Distance runner Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia added another chapter to his incredible career on Sunday at the world track and field championships, winning gold in the men’s 5,000-metre race to secure the same double he won in the 2008 Olympics.

Bekele, 27, controlled the pace for most of the race and withstood a Kenyan challenge mid-race and a furious charge around the final bend from American Bernard Lagat for the victory.

The two were sprinting side by side until Bekele found another gear and pulled away in the final 50 metres.

“It was a very hard race,” Bekele said. “I’ll never forget this race. I never made a double in the Olympics and world championships. I’m so happy.”

Bekele became the first Ethiopian to win 5,000 world championship gold. The Ethiopian finished the race in 13 minutes 17.09 seconds, while Lagat settled for silver with a time of 13:17.33. The American was elated with his performance, as he was running on a left ankle that had been sewn up with four stitches and numbed before the final.

“I didn’t know [if] I was going to run,” he said. “It is a huge cut.” Lagat suffered the injury when he was spiked in the qualifiers.

James Kwalia C’Kurui of Qatar won bronze.

Bekele won the 10,000m earlier in the meet. He took gold in both races during the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

His domination in the 5,000 and 10,000 is similar to Usain Bolt’s iron grip on the 100 and 200 — and Bekele has done it over a longer period of time.

The Ethiopian has won gold in the 10,000 in every major world meet (Olympics and worlds) since 2003, and is the reigning 5,000 champ since the 2008 Olympics. He also holds world records in both disciplines.

Controversy in women’s 1,500

Natalia Rodríguez was disqualified after winning the women’s 1,500-metre final, handing Maryam Yusuf Jamal of Bahrain the gold medal.

Rodríguez, of Spain, made a charge down the backstretch during the final lap and bowled over leader Gelete Burka of Ethiopia while trying to squeeze through on the inside. Rodríguez, who crossed the line in first place, also briefly stepped off the track after the collision.

An official review came quickly, as it took less than an hour for IAAF officials to overturn the result.

But Rodríguez is sure that she did nothing wrong.

“I ran well and I haven’t committed any fault,” she said. “With 250 metres to go, Gelete went wide a little bit and she left open the inside lane. I tried to pass there. But when she noticed I was about to do it, she closed it in.”

The battle for second was very close, and in the end it turned out to be the race for gold.

Jamal narrowly clipped Great Britain’s Lisa Dobriskey at the line, finishing in 4:03.74, 1/100th of a second better than Dobriskey’s 4:03.75.

The end result is that Jamal defended the title she won at the 2007 worlds. She also had a front-row seat for the collision between Rodríguez and Burka as she was on the other side of the Ethiopian when she went down, and was adamant that the Spaniard was at fault.

“The Spanish girl definitely was in the wrong for passing that way,” Jamal said. “I’m very disappointed that Gelete fell behind. I’m certain that had that not happened she would have taken the top three.”

American Shannon Rowbury was bumped up to the bronze-medal position, finishing in 4:04.18.

Burka collapsed in dismay after the race, and Rodriguez walked over to her and held her hand as the crowd serenaded the result with jeering whistles.

“I felt bad for her,” Rodriguez said. “She was favourite for the medal and I wanted to support her.”

Burka’s only gold medal in the 1,500 was during the 2008 world indoor championships.

Mulaudzi wins physical 800m

Mbulaeni Mulaudzi of South Africa survived a very physical men’s 800-metre final to win gold

He finished in one minute 45.29 seconds for the victory.

Mulaudzi made his move on the first turn during the bell lap, pulling in front of a pack filled with flying elbows and shoulder shoves.

The South African survived a serious challenge from American Nick Symmonds to maintain his lead, and in the final 50 metres Kenya’s Alfred Yego and Bahrain’s Yusuf Kamel emerged out of the pack to threaten Mulaudzi.

If the finish line was extended by a few metres, Yego and Kamel would have caught Mulaudzi, but he managed to hold on just long enough for the win and dipped at the finish line before collapsing in exhaustion.

Yego and Kamel finished in exactly 1:45.35, which was 4/100ths of a second slower than Mulaudzi. Yego nabbed silver when officials narrowed the times down to thousandths of a second.

It’s Mulaudzi’s first major title.

