Posted: March 21, 2004

Athletics: Bekele Completes First Half Of Triple-Double

From David Monti

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

BRUSSELS (20-Mar) -- Kenenisa Bekele romped to his third consecutive IAAF World Cross Country title in the short course (4 km) event here today, easily shaking off both windswept rain and all of his would be rivals. He also led his Ethiopian team to their first short cross team title, earning him two gold medals on the day, and making him the most decorated man in the history of these championships with 15 medals, seven of them gold.

"It was not easy because the course was tough," Bekele said, but added that the course was not as muddy as the last time he competed in these championships in Belgium in Oostende in 2001 when the mud was so severe some athletes had their shoes sucked off.

After the furious uphill start which characterizes the short course event (top American finisher Robert Gary said, "I was literally going as fast as I could"), Bekele made sure he was positioned near the front right away. Ridouane Es-Saadi of Belgium was a short-lived leader, and Bekele and teammate Gebre-egziaber Gebremariam soon took over the lead with Eliud Kibet Kirui of Kenya. They passed the first kilometer in 2:52, and went through halfway in 5:45. The pace looked only moderate; the mud was slowing everybody down.

But less than a minute later, Bekele put in a burst which left the rest of the field flat-footed. Gebremariam was the only athlete who could show a credible response, and put himself into no-man's land behind his teammate, but ahead of the chase group led by the former Kenyans Stephen Cherono and Albert Chepkurui (now Saif Saaeed Shaheen and Abdullah Ahmad Hassan, respectively, of Qatar). Bekele's lead was solid at 3-K (8:42), and Gebremariam seemed to have enough distance on the Qatari/Kenyan chasers to hold second place.

Bekele got to the finish line first, half raising both hands in almost a shrug as he broke the tape in 11:31. Gebremariam followed five seconds later, and their teammate Maregu Zewdie managed to get a few steps on the Qatari group to complete an Ethiopian sweep of the podium another six seconds back, and assuring their team title. With Dejene Birhanu finishing 11th, the Ethiopians scored a tidy 17 points to 39 for the second place Qataris and a dismal 52 for the defending champion Kenyans. The Kenyans had won every men's 4 km team title since the event was introuced in 1998.

Bekele reiterated that he planned to race the following day as well and attempt to lock up his third consecutive long course (12 km) title and the amazing triple-double that no serious observer had imagined would be possible just a few years ago.

"For tomorrow, I am ready to do my best for my team," said Bekele. "I feel fine."

The pressure will be squarely on the Kenyan men tomorrow as their 18 year team winning streak in the 12-K will be on the line. It is the most dominant team dynasty in all of sport and Bekele and his Ethiopian teammates are looking to take the top step of the podium for the first time since 1985 when their streak of five team titles was broken.

The U.S. squad finished a disappointing seventh, one place behind the Canadians. "I think we all had middle of the road races," said Robert Gary who finished 33rd. "We had great depth today. I got a pretty good position (off the start). I think I should have been able to get in the top-25."

Australian Craig Mottram, who finished ninth, was the highest placing athlete who was not born in Africa. According to his coach, Nic Bideau, he will also run the 12 km tomorrow.

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