The following year, at the Olympics, Chelimo met Skah 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 any collusion, that Skah gained any advantage or that Chelimo was disadvantaged. Regardless, these events incensed the Spanish crowd, and the Swedish track judge Carl-Gustav Tollemar attempted to interfere with Boutayeb's run.