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ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopia’s world-record holder
Kenenisa Bekele was forced to fight all the way before retaining his
African 5,000-meter title on Sunday at the African athletics
championships.
Kenya’s Isaac Songok took the
race to his Ethiopian rival and the two men remained engaged in a
neck-and-neck battle before Bekele eased off at the end to win in 13
minutes 49.67 seconds.
Songok, a former world junior
5,000-meter champion, was a close second in 13:49.91 with another
Ethiopian Ali Abdush third in 13:50.64.
Bekele had had a change of heart
to defend his 5,000m African title after pulling out of the 10,000m
earlier in the week citing lack of sufficient training after the
World cross country championships in Edinburgh.
“After the cross-country
championships I was very tired, I didn’t train for 10 days,” he
explained. “I didn’t expect this race to be so strong, but I was
confident of winning.”
The African championships may
have seen the last of another legend Maria Mutola of Mozambique who
trailed home in second behind Kenyan newcomer Pamela Chelimo in the
women’s 800 meters.
The Sydney Olympic gold medalist
and four-time world champion has announced she will retire after the
Beijing Olympics Games in August.
--AFP
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