ETHIOPIA'S Meseret Defar deprived her teammate and arch-rival Tirunesh
Dibaba an Olympic double for a second time when she produced a home-stretch
sprint to claim
victory in the 5000m. Defar, who also won the 5000m at the Athens Games in
2004, timed a relatively slow 15min 04.25sec, with world champion Vivian
Cheruiyot of Kenya claiming silver in 15:04.73. Defending Olympic champion and newly-crowned
10,000m gold
medallist Dibaba, considered the greatest female distance runner of all-time
with three Olympic titles and four world crowns, took bronze in 15:05.15. Britain's Joanne Pavey took up the early running in the 12-and-a-half
lap race, Dibaba content to sit quietly on the inside lane. Italian Elena
Romagnolo led the bunched peloton through the 2km mark in 6:17.35. Cheruiyot
and her teammates Sally Kipyego and Viola Kibiwot sat at the back of the pack
as Dibaba took to the front with four laps remaining. Defar followed, with
Kibiwot leading the trio of Kenyans through to the front as the pace finally
upped towards 65sec laps.With 800m to go, Dibaba tested the waters with another surge that saw
the main contenders cut to the six east African rivals. As the bell rang for
the final lap, Dibaba looked up at the screen to see where the field lay and
approaching the final bend, there were still six runners in it. Defar waited on
Dibaba's shoulder and pounced as her teammate, looking for her trademark turn
of speed for the line, came up empty. Cheruiyot, who is also reigning world
10,000m champion, then passed Dibaba in the final few metres. Source ( AFP)
Saturday, August 11, 2012
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