Dibaba Wins Olympic 10,000 Meters, Sets Games Record – Flanagan breaks U.S. record for bronze – By Parker Morse, Running USA wire

BEIJING, China – (August 15, 2008) – Most great distance runner are made better by a great rival, and Tirunesh Dibaba is no exception. The young Ethiopian, who has won the last two 10,000m World titles and numerous World Cross Country crowns since emerging on the world stage in 2005, took her first Olympic gold Friday evening at Beijing's National Stadium, but not without first facing the most challenging competitor she has yet encountered at this distance. The duo produced what may have been the greatest 10,000 meter race in history.

Elvan Abeylegesse of Turkey, a former world record holder at 5000m and native of Ethiopia, was second to Dibaba in this race at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, pushing the pace late in the race and dropping all but Dibaba there. She attempted a similar strategy here in the "Bird's Nest" in the first track final of the Games, but unlike Osaka, where the early pace was sluggish, this time Abeylegesse, 25, took over a race made by Kenyan-born Dutchwoman Lornah Kiplagat.

Kiplagat led the pack through a brisk 15:09 halfway split and reached 6000m in 18:12 before Abeylegesse took over and drove the pace even faster. Where Kiplagat's last kilometer was just under 3:03, Abeylegesse clicked off splits of 3:01, 2:57 and 2:57, reaching 9000m in 27:06.02 and presenting the real possibility that the 30:00 time might be cracked for the first time since Junxia Wang set the World record of 29:31.78 in Beijing in 1993.

Abeylegesse was not considering the finish time, however, so much as attempting to shake off Dibaba before the Ethiopian could deliver the devastating closing speed which has brought her 5000m world records indoors and out. Dibaba, 23, was up to the challenge, but it wasn't until the final lap that she moved outside Abeylegesse and took the lead.

Abeylegesse fought to maintain contact and stayed on Dibaba's shoulder until 200 meters remaining, but the "Baby-Faced Destroyer" drew away in the closing half-lap to win in 29:54.66, the second fastest time ever and the first sub-30:00 clocking since 1993. Abeylegesse, too, was under the 30:00 mark in 29:56.34, the third fastest mark all-time and the fastest women's 10,000m second place ever.

While the last two runners shaken by Abeylegesse and Dibaba had been Kenyans, Linet Masai and Lucy Wangui, American Shalane Flanagan, 27, was on the move in the closing two kilometers. After shadowing Kiplagat when both were shaken off in Abeylegesse's charge, Flanagan moved into fifth, then picked off Wangui when she was unable to hang on to Masai.

Finally beginning to reach her top speed, Flanagan, a 2004 Olympian, ran down Masai in the final kilometer and crossed the line third in 30:22.22, shattering her own U.S. record and equaling the best-ever American performance in this race.

After suffering severe gastrointestinal distress just three days earlier in the American training camp ("She was puking her guts out," said one USATF official), Flanagan's very participation was in question, and as the race approached, word spread among the American media that she planned to drop out and save herself for the 5000m if the race was going poorly. Instead, she hung on to the pack longer even than World Championships bronze medalist Kara Goucher (who ran a PR 30:55.16 to finish 10th) and delivered the same strong close which carried her to the U.S. Olympic Trials title seven weeks ago.

Flanagan's medal, which will be awarded during Saturday's competition, is the first American track medal, male or female, at a distance longer than 400 meters since Lynn Jennings' bronze in Barcelona 1992, which was also a U.S. record at the time.

Dibaba's mark stands as an Olympic record and African record.

Abeylegesse set a European record. And in fourth, Masai established a new World Junior record of 30:26.50, not to mention a Kenyan record. Five other athletes, including Goucher, set PRs. Rumors of conditions hostile to distance running in Beijing are apparently overstated, because after heavy rain on Thursday, Friday's races were run under blue skies and even the punishing humidity of the previous week had receded by the time the 10,000m started at 10:45pm local time. The reported temperature was 26 degrees centigrade, the relative humidity 53% – nearly perfect conditions for a historic race.

Both Flanagan and Goucher plan to double back in the 5000m, where preliminary rounds will be run on Tuesday. The third American in the 10,000m was Amy Yoder Begley, who finished 26th in 32:38.28 after apparently suffering a side cramp during the race.

Flanagan credited her own concentration on relaxation for her astounding race. "My coach said to fall asleep for a couple laps and then give it go. I was just running so within myself trying to stay calm."

Dibaba said, "It was a terrible race," referring to the effort required for the win. "It was really very tough. It was the right place to break the world record and I had hoped I would, but it was not so. Next year, I'm sure I'll do it."

Olympic Games: Beijing
National Stadium / "Bird's Nest"
Friday, August 15, 2008

Women's 10,000m Final
1) Tirunesh Dibaba (ETH), 29:54.66*, Gold
2) Elvan Abeylegesse (TUR), 29:56.34, Silver
3) Shalane Flanagan (USA), 30:22.22#, Bronze
4) Linet Chepkwemoi Masai (KEN), 30:26.50
5) Mariya Konovalova (RUS), 30:35.84
6) Inga Abitova (RUS), 30:37.33
7) Lucy Kabuu Wangui (KEN), 30:39.96
8) Lornah Kiplagat (NED), 30:40.27
9) Kim Smith (NZL), 30:51.00
10) Kara Goucher (USA), 30:55.16
Other U.S.
26) Amy Begley Yoder (USA), 32:38.28
*Olympic record (previous record, 30:17.49, Derartu Tulu (ETH), Sydney 2000)
#U.S. record (previous record, 30:34.49, Shalane Flanagan, 05/04/08)

Complete results, starts lists, daily schedule and more at: www.iaaf.org/OLY08/results/eventCode=3659/index.html

Ryan Lamppa, Running USA Media Director
(805) 696-6232
Ryan@RunningUSA.org | www.RunningUSA.org