I got tripped in the race. I just have to get over it and start looking forward again where I can improve and where I can do better,” he pointed out.