Wilson Kipketer excited by – and slightly envious of – the athletes taking part in IAAF Continental Cup

Scanning down the list of winners of the men’s 800m in the combined 37-year history of the IAAF Continental Cup and its predecessor, the IAAF World Cup, one name is conspicuously absent.

Three of the past four holders of the world record feature on the roll of honour. Alberto Juantorena, the great Cuban thoroughbred known as ‘El Caballo’, the horse, triumphed in a gripping tussle with Mike Boit at the inaugural IAAF World Cup in Dusseldorf back in 1977.

The featherweight Briton Sebastian Coe prevailed in Rome in 1981. The tall, upright, dashing David Rudisha won in Split in 2010.

But Wilson Kipketer? The graceful Kenyan-turned-Dane who first equalled, then eclipsed Coe’s 16-year-old world record in 1997 – ultimately taking it down to 1:41.11 – never got the chance to add his name to that particular all-time two-lap litany.

“I still get emotional when I come to the IAAF Continental Cup and I don’t see my name on the list,” said Kipketer, who is in Marrakech in his capacity as an infectiously enthusiastic IAAF ambassador.