Some said it would be easy but it needed effort all the way. They said the record was so old that Methuselah would have been proud of it.
And that it had survived only because it was rarely challenged. It was even suggested that nobody would care whether this little piece of history lived or died.
But this is Brussels, this is Van Damme. These are the most loyal and passionate spectators on the global athletics circuit. People care. Kenya succeeded in their attempt to break the World record for the men’s 4x1500m – the oldest of all official IAAF World records – recording 14:36.23 and beating the former mark by just over two and a half seconds.
The 47,000 capacity crowd in the King Baudouin Stadium played a noisy and significant part, urging the record to happen as they stood, clapped and waved their programmes.
And when it came to the Kenyan athletes’ thankyous, even the police got a mention. The record earned every adult member of the crowd a free beer. No wonder they were cheering.
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