Bekele ends Gebrselassie's Olympic reign

(From L) Ethiopia's Sileshi Sihine, Kenenisa Bekele and Haile Gebreselassie celebrate with their country's flag after the men's 10,000m final at the Olympic Stadium Aug 20. Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele won the race ahead of compatriot Sileshi Sihine and Eritrea's Zersenay Tadesse; Gebreselassie placed fifth. - AFP

Athens - Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele completed his coronation as distance running king by dethroning compatriot Haile Gebrselassie here on Friday and taking the Olympic 10,000 metres title from the two-time winner.

The 22-year-old phenomenon also broke Gebrselassie's Olympic record to round off a year in which he also seized his compatriot's 5,000m and 10,000m world records to follow his snatching of the world 10,000m title from his countryman last year.

He now stands on the threshold of becoming the first athlete to do the 5,000m-10,000m double since compatriot Miruts Yifter achieved the feat at the age of 40 in 1980.

His was the second gold medal decided on the day as former bad boy Italian walker Ivano Brugnetti won the 20km walk clinching a thrilling duel with Spaniard Francisco Fernandez, who he then criticised for being a loser.

The women's 100m, already short of several stars because of bad form or failed drugs tests, almost lost two champions with two-time Olympic winner Gail Devers and 2001 world champion Zhanna Block squeezing into the semis courtesy of being two of the three fastest losers.

However, there was no such luck for South Africa's high jump world champion Jacques Freitag, who crashed out in the qualifying round.

Freitag twisted an ankle in training last week, the latest injury in a series of ankle problems which stretch back to early last year.

"I'm very disappointed but I know I'm just lucky to be standing here," he said the 22-year-old.

"I'm going to go away and make sure it doesn't happen again."

Bekele produced a devastating burst of speed with just over a lap to go to leave compatriot Sileshi Sihine trailing to win in 27 minutes 5.11 seconds.

Sihine took silver while Eritrea gained their first ever Olympic medal since gaining independence in 1993 as Zersenay Tadesse took the bronze.

Gebrselassie was dropped for a second and final time with four laps to go but he struggled on gamely with an Achilles injury to take fifth place.

"It is great to be Olympic champion but I will run differently in the 5,000m," said Bekele, who took bronze in the world championships last year in the 5,000m.

"No competition is ever easy but I was very well prepared. For this race we wanted to run 1-2-3 but when Haile was caught he couldn't do it."

For his part Gebrselassie said he just couldn't keep up with the pace.

"I just couldn't catch him," said the 31-year-old, who left the track limping.

"This will be my last track race," added Gebrselassie, who will run the Amsterdam Marathon in mid-October.

"There was a lot of pain. I wanted to finish in the top three but I couldn't do it. I haven't really trained for three weeks but for Ethiopia to get gold and silver is fantastic. Bekele did a great job."

Devers' decision to deny 100m champion Marion Jones a place in the line-up on the back of Torri Edwards' two-year drugs ban looked distinctly dubious as the 37-year-old toiled to make fourth in her heat.

Devers' old rival Merlene Ottey had no such problems as the 44-year-old Jamaican-born naturalised Slovenian came in third in her race but admitted it was a far cry from previous Olympics.

"It is very different for me as I have never gone to an Olympics where I have had to fight just to get through each round, normally I am fighting for medals," she said.

Brugnetti, who won the 20km walk, was once almost ejected from the Italian team because of an attitude problem.

He may be a reformed character in his federation's eyes but he displayed little compassion for Fernandez, with whom he duelled over the final few kilometres.

"I knew if it came down to a race in the last kilometre between myself and Fernandez that I would win, because he's weak mentally," boasted the 27-year-old.

For Fernandez it was almost as if he had won gold.

"My coach died this year and I dedicate this to him as he was like a father to me," said the 27-year-old, who wore a black ribbon on his chest as a tribute.

Moroccan running great Hicham El Guerrouj started out on his final quest to win the one title to have eluded him, the Olympic 1500m, by winning his heat, though Englishman Michael East took the honours for the fastest time.

El Guerrouj won comfortably in a slowly run race, which saw France's Mounir Memmouni coming to grief and bringing down America's Grant Robison, they both rose again but were too far behind to make the semis, though the American was later reinstated after an appeal.

"You have to be very careful in the first round races as it is easy to fall," said 29-year-old El Guerrouj, who fell at the bell in the 1500m final at the 1996 Games.

"I hope that there will be three Moroccans in the final as it will make my task easier."

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin