Meseret Defar of Ethiopia on her way to the 5000m World record (© Getty Images)
The longest sequence of success in the 42-year history of the All Africa Games will be put to the test in the first track final of the 9th edition of the Games which begin today. Ezekiel Kemboi, the Olympic champion, leads Kenya’s attempt to keep hold of a 3000m Steeplechase title they have held since the 1st edition in 1965.
Although South Africa, Nigeria and Algeria are likely also to be prominent in the medals table during the six-day Games in the ‘5 July Olympic Stadium’, the two track finals on the opening day will surely be dominated by Kenya and Ethiopia. First Kemboi, Willy Komen and Elijah Chelimo will seek a sweep in the men’s 3000m Steeplechase then Meseret Defar, five weeks after improving her 5000m World record to 14:16.63, leads a potential Ethiopian 1-2-3 at the distance.
The prospect of Defar, Ayano Workitu and Melkamu Meselech monopolising the podium has come into view with the decision of Edith Masai, winner of the IAAF World Cross Country 4k title three times (2002-04), to concentrate on the 10,000m. Two other finals will be decided today – the women’s Triple Jump and the men’s Discus Throw. The first gold medal of the Games, for the women’s Triple Jump, should be a contest between Yamile Aldama, Sudan’s former African record holder, and Francoise Mbango, the current record holder and Olympic champion, from Cameroon.
But it will be the men’s 3000m Steeplechase that is first under the spotlight on the track. In no other event on the programme has one country dominated as Kenya have over the seven and half laps with barriers, winning all eight gold medals, thanks to eight different champions. They include such illustrious winners as Ben Jipcho (1973), Henry Rono (1978) and Moses Kiptanui (1991).
Only Nigeria’s domination of the women’s 100m Hurdles comes close. Nigeria has won the last seven titles but Rose Hart, of Ghana, took the sprint hurdles gold in 1965 when the event was held over 80m. In other events, although no country other than South Africa has won the women’s Pole Vault, the discipline was introduced only as recently as 1999.
Until 1987 the All Africa Games were held at irregular intervals but since then they have been staged every four years. However, the absence of Maria Mutola, three times a winner of the 800m, from the heats of that event today underlines how they are no longer a priority for many of today’s leading athletes.
Kenenisa Bekele, Eliud Kipchoge and Tirunesh Dibaba are among the star names who are bypassing Algiers with their sights fixed firmly on the 11th IAAF World Championships in Athletics, Osaka, Japan next month. But, rather than lament their absence, it is better to treat the occasion as an early opportunity to witness rising talent before the world discovers them at the Olympic Games, in Beijing, next year or at future World Championships.
Previous All Africa Games have seen the blooming of many athletes who became world stars – Kip Keino, Filbert Bayi, Frank Fredericks and Defar to name the best of them. Here Defar is defending a 5000m title she won in 2003, one year after becoming World Junior 3000m champion and one year before taking the Olympic title in Athens.
Among those to watch out for in the 9th All Africa Games are Veronica Wanjiru, 17, the World Junior 3000m champion, who is making her senior debut for Kenya, at 1500m, Muna Jebir Adam, 20, who is seeking to put Sudan on the map at the women’s 400m Hurdles, and Thomas Longosiwa, winner of the Kenya men’s 5000m trial.
It is also an opportunity for Kenenisa Bekele’s younger brother, Tariku, to enhance his reputation. Kenenisa will not be defending the 5000m title he won in Abuja, Nigeria, at the last Games in 2003, so the reins have been handed to the 20-year-old Tariku, the World Junior champion, to try to win his first All Africa title. The absence of Tariku’s Ethiopian compatriot, Sileshi Sihine, as well as Kipchoge and Ahmad Baday, of Morocco, leaves Bekele as the quickest 5000m athlete of 2007 in the line-up. For political reasons, Morocco has not participated in the All Africa Games since 1978.
For the host country, Algeria, local officials are talking of potentially three gold medals – from Abderrahmane Hammad, in the High Jump, Tarek Boukensa, in the 1500m, and Souad Ait Salem in the Half Marathon, which has replaced the traditional marathon at the Games.
David Powell for the IAAF
