Kenenisa Bekele speaking in Boston on 28 Jan 2005 (© Victah Sailer)
Ethiopian Olympic champions Kenenisa Bekele and Meseret Defar will be looking for better fortunes in Birmingham than they came away with at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games in January, where Bekele, running his first race since the death of his fiancée, suffered a surprise defeat in the men’s 3000m, while Defar narrowly missed the World record in the women’s.
Bekele had interrupted his training for two weeks after his fiancée, World youth 1500m champion Alem Techale, suddenly took ill while the couple were on a training run in the Ararat forest on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, and died before he could get her to the hospital.
“It’s a loss that I will feel in my heart forever,” said Bekele in Boston. He resumed some of his training one week before the Boston race.
“Some days my training went well,” he said. “Some days, I would just be overwhelmed by memories.”
In Boston, when Ireland’s Alistair Cragg, who had led for several laps - and also briefly been led by Bekele’s compatriot Markos Geneti - surged with over two laps left, Bekele followed and in the middle of the penultimate lap, overtook Cragg in what was clearly intended to be a last lap kick.
“Even I’m surprised at myself,” said Bekele later. “When the guy took off, I just thought he was finishing and my thoughts were somewhat scattered. I didn’t think about how much was left.”
Only when the bell rang as he crossed the line and slowed down did Bekele realise the race wasn’t over, but Cragg ran strongly to win.
“I knew it would be challenging to come and run this race,” said Bekele, who ran 7:41.42. “The races after this will be easier, and I can recover and do a better job.”
Pacemaker is younger brother Tariku
Before interrupting his training, Bekele had been preparing for another fast indoor season like his debut 2004 season, where he broke Haile Gebrselassie’s World 5000m record in Birmingham.
“I wanted to run fast times in Boston and Birmingham,” said Bekele, who had initially hoped to chase Daniel Komen’s 7:24.90 3000m World record in the U.S. and then Gebrselassie’s 8:04.69 two-mile mark in the U.K.
“I ran in Boston after one week’s training, but I have more time to prepare for Birmingham,” said Bekele. “I expect I will be in better shape.”
“He’s picking up the pieces, and getting in better shape,” said his manager Jos Hermens on Thursday. “Whether he can break the World record, I don’t know, but his brother Tariku will be rabbiting, so he’ll feel comfortable.”
Kenyan Martin Keino is also scheduled to pace, and Bekele’s primary competition will be the World indoor 3000m bronze medallist Geneti, who beat Gebrselassie in Birmingham last year.
Geneti felt he was in good shape when he arrived in Boston, where he finished third, but after two weeks away from his high altitude training base in Addis Ababa, he lost to Cragg again last week, running 7:40.72 for 3000m in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and headed from there to Birmingham.
“He was disappointed there was no pacemaker in Arkansas,” said Geneti’s manager Mark Wetmore. “He likes it to be a bit faster.”
World Cross Country Long course is next goal for Bekele
Birmingham marks the end of the indoor season for the two Ethiopians, who will turn their attention to cross country. The three-time double world cross country champion Bekele hopes to be excused from the Ethiopian championships next weekend that also serve as trials for the March 19-20 World Cross Country Championships, which he wants to contend.
“If the Federation allows me to skip the trials, I’d like to run,” he said. “I’d like to compete in one event,” added Bekele, who said he favours defending the long course title.
His unprecedented third double, flanked by World records over 5000m indoors and out, and 10,000m outdoors, and followed by two Olympic medals, earned Bekele the 2004 World Athlete of the Year award, but his Olympic 10,000m gold medal performance solidly endeared him to his countrymen, and became the subject of a popular song.
“Anbessa,” which means “Lion” in Ethiopia’s Amharic language, and was released by Tewodros Kassahun, widely known as “Teddy Afro,” sings the praises of the new Olympic men’s 10,000m champion, both for his Athens victory and the fact that Bekele, along with teammate Sileshi Sihine, slowed down and waited for the injured former champion Gebrselassie during the race.
To the delight of the scores of Ethiopian fans in Boston who had greeted Gebrselassie at the same meet the year before, the song played in the stadium during Bekele’s run there, as well as earlier in the evening when the Olympic 5000m champion Defar made a bid for compatriot Berhane Adere’s 2002 8:29.15 World indoor 3000m record.
Defar going for the record
Defar was forced to circumvent two lapped runners approaching the final turn and missed the mark by less than a second, running 8:30.05.
“If I hadn’t had to swerve wide, I would have gotten it,” said a disappointed Defar after the race. “I’m sure I lost a second or two there.”
The event’s World indoor champion will get another crack at the mark in Birmingham, where she is also sure to benefit from a large Ethiopian turnout, a tradition launched by Gebrselassie’s previous appearances there.
Women’s World 5000m champion Tirunesh Dibaba, who broke the 5000m indoor World record in Boston, was scheduled to compete in the Birmingham 3000m, but pulled out due to a cold, which leaves the path to a record a little clearer for Defar.
“She’s in as good a shape as she was at the Olympics,” said Wetmore, who also manages Defar.
Sabrina Yohannes for the IAAF