Tirunesh Dibaba claimed an unprecedented long-distance double at the Olympics yesterday, winning the 5,000m to achieve something great Ethiopians like Haile Gebrselassie and Kenenisa Bekele have been unable to do.
In an intense battle with rival Meseret Defar, Dibaba kicked for home with 500m to go. Defar, the defending champion, just cracked.
Defar was even passed by Ethiopian-born Elvan Abeylegesse of Turkey, who claimed her second silver after she was beaten by Dibaba in the 10,000m, too.
Crossing the line, Dibaba timidly clenched her fists, briefly raised her arms in triumph and quickly turned around to console her rivals.
“I am very happy,” said Dibaba. “I like Beijing very much. I will remember the Beijing Games forever because I won two gold medals here.”
Kenya’s world silver medalist Vivian Cheruiyot led the peloton out at an incredibly gentle pace, with Dibaba, Defar and compatriot Meselech Melkamu happy to sit back.
With nine laps to go, Abeylegesse took up the lead and increased the pace, followed by Defar and versatile Russia’s Guinara Galkina-Samitova, who set a world record to win the 3000m steeplechase on Sunday.
The Russian took the pack through the 3km mark at a pedestrian 9:58.13, shortly after which Defar was lucky to escape an out-an-out fall after being spiked from behind by Melkamu.
“Today was a bad day for me. Someone hit my right leg with four laps to go and it hurt,” Defar said.
Dibaba moved to the front with three laps to go and the pace immediately picked up.
Abeyelegesse then bolted with the trio of Ethiopians snapping at her heels.
As was the case in the 10,000m, Dibaba waited for the bell to sound for the final lap before asserting her tactics of shooting off.
The Ethiopian promptly clocked a startling 59.54sec for the final 400m that killed off her rivals, Abeyelesse outsprinting Defar for second spot.
“I knew I could at least get a medal,” said Abeyelesse, who gained Turkish citizenship through marriage. “Every athlete wants to strive for the gold. But only one of us can get it.
Meanwhile, Maurren Higa Maggi earned Brazil a gold medal in the women’s long jump.
The world indoor silver medalist led from the first round with 7.04m and it proved enough for gold.
World and defending Olympic champion Tatyana Lebedeva of Russia, who took silver in the triple jump, got another silver, finishing only 1cm behind the Brazilian on her final attempt.
Blessing Okagbare of Nigeria took bronze. She had initially failed to make the final when she finished 13th in qualifying but was promoted into the top 12 when Ukraine’s heptathlon silver medallist Lyudmila Blonska was kicked out of the Games for a doping offense.
Carolina Kluft, the three-time world champion and 2004 Athens Olympics heptathlon champion, finished ninth.
Russia won the women’s 4x100m relay title while defending champions Jamaica failed to finish after botching the handoff between the third and fourth legs.
The Russians, who settled for Olympic silver in 2004, broke through with Evgeniya Polyakova, Aleksandra Fedoriva, Yulia Gushchina and anchor Yuliya Chermoshanskaya winning in 42.31 seconds.
Belgium, third at last year’s worlds, was second in 42.54 with Nigeria third in 43.04. The Nigerians only prior Olympic medal in the event was a 1992 bronze.
The Jamaicans appeared set to complete an Olympic women’s sprint sweep following a podium sweep of the 100m and Veronica Campbell-Brown’s victory in the 200 until disaster struck.
Leadoff runner Shelly-Ann Fraser, the Olympic 100m champion, gave Jamaica the lead after the first leg and 100m runner-up Sheron Simpson stretched the margin as she approached 100m bronze medalist Kerron Stewart for a handoff.
But Stewart failed to grasp the baton as she reached back, looking in vain for it until it was far too late.
World 100m and double Olympic 200m champion Campbell-Brown could only imagine what her anchor leg might have been like as the Russians grabbed the lead in the final turn and Chemoshanskaya surged across the finish line.
Jamaica fared better in the men’s 4x100m with Usain Bolt collecting his third Olympic gold in helping to smash the world record to claim victory.
Bolt, who won the 100 and 200 finals in world record times, teamed up with Nesta Carter, Michael Frater and Asafa Powell to clock 37.10 seconds, slashing 0.30 off the mark set by the US at the 1993 world championships.
Trinidad and Tobago finished second in 38.06, about 10m behind their Caribbean neighbors and Japan were third in 38.15.
American Brian Clay won the decathlon, capturing gold in the two-day, 10-discipline event with 8,791 points after settling for Olympic silver in 2004.
Andrey Krauchanka of Belarus, this year’s world indoor runner-up, finished second with 8,551 points with Cuba’s Leonel Suarez third on 8,527 and Russia’s Alexander Pogorelov fourth on 8,328.
Injury-hampered reigning world and 2004 Olympic champion Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic finished sixth on 8,241 points, weeping and pounding his fist on the track after the concluding 1,500m race.
Alex Schwazer of Italy won the gold medal in the 50km walk with an Olympic record yesterday, beating Australia’s Jared Tallent.
Denis Nizhegorodov of Russia, the silver medalist from the Athens Games and world record holder, took bronze.
Schwazer finished in 3 hours 37.09 minutes, slicing 1.20 minutes off the 20-year-old record.
Tallent, who won bronze in the 20km walk earlier in the competition, finished 2.18 minutes behind the winner.
Steve Hooker of Australia won gold in the men’s pole vault, Australia’s first in track and field at the Beijing Games.
Hooker cleared 5.90m on his third attempt yesterday, immediately after world indoor champion Yevgeniy Lukyanenko of Russia had failed at his last attempt on the same height and took silver at 5.85m.
Hooker was attempting an Olympic record of 5.96m.
Denys Yurchenko of Ukraine took the bronze medal.
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