Scottish track star Chris O’Hare will represent Team GB at the world championships over 1,500m a year after missing out on London 2012.
The Tulsa University student has buckled down and logged 3,600 miles since the day he publicly blasted Charles van Commenee for leaving him out of the European championships and a possible route into Olympic selection.
The 10-miles-a-day average probably would not surprise a middle distance legend like Steve Cram and nor did O’Hare’s selection by British Athletics as one of seven Scots picked for the event in Russia next month.
Cram watched Chris come through schools athletics while his own son Marcus attended Fettes College in Edinburgh and last Saturday found himself commentating on O’Hare’s victory at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham.
O’Hare had run 3 minutes 35 seconds in Belgium a week earlier for the third best time ever by a Scot at the distance.
“I have been aware of Chris for a number of years,” said Cram.
“My son was at school in Edinburgh and I remember watching him run then several times. He was being coached by Dave Campbell around that period before he went off to the States.
“People make that move and sometimes it does not work but it seems to have worked for him although I am not sure about his accent!
“It has worked well being in the collegiate system. The big issue, and I said it in commentary on the 1,500m final, is getting into the high-level, fast races. That is where he will have the chance to get 3.35.”
O’Hare’s selection as the only man for the 1,500m suggests he is in pole position for what is a clear gap.
“There has been a vacancy for a while at 1,500m among British men,” said Cram, who won the world championship but not Olympic gold.
“Chris has had a great year and should still think about what happens next season. It is not easy at all to run the American cross country season, the collegiate indoor season and do a European track season as well.
“It is difficult to do that so he will have to make some choices around that and particularly in 2014 with the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the Europeans.”
Those decisions are in the process of being made, with O’Hare having graduated now in sports science from Tulsa and due back for a one-year marketing course during which his athletics may be curtailed.
Dad Terry added: “He’s worked so hard over the past year at his sport that getting to Moscow was huge for him. He’d a big disappointment in 2012 but picked himself up and trained hard.”
The O’Hare family now plan a special holiday in Moscow next month.