The gold medal may have stayed in Ethiopia’s hands but the men’s 10,000m final signalled the end of an era this evening as Haile Gebrselassie’s reign as the greatest distance runner in the world came to a sad but heroic end in the Athens Olympic stadium. Despite the best efforts of his young training partners and team-mates, Kenenisa Bekele and Sileshi Sihine, to help him back into the race, for the first time in his distinguished international career Geb simply could not stay with the kind of lethal pace that has been his own trademark for so long.
When the decisive moments came it was Bekele and Sihine who split away from the field, shaking off their final challengers with almost nonchalant ease at 9k. And it was Bekele who proved to be stronger at the finish. Unleashing a devastating kick with 500m to go, he blasted through a 53.02 second last lap to finish with an Olympic record 27:05.10, some 2.24 seconds quicker than the time Gebrselassie ran in Atlanta eight years ago. Sihine took silver in 27:09.39 and Zersenay Tadesse was the surprise bronze medallist, clocking a national record of 27:22.57, becoming Eritrea’s first ever Olympic medallist.
Gebrselassie’s track career came to an end with a fifth place finish, and a time of 27:27.70, more than two seconds behind Uganda’s Boniface Kiprop. But none of that comes close to telling the story of this extraordinary race, one in which the two Ethiopian medallists even put their medals at risk to try and help their elder team-mate and former master back into contention.
As so often in championships finals, the race started at a slow pace, with leaders passing the first kilometre in 2:50.85 and the second kilometre in 5:45.16. At this point Gebrselassie was way back in the middle of the large pack – some 24 athletes started the final.
Clearly, the ‘little Emperor’, who has been suffering from Achilles problems in recent weeks and almost didn’t enter the race, realised this was never going to help him to his third Olympic gold. He swept to the front with a quarter of the race gone and injected some much needed pace. Suddenly the field was spread out and the Ethiopians initiated their usually flawless team tactics, attempting to burn off the rest of the field by the simple attrition of their superior speed.
Sihine, then Bekele, then Geb again, took their turns at the front. They went through 4k in 11:15.57 at which point Bekele upped the speed another notch. By 5k (13:50.87) the leading group was down to seven, with Kenya’s Moses Mosop and John Korir, plus Kiprop and Tadesse still in the hunt.
Kiprop made a move at 6k (16:34.51) but Bekele would not relinquish the lead. His spurt of pace left the two Kenyans trailing and it seemed to be all down to five. By this stage Gebrselassie was not looking his usual comfortable, smooth self and looked as though he was struggling to hang on.
Within 200m that proved to be the case as he visibly raised his head and, it appeared, the white flag of surrender. Never had we seen him lose touch with so much of a race still to go. You could almost hear the gasps from the stands, and cries of ‘Come on Haile’ echoed even from the press stands as people willed an era not to end just yet. But Gebrselassie is not one to give up.
Amazingly, Bekele and Sihine seemed to heed the calls. Glancing at the giant screen they realised their ‘Gashe’ was no longer in touch and turned round, slowing the pace to let him and Tadesse catch up, and giving the Eritrean a second chance to challenge for victory.
However, by 9k (24:37.19), it was clear, even to them, that Gebrselassie’s legs had gone. Looking to ensure the medals, they kicked again. Within a lap they had taken 15 metres out of Tadesse and Kiprop, leaving Geb another 20m behind. The only question was which one would have the greater finish, and Bekele answered that in the most devastating fashion.
He flew through the bell in 26:13, sprinting like a 400m man and no doubt sending a significant message to his rivals in next weekend’s 5000m final. Who could live with that sort of finish? Even Hicham El Geurrouj might struggle.
The two Ethiopians waited for Gebrselassie at the finish and the three embraced before the elder statesman allowed his two heirs elect to lead the lap of honour. Looking visibly shattered, Geb put his hands to head in a gesture of resignation before the biggest smile in athletics broke out once more.
The large and noisy contingent of ecstatic Ethiopian fans who were camped at the start of the final bend mobbed their heroes. The end of an era, but another national triumph all the same.
Thanks Haile. Hail Bekele.
MB