Second Round

Premier League Schedule

Week 16:
Saturday, February 21, 2009
South Police vs EEPCO         3pm    Hawassa

Sunday, February 22, 2009
Eth.Insurance vs Trans        3pm    Addis Ababa
Banks SC vs Adama City        5pm    Addis Ababa
Sebeta City vs Defence        3pm    Sebeta
Hawassa City vs St.George     3pm    Hawassa
Dire Dawa City vs Coffee      4pm    Dire Dawa
Metehara Sugar vs Nyala       3pm    Metehara
Muger vs Harar Beer           3pm    Ambo
*Time listed is local Ethiopian time

Galen Rupp finished second in an American record 13:18.12. Rupp became the 10th-fastest performer ever, and broke the previous American record of 13:20.55, which was was set by Doug Padilla in 1982, four years before Rupp was born. The American had taken the lead with two and a half laps left, but couldn’t hold it as Daba moved to the front with one lap remaining. Bianca Knight, the 2008 US collegiate indoor champion, won the women’s 200m in a world-leading time of 22.88sec.

Jamaica’s Nickeshsa Anderson was second in 23.60 and 2008 Olympic 4×400m gold medalist Natasha Hastings was third in 23.70. American Jennifer Stuczynski won the women’s pole vault with a clearance of 4.63m, but was unable to improve on the 4.82m American record she notched at the Boston Indoor Games last weekend. “I was hoping to build off last week’s record mark and set another one here in Arkansas, but it just didn’t happen,” she said. afp

Globacom marathon office, which released Gebreselassie’s activities while in the country, stated that the diminutive long distance runner would meet with marathon officials and will also spare time to interact with the press on arrival at the airport.

The fastest long distance runner, who arrived the country, will pair with three-time world Half Marathon record holder, Lornah Kiplagat of Netherlands, to hold an educative and inspirational clinic for young upcoming athletes on the eve of the half Marathon in Lagos.

Meanwhile, athletes across the country including Nigeria’s elite runners have started arriving for the marathon event with the hope of winning the star prizes (Picanto car) designated for only Nigerian runners.

Wilson Ekuh, Danjuma Gyang, Danjuma Kupkkudi and others have arrived Lagos for the event. Beaming with optimism, the athletes are looking forward to meeting Ethiopia’s long distance gem for vital information at the clinic billed for Friday in Lagos.

Danjuma, in a statement, noted that he has not come close to Gebreselassie and relish the opportunity to see and listen to what he has to say during the seminar.

“I am so happy that someone like that will be coming to teach us some lessons in marathon. I have not seen him at a close range before, this is the opportunity I have to meet him and listen to him.”

On his expectations in the Glo-Lagos half marathon, Kupkkudi said, “this year’s prize is good and hopes that he would go back to Jos, Plateau State with one of the Picanto cars at the end of the event.

On what he expects from the invited foreign elite runners, Ekuh said, the Nigerian runners will once more follow the visitors stride for stride with hope to even the race at some point but of interest will be the seminar to be conducted by Gebreselassie.

“Winning is important but getting the strategy to win always is more important, I would be listening to the big masquerade (Gebreselassie) for some tips on how to win marathon races, I believe it would help me a lot.”

Several of the elite athletes complained about the hot and humid conditions which sapped their energy during the 21km race. The Ethiopian says this should be prevented in future after watching the athletes struggle with the 32 degree temperature on Saturday.

He said, ”It was a very well organised race and the only problem was that the conditions were not right. The weather made it a bit difficult for the athletes and they were not at their best.

”This is a big half marathon that attracts some of the world‘s best athletes and I believe it should be held when the weather is not so hot. You might not have winter in Nigeria but I‘m sure you have a period when the weather is cooler than this for this race which all Africans should be proud of.”

He said he was impressed with the strong field but believed it could even be stronger.

He said, ”Like I said, some of the world‘s best long-distance runners were here for the race. I‘m sure more will be encouraged to come if the race is held during the cold season.”

The weather was one of the reasons the world marathon record holder decided not to run on Saturday, but he said he would be available if his advice was taken.

He said, ”I‘d certainly love to run here after what I saw today. If the weather conditions are right, I‘ll not hesitate. I love this place and its people.”

Defar was timed in 14 minutes, 24.37 seconds Wednesday night. Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia set the previous record of 14:27.42 in 2007.

Defar benefited from an excellent pace and was between two and three seconds under Dibaba’s split times throughout the race. During the final laps, many of the fans at the sold out arena stood to cheer her on.

With the win, Defar extended her unbeaten indoor streak to 18 races. She has not lost indoors since March 2003.

