Welcome to the Helsinki 2005 Day 8

Day 8 of the Helsinki 2005 World Track Championships, saw the running of the Men's Marathon over a 4 lap course on a deceivingly humid afternoon and the running of the Women's 5000m final.

The Men's Marathon saw a repeat of Paris 2003 with Morocco's Jaouad Gharib achieving a successful defence with a clinical display of power running under difficult conditions, to win in a time of 2:10:10. No other athlete could withstand the power of Gharib's attack and he went unchallenged to establish an 11 second victory over Tanzania's Christopher Isegwe, Japan's Tsuyoshi Ogata grabbing 3rd in 2:11:16.

Gharib's victory was far more decisive than the time margin and the devastation of the field was seen by the dropping out of the major contenders after 30k. | report and results | [ on separate page ]

Women's 5000m Final - Saturday, August 13, 2005

With the Women's 5000m, there was only one goal for Ethiopia's Tirunesh Dibaba. To win the the double. After winning the 10 000m on Day One of the Helsinki Games, Dibaba spoke of her desire to add the 5000m title, and me knowing of this in advance, still selected Meseret Defar to take the title. Oh well, there was always tomorrow for one's Fantasy Team selections.

However, not to distract from the glorious double. Dibaba was absolutely scintillating in her desire to win the title. Defar had spoken of aiming specifically towards this one goal, Gold in Helsinki. She did everything correct according to the manual of successful racing but was outgunned on the night by an athlete who was simply too good. The win was also a defence of the title she won in Paris 2003.

But how could her rivals plot to beat her, the depth of the Ethiopian representatives, ruled out any dash for glory opportunities and as this was a Championship final if the pace was slow the likely winner would be the one with the best kick. Dibaba? What to do? What to do?

1km into the race and the pace was a forlorn 3:02.53. China's Yingjie Sun led at this stage and then injected a 2:51.32 kilometer, to pass through 2k in 5:53.. Sun is the athlete who possesses the extraordinary arm carriage which represents someone who certainly didn't run with their books to school ala Haile Gebrselassie. Her arms point straight down with her hands extended towards the ground.

Despite Sun's awkward arm carriage she has shown an impressive range of performances over various distances all the way through to the marathon. With the momentum of a faster K, it was then inexplicably slowed to pass through 3K in 8:52.62 (3:01)

Then this was followed by an even slower kilometer, which threw all plans of a fast pace to drain the finishing kick of Dibaba, out the window. 4k in 11:54.40 and an opportunity for all those in contention to have a go. Isabella Ochichi of Kenya, had found herself in the lead after at one stage sliding out of contention, but she was not prepared for the Ethiopian Quartets onslaught that followed.

The impressive foursome, dislodged themselves from the pack and galloped away from their pursuers, ensuring that there would be an Ethiopian 1 to 4. Defar bid her time waiting for her opportunity to take the glory, however Dibaba was totally in control as she eased away from her team-mate with contemptious ease.

History had been established and it is mind boggling when you consider the youth of the winner. In 2003, she had been a shock winner, this time she carried her own high expectations as well as that of her country and was still able to provide a glorious double.

Defar took Silver with the Dibaba sister, Ejegayehu taking brinze ahead of Meselech Melkamu a second behind. The winning time was 14:38.59, a new Championship Record (CR) | results |