1991 World Championships His first major tournament on track was the
1991 World Championships where he first won a bronze in 10,000 m and then finished sixth at the 5000 m run. This was a disappointing outcome for Skah as, earlier in the season, he had won the 10000 m race in Oslo against a very strong field and had emerged as one of the favourites for the finals in Tokyo. However, for the 10 000 m final
Richard Chelimo and the eventual world champion,
Moses Tanui (both of Kenya), employed some very elaborate tactics and worked as a team. By the time of the 5000 m final Skah was probably tired.
Yobes Ondieki of Kenya, who won the gold medal in the 5000 m, had expected Skah to be his major rival.
1992 Olympics The following year, at the
Barcelona Olympics, Skah met Chelimo again. With three laps remaining in the 10,000 m final, the two athletes were clear and battling for the gold medal. At this point the pair came to lap another Moroccan athlete,
Hammou Boutayeb, who stayed with the leaders even after being lapped. The rules state that a lapped runner cannot "assist" another runner but, although Boutayeb's actions were interpreted as unsportsmanlike by the crowd, it was not certain that there was collusion. Nevertheless Skah gained advantage, Chelimo was disadvantaged. These events incensed the
Spanish crowd, and the
Swedish track judge Carl-Gustav Tollemar attempted to stop Boutayeb. Skah sprinted ahead of Chelimo in the final 150 m to claim victory, but was immediately disqualified, prompting cheers from the crowd. For about 14 hours, Chelimo was the Olympic champion. However, the Moroccan team appealed, and by the next morning, Skah was reinstated. The jury of appeal ruled that rule 143.2, which prohibited assistance, lacked a defined penalty, which rendered it effectively unenforceable. At the medal ceremony, Skah was met with boos, while the crowd reserved their applause for Chelimo.
Other races In 1993 Skah won the 5000 m race at
Weltklasse Zürich. However, he finished fifth in 5000 m at the
1993 World Championships. He ran his only
world record in
2 miles (8:12.17) in the same season. He won the
1994 World Semi-Marathon Championships and finished second in 10,000 m at the
1995 World Championships. Skah's last major international meet was the
1996 Summer Olympics, where he
finished seventh in the 10 000 m. In 1995, Skah was given Norwegian citizenship, where he lived and trained with athletes club
B.U.L. After that, the Moroccan Athletics Association banned him from international competitions. Skah was reinstated in 2001, after which he tried a comeback to re-establish himself as one of the world's best
long-distance runners, finishing tenth in the
World Half Marathon Championships that year. == Personal life ==