Posted: March 20, 2004

Athletics: Johnson Wins Historic Gold For Australia

From David Monti

(c) 2004 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

BRUSSELS (20-Mar) -- In a mild upset, Benita Johnson earned the first ever gold medal for Australia at an IAAF World Cross Country Championships here today when she pulled away from the Ethiopian duo of Ejegayehu Dibaba and defending champion Worknesh Kidane in the 7th kilometer to assure a convincing 12 second win.

"We're really happy with the result today," said a beaming Johnson to the international athletics media after the race.

Johnson, the Australian 10,000m champion, was part of the leading group from the beginning of the 8 km race held in slippery conditions at Osseghem Park in Laken-Brussels. The pace was visibly slow, and the course trecherous after the 2 km loop had been used for the junior women's and senior men's 4 km races first. Johnson was joined by seven other women: Kidane, Dibaba, and Teybe Erkesso of Ethiopia; Kenyans Alice Timbilili and Eunice Jepkorir; Dutchwoman Lornah Kiplagat; and Canadian Emilie Mondor. Kiplagat, Mondor and Jepkorir were the first to fall back. Then after the halfway point Kidane began to push the pace.

"I had to take the lead because the pace was slow at that point," said Kidane who won individual gold and a silver medals at last year's championships in Switzerland.

The 5 km mark was passed in 17:14, and one kilometer later Erkesso and Timbilili had fallen back. The chasing group was some 16 seconds behind, so it was time for the medalists to sort themselves out. Johnson kept her bitter disappointment in last year's race in the front of her mind; she had gone from third to fifth in the final meters to finish out of the medals.

"That's a huge motivation for me to get a medal," she said. "I didn't want to be fourth or fifth today."

Johnson surged in the 7th kilometer, and built a gap over her African rivals almost immediately.

"I knew I had a bit of a gap with a "K" to go," she said later.

Never relenting, Johnson strided strongly to the finish line, mud splattered over her legs and uniform, to get the win in 27:17. Dibaba got second in 27:29 and Kidane third in 27:34.

"No, I'm not very disappointed," said Kidane after the race. She still helped Ethiopia unseat the defending champion Kenyans for the team title in a narrow 26 to 30 point victory.

Great Britain got the bronze team medal, despite the withdrawl of Paula Radcliffe and despite the fact that they failed to place a single athlete in the top-10. Kathy Butler was their top finisher in 11th place (28:13).

Kate O'Neill was the top U.S. finisher in a surprising 15th place.

"I was just really excited the whole way," said the former Yale University athlete.

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