El Bakkali say there was a strong pressure on him. He suffered from a strong injury at the beginning of the year and only recovered in April and wasn't sure about going to the Olympics.
He say the American was a strong surprise.
He say Girma tried to harass him (I dont know the exact equivalent word) the whole of the race.
Indeed if you watch the video, you will see Girma was watching the steps of El Bakkali and when El Bakkali started to sprint at 300m to catch the American, Girma tried to follow him and accelerated ... and then PUF! the fall happened after 3 or 4 meters of acceleration.
From an interview of the last year, El Bakkali said he was always worrying about keeping a distance of 1 meter between him and Girma to avoid contacts and falls.
Tindouft did the pacing to unbalance the plan of the Ethiopians and El Bakkali was in favor of a fast race.
Interview after the race