Ethiopians dominate Houston Marathon”

HOUSTON — Ethiopia’s Deriba Merga broke the 20-year-old Chevron Houston Marathon course record by more than two minutes en route to winning the 37th annual race with the fastest marathon run in Texas.

Aided in the early stages of the race by three pacesetters, Merga, 28, set a blistering pace, which, at mile 18, found him in range of running the fastest marathon ever on U.S. soil. When the final pacesetter stepped off the course after mile 17, Merga ran solo to hit the finish line in 2:07:52, breaking the course record of 2:10:04 set by Richard Kaitany (KEN) in 1989.

“I really tried to get the record,” Merga said through a translator of his attempt to run under 2:05:42, the fastest marathon run in the U.S. by Khalid Khannouchi in 1999. “I can run better next year.”

Merga’s winning time was nearly four minutes faster than runner-up Benson Cheruiyot (KEN), who ran 2:11:33. Yuriy Abramov (RUS) finished third in 2:12:21.

The course record in the women’s race also fell, as Teyba Erkesso (ETH) made it an Ethiopian sweep of the marathon titles. Running her debut marathon, the 26-year-old Erkesso won in 2:24:18, 22 seconds faster than the time fellow Ethiopian and training partner, Dire Tune, ran in Houston in 2008. Erkesso’s time also set a new marathon standard for Texas.

Romania’s Nuta Olaru finished second in 2:27:25, a time that would have won all but two previous women’s marathons in Houston, while Lioudmila Kortchaguina of Canada was third in 2:30:43.

Both Merga and Erkesso earned $35,000 for their victories and bonuses of $10,000 for the course records.

Keflezighi, Boulet set personal bests en route to USA titles.

Meb Keflezighi (San Diego, Calif.) rebounded from an injury-plagued 2008 to win the 2009 USA Half Marathon Championships, hosted by the Aramco Houston Half Marathon.

Keflezighi, 33, who suffered a serious hip-flexor injury following the 2008 Olympic Trials Marathon, took the lead within the first mile of the race and ran to the finish virtually unchallenged to win his first U.S. championship since 2007.

“I’ve won 15 or 16 national championships, but this one is the most special,” Keflezighi said after setting a personal half-marathon record by three seconds. “It feels good to be healthy again.”

Dathan Ritzenhein (Eugene, Ore.), the race’s No. 1 seed, was second in 1:01:35. Brett Gotcher (Flagstaff, Ariz.) was third in 1:02:09, which established a personal record by nearly two minutes.

Magdalena Boulet (Oakland, Calif.) broke from a pack of about five at mile 10 and went on to win the women’s USA Half Marathon Championships in 1:11:47, 19 seconds in front of second-place finisher Kelly Jaske.

The victory earned Boulet, a naturalized citizen born in Poland, her first national title. Jaske produced the surprise performance of the race. While unable to track down Boulet late in the race, Jaske’s runner-up finish came in her first U.S. championship road race. Colleen De Reuck (Boulder, Colo.), the 2004 Aramco Houston Half Marathon champion, was third in 1:12:16.

Including participants in the EP5K, more than 22,000 runners competed in the three Chevron Houston Marathon weekend events, establishing a participation record for the event for the eighth consecutive year.

Runners in this year’s race are expected to raise $1.5 million for 45 charities as part of the event’s Run for a Reason program.

The Chevron Houston Marathon, a Running USA founding member, is the nation’s premier winter marathon, annually attracting participants from all 50 U.S. states and nearly 30 foreign countries. In 2008, more than 23,000 runners took part in four marathon weekend events (marathon, half marathon, 5K and children’s run). The Chevron Houston Marathon offers the only closed marathon course in Texas and is ranked among the top five in the nation by the Ultimate Guide to Marathons for fastest course, organization and crowd support. More than 5,000 volunteers organize the race, which is Houston’s largest single-day

HAILE Gebrselassie, the greatest long-distance runner in history, is Melbourne-bound — for the Great Australian Run, a 15-kilometre road race around the streets of Melbourne on November 30 — and with him, he will bring some food for thought for all those elite Australian sportsmen who reckon they do it tough to achieve success. To find out just what makes him tick, we did some research about the Ethiopian runner, who this month became the first man to break two hours four minutes for the marathon (and, in all, has broken 27 world records). This is what we found out:

? Gebrselassie rises every day at 6am, drives 25 minutes to the Entoto Mountains, where he usually runs 20 kilometres with other Ethiopian athletes. (He goes to the mountains because the air is clean, there is no traffic and it is slightly cooler than in the city of Addis Ababa.)

