Dominguez wins brilliant Steeple Gold and Bekele Defends, such should be the main focus and attention of the Day's performances however in a World of sensationalism, failure and gender get the tongues wagging. And the one big failure of the night was that of Russia's Elena Isinbaeva, track's most dominant athlete of the last 4 years failed to record a height and surrendered her title to Poland's victorious Anna Rogowska.
For Isinbaeva it was a night best forgotten however the media circus were having a field day shoving their cameras down her throat and interviewers asking the most pathetic of questions when the athlete was simply put, devastated.
We get the government we deserve and we simply get the 'garbage' press we deserve.
We shall discuss the tongue wagging regarding the 800m athlete towards the end of this article.
With that dealt with, let's move to the athletics.
Marta Dominguez takes Women's 3000m SteepleChase title
Spain's Marta Dominguez put her disappointment of the Beijing Olympics behind her by winning the Women's SteepleChase World Title with a dazzling display.
The Spaniard waited till the final barrier before making her move. Pre-race favourite and World Record Holder, Russia's Gulnara Galkina, as expected, took the lead from the gun with the diminitive Dominguez jumping in behind her with the intention of tracking the pace as her game plan. Galkina is always content to do the bulk of the work as this is her way of controlling the race and making it a true to form contest and considering that she is the only athlete to have broken the 9 minute barrier, she had every reason to feel confident with this tactic.
However, such has the standard of this event developed, as can be seen from the results, that any drop off in tempo will allow a host of other athletes into the frame for a chance at victory. With the 1st kilometer in 3:01.26, the Russians plan was right on target however the slowing of the 2nd km to 3.05 for a 2k time of 6:06.45 allowed the Kenyan athlete, Gladys Jerotich Kipkemoi, to briefly lead with Dominguez simply sitting with whoever provided the pace.Â
Galkina's teammate, Yuliya Zarudneva, wrestled back the lead for Russia and kept the lead into the last 400m and down the backstraight. Still the Spaniard sat. Galkina who had faltered closed back on the leaders down the back however once the pace picked up again approaching the waterjump Zarudneva and Dominguez had set-up a two horse race.
Approaching the final barrier and Dominguez approached it with her final caution before unleashing her kick, she immediately seemed to acknowledge that the Gold was hers with her tongue popping out in anticipation for the 'Taste of Gold'.
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The big shock of the day came in the final race of the afternoon where Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele retired from the race with less than 1k to run. The circumstances were somewhat bizarre as he had broken away from Eritrea's Zersenay Tadesse and looked set for an unprecedented 6th win, when he simply began jogging before leaving the course. The reason given was stomach problems however it still leaves many unanswered questions about Ethiopia's preparations for this event.