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BOSTON, Massachusetts – Derartu Tulu of Ethiopia and
American pole vault star Stacy Dragila will compete at the
2004 adidas Boston Indoor Games on Jan. 31, meet organizers
announced today. Together with the previously-announced Haile
Gebrselassie, the trio accounts for an astonishing 17 Olympic
or World Championship gold medals.
Tulu, 31, is perhaps the greatest female athlete ever to
hail from her country. After making history in 1992 as the
first black African woman to win an Olympic gold medal (10,000
meters), Tulu went on to win three World Cross Country Championships
(1995, 1997, 2000). Her second Olympic gold at 10,000 meters,
in Sydney, was followed the next year by a victory in the
2001 Flora London Marathon.
While Tulu’s appearance here will be the first indoor
race of her career, Dragila has already provided some of the
most breathtaking moments in adidas Boston Indoor Games history.
The 2000 Olympic gold medalist and two-time World Champion
last year set an American record here and twice has barely
missed World records, earning her role as a crowd favorite.
Three more top athletes have also been added to the roster.
They include:
n Tirunesh Dibaba, the Ethiopian prodigy who as an 18-year-old
last summer stunned the best women on the planet when she
beat them for the 5000-meter World Championship title. Dibaba
will compete here against her cousin, Tulu, at the same distance.
n John Capel, the surprise winner of the 2000 Olympic Trials
at 200 meters who then took time off to attempt a career in
the National Football League. He cemented his decision to
return to the track when he was crowned the 200m World Champion
last summer in Paris.
n Nicole Teter, three-time US 800-meter champion who in 2002
broke Suzy Favor Hamilton’s 800m American record when
she ran 1:58.71. A rising star, Teter will be kicking off
the campaign to make her first US Olympic team.
The ninth-annual adidas Boston Indoor Games will be held
at the Reggie Lewis Track & Athletic Center at Roxbury
Community College, 1350 Tremont St., Boston, from 5:30 to
8 p.m., and will be broadcast live on ESPN2 from 6-7 p.m.
The meet will again be the first stop on USA Track & Field’s
Indoor Golden Spike Tour. Tickets, which are expected to sell
out, are available on-line at www.BostonIndoorGames.com
or by calling 617-536-7030.
source BostonIndoorGames
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