Craig Mottram competed in his first Olympic Games at only 20 years of age, in the 5000 metre event at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney: he did not qualify from his heat, but finished in 8th place with a respectable time of 13 minutes, 31.06 seconds.
21 Facts About Craig Mottram
2.
Craig Mottram fared better in his next Olympic competition: with four additional years of experience and athletic maturity, Mottram qualified for the final of the 5000 metre event and finished 8th with a time of 13:25.70 in Athens.
3.
Craig Mottram was the only non-African born runner to receive a medal in that event until Jakob Ingebrigtsen received gold in 2022.
4.
On 9 March 2006 in Melbourne, in his final warmup event before the 2006 Commonwealth Games, Craig Mottram took ten seconds off the 12-year-old Australian record for the 2000 metres.
5.
On 20 March 2006 at the Commonwealth Games, Craig Mottram came second in the 5000 m event with a time of 12 minutes, 58.19 seconds, beaten narrowly by Kenyan runner Augustine Choge.
6.
Craig Mottram lost 20 metres on the field due to the incident and finished in ninth position.
7.
Craig Mottram is a supporter of English Premier League club Sunderland and ran in the Great North Run 2006, wearing a Sunderland shirt.
8.
On 21 December 2006, Craig Mottram set the record for the Tan in a time of 10:08:00.
9.
Craig Mottram beat the previous best time of 10:12, his own, during a Richmond Tigers Football Club trial.
10.
In 2007 Craig Mottram started the year on a high, dominating "the Kenyan Hope" of Boniface Songkok at the Telstra A series in Melbourne.
11.
The race was a conservative one before Craig Mottram tore the field open with a quick 7th lap before a devastating final 400 m run in 53 seconds.
12.
At the Prefontaine Classic In Eugene, Craig Mottram ran the 5th fastest 2-mile of all time in 8:03.50 leaving in his wake the likes Alan Webb, Tariku Bekele, Matt Tegenkemp, Dathan Ritzenhein and other American hopefuls.
13.
Craig Mottram won the Melbourne Grand Prix 5000 m and the National Championship 5000 m and 3000 m Craig Mottram then competed at the 2008 Indoor Championships in Valencia, where he placed 5th in the final.
14.
Craig Mottram then contested the Boston Indoor Grand Prix where he won the 3000 m and broke the meet record of Haile Gebrselassie.
15.
Craig Mottram hit form after he won the Stockholm Grand Prix 3000 m and placed 4th in the 1 Mile.
16.
Craig Mottram ran a 3:57.90-mile finishing 2nd to Bernard Lagat at the prestigious Millrose games in February 2008.
17.
At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Craig Mottram placed 5th in the first heat of the 5000 m in 13min 44.39sec and did not advance to the final.
18.
That year, after having run for Nike for all of his professional career, Craig Mottram signed a contract with Adidas.
19.
Craig Mottram accepted a coaching offer from Australian distance running coach Chris Wardlaw, who has coached marathon runner Steve Moneghetti among others.
20.
Craig Mottram beat Chris Thompson again on 18 September 2010 by one second in a close finish at the Great North City Games 2-mile event in 8.31.
21.
Craig Mottram was the fastest Australian at those Olympics, with a 13.40, but was unable to make it into the final.