Tactical race comes down to the last fast 1000 meters
By Parker Morse, Running USA wire
BEIJING, China - (August 22, 2008) - The names were the same; even the times weren't far off. But the distance was halved on Friday evening at Beijing's National Stadium when Ethiopia's Tirunesh Dibaba won the women's 5000 meters in 15:41.40, with Elvan Abeylegesse of Turkey second in 15:42.74.
Dibaba's victory made her the first woman ever to win the Olympic 5000 / 10,000 double victory that made Miruts Yifter an Ethiopian hero at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. (Kenenisa Bekele, who won the men's 10,000m here, will attempt to duplicate Yifter's feat on Saturday evening.) Abeylegesse's silver medal double was similarly unprecedented. Bronze went to Dibaba's Ethiopian rival Meseret Defar, the defending gold medalist, in a time almost a minute quicker.
The early pace was almost comically slow as nobody in the field of fifteen wished to take the early lead. After "jogging" the first kilometer in 3:39.20 behind steeplechase gold medalist Gulnara Samitova-Galkina of Russia, on pace for a finishing time slower than eighteen minutes, Abeylegesse took the lead and pulled the pack through 2000 meters in 6:45.41, in the process shaking Canada's Megan Metcalfe and the USA's Jen Rhines. (Rhines admitted after the race that she was struggling with inflammation in her heel which hampered her ability to respond to the pace changes.) Samitova-Galkina took over again and slowed the pace slightly, crossing the 3000m mark in 9:58.13, still a pace within the abilities of many moderately talented collegiate athletes.
By then it was a foregone conclusion that the race would go to the best kickers, and Defar and Dibaba have both demonstrated repeatedly their ability to run sub-60 second closing laps even after races run at world record paces. Dibaba, 23, in particular, had run the second fastest 10,000m in history just a week earlier, and won that race from Abeylegesse in a kick.
It was Abeylegesse who finally made a bid for the victory, moving to the front with less than a kilometer remaining and desperately trying to break away. Her move pulled Dibaba and Defar away from the crowded pack, but could not drop them, and when Dibaba herself made her bid for the victory it took her less than 100 meters to get around Abeylegesse and set out on her own for home.
Defar, however, was unable to beat Abeylegesse to the line, and garnered the bronze in 15:44.12. Defar later blamed the crowded pack for her inability to kick with Dibaba, claiming that the jostling had left her tight and cramped when the race was finally on the line.
With Rhines 14th in 16:34.63, the USA's other finishers were Kara Goucher, 9th in 15:49.39, and Shalane Flanagan, bronze medalist behind Dibaba and Abeylegesse in the 10,000m, 10th here in 15:50.80, over a minute slower than her own U.S. record. Both women were in contact with the pack until the final kilometer but found themselves overmatched when it came to sprinting off the unusually slow starting pace.
"I have a lot of work to do. The pace was slow, but they're amazing athletes," said Goucher.
"I just had to deal with it," said Flanagan. "When they made a move with three laps to go, I couldn't get there fast enough and I think it cost me two or three spots."
Olympic Games: Beijing
National Stadium / "Bird's Nest"
Friday, August 22, 2008
Women's 5000m Final
1) Tirunesh Dibaba (ETH), 15:41.40, Gold
2) Elvan Abeylegesse (TUR), 15:42.74, Silver
3) Meseret Defar (ETH), 15:44.12, Bronze
4) Sylvia Jebiwott Kibet (KEN), 15:44.96
5) Vivian Cheruiyot (KEN), 15:46.32
6) Liliya Shobukhova (RUS), 15:46.62
7) Alemitu Bekele (TUR), 15:48.48
8) Meselech Melkamu (ETH), 15:49.03
9) Kara Goucher (USA), 15:49.39
10) Shalane Flanagan (USA), 15:50.80
14) Jen Rhines (USA), 16:34.63
Complete results, starts lists, daily schedule and more at: IAAF.org.
Ryan Lamppa, Running USA Media Director
(805) 696-6232; Fax = (805) 659-0016
Ryan@RunningUSA.org
www.RunningUSA.org.
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