Posted: January 18, 2006

Athletics: Defar Added To Reebok Boston Indoor Games

From David Monti

© 2005 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

Meseret Defar, the reigning Olympic champion at 5000m, was added to the field of the women's 3000m for the Reebok Boston Indoor Games, organizers said today.

For the 22 year-old Defar of Ethiopia, returning to Boston is bound to evoke bitter sweet memories. She won the event easily in 8:30.05, the second-fastest indoor performance over the distance and the 2005 world leader, but she fell short of compatriot Berhane Adere's world record by less than one second. She took the bell with the record in her grasp, needing a 31 second lap to surpass it. Defar flew down the backstraight and began to round the bend for home, but two lapped runners, Hilary Edmondson of Canada and Berhane Hirpasa of Ethiopia, were taking up all of lane one. Defar shouted as she approached them, and when the startled Edmondson tried to move out of the way, she instead further blocked Defar's path.

"I had no idea she was coming," she told RRW last January in Boston after she missed Adere's record and a $25,000 bonus.

Defar is particularly good at running indoors. She is the reigning world indoor champion at 3000m.

Separately, organizers announced a strong field for the women's mile: Treniere Clement (USA), Lindsey Gallo (USA), Meskerem Legesse (ETH), Mestawot Tadesse (ETH), Jen Toomey (USA), Carmen Douma-Hussar (CAN), Malindi Elmore (CAN), Amy Mortimer (USA), Christen Wurth-Thomas (USA), Sinead Delahunty-Evans (IRL), Anne Schadle (USA), Tiffany McWilliams (USA), and Jenelle Deatherage (USA).

The Reebok Boston Indoor Games is scheduled for Saturday, January 28 at 5:00 p.m. and it will be televised the following day on ESPN2 at 3:00 p.m. The official meet website is www.bostonindoorgames.com.

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