Flawless Defar takes 5000m gold
AFP - September 1, 2007
Ethiopia's Olympic champion Meseret Defar timed her run to perfection to win her first world title in the women's 5,000 metres on Saturday.
The world record holder stalked the front runner for most of the race before sprinting clear with 200 metres to go, finishing in a slow 14 minutes 57.91 seconds.
Vivian Cheruiyot took silver in 14:58.50 with team-mate Priscah Jepleting Cherono winning the all-Kenyan dash for bronze in 14:59.21.
Defar was ecstatic with the win after finishing behind great rival Tirunesh Dibaba, who pulled out with stomach pains, two years ago, and failing to qualify for the final in 2003.
"Finally I'm the world champion. My tactics were to wait until the last two laps and then start my finish," Defar said.
"I am the champion and that's great. In Beijing (Olympics) I will run the 5,000m and maybe in future I will try the 10,000m."
The 23-year-old Defar, who set the world record 14:16.63 just two months ago, was the hot favourite after Dibaba's withdrawal ...
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