? He then returns home to change and grab a quick breakfast.

? At 9am, he is in his office, personally supervising his business empire that includes being:

CHAIRMAN of the Great Ethiopian Run, a public fun run that has been a huge success in Ethiopia with 32,000 entries; and

BOSS of a construction company that builds cinemas, convention centres, petrol stations, schools, sports stores, cafes and fitness centres.

? He fInishes work at 4pm and heads to more training, either back to the mountains for some hard running or to the national stadium for a session on the track.

? He is home just after 6pm for time with his family or to prepare for any evening engagements, where he is in great demand.

ALL THIS by a bloke who:

? Is a devoted Orthodox Christian and presented his first Olympic gold medal to his local church as a token of thanksgiving for his special talent.

? As an employer, has given half of the jobs in his businesses to women in a part of the world where equal opportunity was once never heard of.

Not your regular superstar is our Haile.

(Gebrselassie will be competing against Australian elite distance runners including Craig Mottram in the November 30 race, which is open to the general public, from local joggers to fitness fanatics. What an opportunity for them!)

NEWS
28 October 2008
Posted to the web 28 October 2008
Addis Ababa

The Italian Regione Lazio, COME2PLAY Project donated sport equipments to 17 Addis Ababa School Teams participating to “Youth Sport Training in Ethiopia” launched by the Minister of Youth and Sport on Saturday.

The Ethiopian Minister of Youth and Sport, the Italian Ambassador’s in Ethiopia, representatives from Addis Ababa University and from Addis Ababa Youth and Sport Bureau attended the event at Juventus Club here.

The ceremony represented the final event of COME2PLAY pilot project, aimed to use sports as a vehicle for individual development, the promotion of good health, the prevention of illnesses, gender equity and social integration in Ethiopia.

From Monday October 20th to Friday October 24th, a group of Italian sport teachers together with Addis Ababa University and Addis Ababa Sport Bureau provided training courses to more than 50 Ethiopian school teachers, coaches and civil servants, mainly focusing on coaching theory, sport management theory, football, volleyball and athletics techniques.

The COME2PLAY project started in March 2007 and so far has completed the construction of a playground for boys and girls of Alternative Basic Education Centre in Kebele 4/5 run by Italian NGO COOPI. Currently building a sports centre with Football and Volley-bail fields to be donated to Kebele 13/15 under the sponsorship of the Italian Development Cooperation, and is now organizing the above mentioned Training Course. Related donation mainly consists in sportswear, soccer balls and athletics equipment to be donated to students’ representative of the 17 primary schools involved.

Two local lawyers, Kathy Church of Sustainable Solutions and Sarah Armstrong of GE are holding a Coffee House fundraiser for Ethiopia that includes a silent auction and concert at the Gordon Best Theatre, 216 Hunter St. W., on Saturday, Nov. 8 at 7:30 p. m.

All of the ticket and silent auction proceeds will go to Ethiopia through the

Canadian charity Partners in the Horn of Africa to establish a group home for poor, rural young

women with academic promise to access post-secondary education opportunities.

Many of the young women have come

through the charity’s other programs for HIV orphans and school-support projects for elementary and high school students. The group home project needs $10,000 for the first year. For further information about the charity, visit www.partnersinthehorn.org

“Coffee originated in Ethiopia and in that spirit we’ll be hosting a coffee house, with fair-trade Ethiopian coffee donated and served by Black Honey Cafe, along with cafe sweets from several local coffee houses,” Church says.

The large silent auction will include unique items such as a bird-watching outing with Drew Monkman, a columnist with The Examiner; a sailing afternoon on the Bay of Quinte; an evening of billiards with a competitive pool player; and a professional fireworks display. Other items donated by local merchants include: dinner for two at Parkhill on Hunter, a Sony MP3 player from the Future Shop, and gift certificates from Moondance and Body Bliss.

For entertainment, Sarah Loucks, a local singer/songwriter who plays acoustic guitar, will be performing along with a team of African drummers, and the Ethiopian coffee ceremony will be demonstrated. Also, John Baigent, who founded Partners in the Horn of Africa after retiring from a successful legal career, will be on hand to talk about the charity.

Tickets cost $20 in advance and $25 at the door. For tickets, call Church at 743-7650 ext. 4, or the Black Honey Cafe at 211 Hunter St. W.