'They included everything from long jump and discus to middle-distance running,' she said.

"He is one of the greatest things to happen to the mile and middle-distance running in America," Mills said this week.

There is no shortage of theories nor lack of debate about why American male middle-distance running has declined.

She also posted times in middle-distance running, specifically in the 1000 and 1500 metres, while enjoying her athletic success.

The Holy Grail of middle-distance running was his.

All but three of the twenty-three athletes competed in long or middle-distance running, with only two field athletes participating.

It's no coincidence that the rise of youth soccer corresponds with the fall of American middle-distance running."

Morocco's other medal in Athens also came in middle-distance running, in this case, the women's 800 metres.

Amine Laâlou born 13 May 1982) is a male middle distance runner, who specializes in middle-distance running.

A double runner-up in the Oxfordshire county cross-country championships, he decided at 15 to give up middle-distance running and focus on sprinting and jumping.

Michael Gilchrist (born 9 August 1960) is a former New Zealand athlete who competed mainly in middle-distance running.

She also became the first Lithuanian athlete at the Olympics, to compete in middle-distance running, and one of the first females to run for the steeplechase.

Now, at the behest of the Metropolitan Athletics Congress, she is in the United States indefinitely to coach youngsters in race walking and middle-distance running.

The biggest name in middle-distance running was rounding the final turn of the 1,500-meter run, and the crowd in this very small principality was stomping its well-heeled feet.

She started her career in middle-distance running in 2001 and reached the final at both the European Indoor Championships and European Athletics Championships in 2002.

Additionally, she earned NCAA All-American honors twice, held four school records in middle-distance running, and won five Big Sky Conference championship titles under the senior division.

Suleiman's younger brothers Nasser and Abdulrahman Suleiman have also competed internationally in middle-distance running - Abdulrahman was the 2002 Asian champion for the 1500 m.

Commenting on her win, Packer said "Middle-distance running for women was still in its infancy and the 800m had only been run in Rome four years earlier for the first time.

Stacey Ann Livingston, a senior at Boys and Girls High School in Brooklyn, is now the No. 1-ranked high school girl in the country in middle-distance running.

Born in Blaustein, Germany (then West Germany), Dieter Baumann was one of the few non-African athletes who were able to seriously challenge the African dominance of middle-distance running during the 1990s.

The gilded footpaths of Jim Ryun, Marty Liquori and Dave Wottle, trod in the golden era of American middle-distance running, remain unchallenged, an unusual failure for American athletes in a glamour event.

This is most often seen in the middle-distance running, where tactics are more important than time, and these events have seen many foul tricks during the years, in 1992 resulting in the disqualification of all six runners in the men's 1500 metres event.

Equipped with an incredible mental toughness that enabled him to win the 1976 Olympic 1,500 meters and dominate middle-distance running for the better part of a decade, New Zealand's John Walker now battles the debilitating effects of Parkinson's disease.

The Villanova women, especially Vicki Huber, are so good in middle-distance running that Penn Relays officials brought in Texas, Oregon, Indiana, Wisconsin, Oklahoma State and other national powers to give them a run for the winners' watches.

The man who ushered in a golden age of middle-distance running, Brendan Foster, was at the peak of his powers and the two men who were to carry it to the greatest heights, Steve Ovett and Sebastian Coe, were just beginning to emerge.