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News20 Aug 2006


Men's 5000m Final

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Tariku Bekele of Ethiopia’s clinched his first ever World title as he won the junior’s 5000m here in Beijing ahead of his countryman Abreham Cherkos Fekele.

The younger brother of World record holder, World and Olympic champion Kenenisa, Bekele clocked 13:31.34 sprinting away from his younger compatriot with 250 metres to go.

Fekele finished a distant second in 13:35.95 to secure Ethiopia’s first double of these championships, ahead of the Kenyan pair of Joseph Ebuya, third in 13:42.93 and Mang’at Kimai Ndiwa fourth in 13:44.03.

A silver medallist at the IAAF World Youth in Sherbrooke 2003 and bronze medallist two years ago in Grosseto’s World Juniors, Bekele wasn’t going to let this title elude him.

Not even a shoe problem would get in the way of him winning his first IAAF World gold medal.

“My foot was hurting during the race because I was running with new shoes which I had never tried before,” he declared after his win.

Referring to his gold, he declared: “It feels really good for me and for my country. We have achieved our gold of complete a one-two double although it was a difficult race. But you know we have had good training, we are in good shape so it is a result which we expected.”

Despite his shoe problem, Bekele took the lead with 5 laps to go taking the pack through the third kilometre mark in 8:27.30. The 19-year-old shared the lead with his countryman as they went through the fourth kilometre in 11:00.32.

The Ethiopian duo distanced Ebuya with just over a lap to go, Bekele’s devastating sprint finish, which is reminiscent of his elder brother’s kick, making the difference in the final stages of the race.

Kidane Tadesse, younger brother of Eritrean Zeresenay Tadesse, finished sixth in 13:51.60.

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