In the 1976 Olympics, he probably made a mistake by taking the lead at 500 metres and by not accelerating enough before the winner, John Walker, passed him at 1,200 metres. Thus he lost valuable energy which he would have needed in the home straight's struggle against Walker, Belgium's Ivo van Damme and West Germany's Paul-Heinz Wellman. In the 1980 Olympics 5,000 metres he probably made a mistake by sprinting to the lead at the start of the last back straight.