Kenenisa Bekele and Haile Gebrselassie in the men's 10,000m final (© Getty Images)
Tonight Kenenisa Bekele drove a three piece Ethiopian juggernaut through the World 10,000 metres hopes of East African rivals, Kenya, and so took the first step on the path to become the first man since compatriot Miruts Yifter’s triumphs at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, to take a 5000m and 10,000m double at a major senior global championship.
Following Bekele (26:49.57) over the finish line were the other two elements of the Ethiopian vanguard, quadruple World 10,000m champion Haile Gebrselassie (26:50.77), and Sileshi Sihen (27:01.44), the 2003 Ethiopian champion at 5000m (beat Bekele) and 10,000m.
After the race Bekele was coy about the prospect of such a double attempt confirming only that “the Ethiopian Team Management will make the decision about whether I run the 5000m."
What is clear is that he is one of the four (three runners + one reserve) which the Ethiopian Federation have entered for the 5000m in Paris. Bekele's reticence also matches that shown before both of his successful double campaigns at the World Cross Country Championships in the last two winters.
Jos Hermens, the manager of both Bekele and Gebrselassie also would not be drawn on the subject of whether Bekele should run the 5000m but agreed that the 21 year-old certainly possessed the stamina to double.
“Yes, I think it is physically possible for him to run so much in a week, he can do it,” said Hermens.
“Bekele is a great runner and he can do everything, he is very versatile,” Hermens continued. “He will always be great across the country, and on the track too, and if he is careful physically, and that’s the most important thing, he can dominate for another ten years.”
If attempted, this would mean that Bekele would face two more races, a heat (28 Aug) and then a final (31 Aug), and all that on top of tonight’s 26:49.57 run which was a championship record and the fastest time in 2003. An epic race but surely a strength sapping one too that produced the first sub-13 minutes 5km split (12:57.25 -second half) ever run in the history of 10,000 metres racing.
Yifter, who was the inspiration for a young Gebrselassie to take up running seriously, carried the nickname of ‘Yifter the Shifter’ because of his devastating finishing kick, which he characteristically employed with 300 metres to go, and which famously led to his defeat of Finland’s quadruple Olympic champion Lasse Viren in 1980.
Bekele precisely mirrored Yifter’s Moscow tactics tonight, making a burst past World record holder Gebrselassie just as the Ethiopian trio came out of the penultimate bend with 300 metres to go to the finish. The burst was devastating and immediately saw off Sihine, and within another 100 metres Gebrselassie ‘the Emperor’ was also vanquished.
Not even Yifter managed to lead home an Ethiopian medal sweep, and tonight’s feat at 10,000m was unique in World Championships history, and the first globally since Finland took all three medals in the 1936 Olympics.
IAAF
