Defar - "I am back to my best and ready for Beijing" - IAAF - August 7, 2008

Has Olympic and World 5000m champion Meseret Defar lost some of her spark? Is she no longer the golden girl of Ethiopian athletics?

Those and many other questions were continuously asked of the bubbly 24-year old's performance this season after compatriot Tirunesh Dibaba sliced over three seconds off of her world 5000m mark in Oslo in June to stop the clock at 14:11.55. Such is the fickle nature of superstardom in athletics that her outstanding performances in 2007 were quickly forgotten. But to all doubts, Defar has one answer.

"Those who thought I had disappeared should watch my performance in Stockholm," she says. Read More.