Taoufik Makhloufi talks about his famous premature celebration
By LetsRun.com
June 2, 2012
Eugene, Ore. – On Saturday after the Bowerman mile, we caught up with 2012 Olympic 1500 Champion Taoufik Makhloufi of Algeria and asked him about his famous early celebration from a weeks ago.
Makhloufi generated international publicity (ESPN even had a segment on it) on May 18th at the Shanghai Diamond League meeting when he celebrated early and was nipped at the line by Kenya’s Robert Biwott in the men’s 800: Taoufik Makhloufi Sticks Out Tongue and Arms Celebrating His 800m ‘Win’ and Loses as a Result.
We asked Makhloufi if he’d learned a lesson from the loss. “Yeah of course. It was a big lesson for me, but I’m happy it was just in the Diamond League not the World Championships or Olympics Games. (There) if I lose like that I would cry,” replied Makhloufi.
Makhloufi, who could laugh about the loss now a few weeks after the fact, explained how it happened, “I was happy. I was feeling fresh and (also) I didn’t see him (race winner Robert Biwott) on the outside.”
Full interview below.