Fermín Cacho Ruiz (born 16 February 1969) is a Spanish track and field athlete, winner of the gold medal in the 1500m at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona and the silver medal in the 1500m at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

Fermín Cacho
Cacho in November 2011
Personal information
Birth nameFermín Cacho Ruiz
Born (1969-02-16) 16 February 1969 (age 55)
Ágreda, Spain
Medal record
Men's Athletics
Representing  Spain
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1992 Barcelona 1500 m
Silver medal – second place 1996 Atlanta 1500 m
World Championships
Silver medal – second place 1993 Stuttgart 1500 m
Silver medal – second place 1997 Athens 1500 m
World Indoor Championships
Silver medal – second place 1991 Seville 1500 m
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 1994 Helsinki 1500 m
Bronze medal – third place 1998 Budapest 1500 m
European Indoor Championships
Silver medal – second place 1990 Glasgow 1500 m

Born in Ágreda, Spain, Cacho had an enviable competitive record in the 1500 m, but it was not until late in his career that he produced a time of corresponding quality.

Cacho's first notable result came in 1990, when he finished second in the 1500 m at the European Indoor Championships in Glasgow. At the 1991 World Indoor Championships in Seville, Cacho finished again second in the 1500 m, behind Noureddine Morceli.

At the Olympic Games in Barcelona, Cacho was not considered a serious gold medal prospect. But the Olympic 1500 m final was run at a very pedestrian pace, and Cacho positioned himself perfectly in the final lap, and outsprinted his rivals, with a last lap of 50.6 seconds, to win the gold medal in 3:40.12.

In 1993 at Stuttgart in World Championships, Cacho finished second, but took the 1500 m title at the European Championships in Helsinki in the next year. In World Championships at Gothenburg, Cacho only finished in eighth place.

After a relatively lean year in 1995, Cacho was back to his best in the early part of the 1996 season, leading up to the Olympic Games in Atlanta. Although Cacho was the defending Olympic 1500 m champion, the final in Atlanta was considered to be a match race between Morceli and Hicham El Guerrouj, who had filled the first two places at the previous year's World Championships. Approaching the completion of the third lap, Morceli was leading from El Guerrouj, when suddenly the Moroccan tripped and fell. In taking evasive action, Cacho was forced to leap over the fallen El Guerrouj, in a manoeuvre which he later estimated had lost him 5 metres of ground to Morceli, who had commenced his final lap sprint for the finish. Cacho chased Morceli around the last lap, but was unable to catch him. In the end Morceli won by 5 metres from the second-placed Cacho.

At the World Championships in Athens in 1997, Cacho won a silver medal again, and at the end of the same season he finally managed to run his world class time, when he finished second at the 1500 m behind El Guerrouj with a time of 3:28.95, which moved him to third on the all-time world list behind Morceli and El Guerrouj. He won the bronze medal at the 1998 European Championships in Budapest, and finished fourth in the World Championships at Seville in 1999. Cacho suffered an Achilles' tendon injury in 2000, causing him to miss the opportunity to add to his Olympic gold and silver medals at 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

He held the European record at 1500 m with a time of 3:28.95 for 16 years (1997–2013), until Mo Farah broke it with a time of 3:28.81.

International competitions

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Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
Representing   Spain
1987 European Junior Championships Birmingham, United Kingdom 12th 1500 m 4:00.58
1988 World Junior Championships Sudbury, Canada 3rd 1500 m 3:47.31
1989 World Cup Barcelona, Spain 6th 1500 m 3:40.34
1990 European Indoor Championships Glasgow, United Kingdom 2nd 1500 m 3:44.61
European Championships Split, Yugoslavia 11th 1500 m 3:42.21
1991 World Indoor Championships Seville, Spain 2nd 1500 m 3:42.68
World Championships Tokyo, Japan 5th 1500 m 3:35.62
1992 Olympic Games Barcelona, Spain 1st 1500 m 3:40.12
World Cup Havana, Cuba 4th 1500 m 3:42.781
1993 Mediterranean Games Narbonne, France 2nd 1500 m 3:32.43
World Championships Stuttgart, Germany 2nd 1500 m 3:35.56
1994 European Championships Helsinki, Finland 1st 1500 m 3:35.27
1995 World Indoor Championships Barcelona, Spain 6th 1500 m 3:45.46
World Championships Gothenburg, Sweden 8th 1500 m 3:37.02
1996 Olympic Games Atlanta, United States 2nd 1500 m 3:36.40
1997 World Championships Athens, Greece 2nd 1500 m 3:36.63
1998 European Championships Budapest, Hungary 3rd 1500 m 3:42.13
1999 World Championships Seville, Spain 4th 1500 m 3:31.34

1Representing Europe

Personal bests

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Outdoor

Indoor

References

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  • Spanish Olympic Committee
  • Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Fermín Cacho". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04.
  • Fermín Cacho at World Athletics  
  • All-Athletics profile Archived 2017-03-05 at the Wayback Machine
Records
Preceded by European record holder men's 1500 m
13 August 1997 – 19 July 2013
Succeeded by