BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS / DAY 10 : Teamwork Costs Gold in 10,000

Controversy has been no stranger to the track and field competition at the Olympics, but Monday night’s men’s 10,000-meter run was the most controversial event so far.

Khalid Skah of Morocco appeared to have won late Monday night, in 27 minutes 46.70 seconds, but he was disqualified for being assisted by a teammate. Richard Chelimo of Kenya was awarded the gold medal.

It was only the third time that an Olympic gold medal was taken away because of something that happened during competition.

The Moroccan team filed a protest over the disqualification, and the case will be heard today.

Skah, who is ranked No. 4 in the world at 5,000 meters, ran with the lead pack of runners through much of the race. In the group were Chelimo, Addis Abebe of Ethiopia and William Koech and Moses Tanui, both of Kenya.

The pace was blistering, and eventually the lead pack began to lap slower runners. Only a few laps from the finish, another Moroccan runner, Hammou Boutayeb, joined the pack, falling in behind Skah.

Then Boutayeb began to weave from Lane 1 to Lane 2, cutting off Chelimo and others who attempted to pass.

The crowd in Montjuic Stadium whistled and jeered the tactic. Still, Boutayeb continued his weaving.

At one point an official attempted to pull Boutayeb from the track, but was unsuccessful.

Skah eventually sprinted off the final curve and crossed the finish line. After Skah finished, Boutayeb stopped running, even though he had another lap to go.

Skah jogged and blew kisses to the crowd, which was going wild. Fans stepped up their whistling and booing and threw paper and plastic cups onto the track.

Skah continued to smile and blow kisses and ran a victory lap with a Moroccan flag.

Officials ruled that Skah had been aided by Boutayeb, and Skah was disqualified. Boutayeb was officially listed as having “abandoned” the race.

Later, still in his running uniform, Skah was shouting to reporters in a parking lot.

“He has taken away a year of training,” Skah said of Boutayeb. “Why punish me for something he did? How can this be?”

Chelimo’s time was 27:47.72. Abebewas second in 28:00.07, and Salvatore Antibo of Italy was third in 28:11.39.

Chen Yueling of China was declared the gold medalist in the women’s 10-kilometer walk after apparent winner Alina Ivanova of the Commonwealth of Independent States was disqualified for walking violations.

Chen finished in 44 minutes 32 seconds. The silver medal went to Ivanova’s teammate, Elena Nikolaeva, who finished in 44:33.

Material from the Associated Press is included in this story.