Meserat Defar sits by her World record clock in New York (© Victah Sailer)
When Meseret Defar broke the World 5000m record in New York last Saturday (3 June), running 14:24.53**, she was beside herself with joy. She fell to her knees in prayer. She lay on the ground and beat the track with her fists.
“I don’t even know what I did,” she said later. “It was beyond my control.”
The Ethiopian 5000m Olympic champion came to the Reebok Grand Prix meet on Randall’s Island knowing she could seriously threaten the mark. “At the bell, I was sure I could do it,” she said. But as the clock ticked ever closer to Elvan Abeylegesse’s 2004 14:24.68 mark, Defar kept her feelings in check. “With 50m left, I was watching the clock,” she said. “After I finished, it was when the announcer said ‘world record,’ that I was at first suddenly startled, and then overjoyed.”
Two out of three ain’t bad
The record comes after a streak of successes for Defar, whose year began with some disappointments.
After attempting Berhane Adere’s 8:29.15 World indoor 3000m record at the Boston Indoor Games in January 2005, she tried again there in 2006, and in Stuttgart the next month, but came up short. Then Russians Liliya Shobukhova and Olesya Syreva ran 8:27.86 and 8:29.00, lowering the mark.
Defar was disappointed, but headed into the World Indoor Championships in Moscow (10-12 March) determined to defend her 2004 title in the event. When she crossed the line victorious, the triumph she felt was etched across her expressive face.
Having won a cross country meet in Fukuoka in 2005, Defar eyed the World Cross Country Championships (1-2 April) with interest, but wasn’t selected. She took her sharpened form to the Carlsbad 5000 in California and smashed the 14:51 unofficial World 5K road best, running 14:46.
“When she ran a great road race in California and she took the lead so early, I knew she was in shape and that if she got prepared, she could do it,” said her manager Mark Wetmore of the track World record.
“I attempted the track record in Hengelo, but the pacing wasn’t good and it was windy,” said Defar, who ran a world leading 14:35.30 there on 28 May. “Haile Gebrselassie advised me, ‘In the shape you’re in, you can break the record in New York’.”
Defar’s fiancé, former football player Tedros Hailu, had accompanied her to the Netherlands and encouraged her to see how her training went the next few days. “I was there until the 31st and felt good about my training,” she said. “I knew if nothing else, I could run another world leading time.”
On a rain-soaked track and under softly drizzling skies on Randall’s Island, Defar found herself urging her second pacemaker on. Christin Wurth-Thomas took her through 2000m in 5:47.7. “We wanted her to take me through 2400m, if possible even to 2800m,” said Defar, who ran the rest of the way alone, with compatriot Workitu Ayanu following but waning with six laps left.
“What made it tougher was the rain and the wetness of the track, but I pushed myself, because after 3000m, I knew I could do it,” said Defar, who flew through the last two laps.
“This year, I wanted to break the World record in the indoor 3000m and the outdoor 5000, on the road and on the track,” she said. “I have accomplished two out of my three goals, so I am very happy.”
Dreams of faster times and glory in the Golden League
Defar had to circumvent several lapped runners, three on the last half-lap alone. She feels she can clock a faster time. “I hope to improve the mark, maybe in Brussels,” she said.
She will be contesting the IAAF Golden League 3000m/5000m beginning in Paris on 8 July and aims to win all five remaining meets. “I planned to attempt the World record in Hengelo and New York, so I skipped the first meet,” she said.
With Ethiopia’s double World champion Tirunesh Dibaba having won the first Golden League 5000m in Oslo on 2 June in a then-world leading 14:30.40, the Gaz de France Paris Saint Denis meet promises to be explosive. “Tirunesh is a good friend of mine, but in a competition, everyone who wears a pair of shorts and enters the race is looking to win,” said Defar, who also plans to go for the African Championships in August.
She was very disappointed to see Ethiopia’s Olympic 10,000m champion and multiple world record-holder Kenenisa Bekele lose his first Golden League race in Oslo. “I would have liked to see him win six times,” she said. “He is the best in the world, and my countryman.”
With her Olympic and World Indoor titles and two world bests, Defar is becoming an icon herself, as the reception she received at New York’s Queen of Sheba Ethiopian restaurant after her record run proved.
Defar was applauded, cheered, embraced and photographed by and with many of her fans there.
“Kenenisa had a song sung for him,” said Berhane Tsehai, 26, of Jersey City, New Jersey, referring to the 2004 hit song “Anbessa” (meaning “lion” in the Amharic language), after he took a picture with Defar.
“Now we need a song for you.”
Sabrina Yohannes for the IAAF
**World record subject to usual ratification process