By JERÉ LONGMAN, The New York Times
BEIJING — The women’s 5,000 meters has become less of an open race than a personal tug of war between Ethiopia’s Tirunesh Dibaba and Meseret Defar.
The women are neither enemies nor friends, but they are rivals. They trade Olympic gold medals and world records. They are in the same events, at the apex of their careers. There are only so many baubles to go around. Gold medals are not like pizza that can be divided into slices.
The rivalry turned decidedly in Dibaba’s favor Friday night as she completed a historic double, winning the 5,000 in 15 minutes 41.40 seconds and becoming the first woman to win the 5,000 and 10,000 in the same Summer Games.
As fast as the 10,000 meters was a week ago, the 5,000 was slow. The second lap took 92 seconds. A couple of 80-second laps were tossed into the middle of the sluggish 12 ½-lap race. At times, the runners seemed almost to be jogging in place.
Perhaps it would have been smart to challenge Dibaba early, to see if she had anything left in her legs after running the second-fastest 10,000 ever last week in 29:54.66.
But neither Defar, the 2004 Olympic champion in the 5,000, nor anyone took a chance. And the race played into Dibaba’s hands.
As usual, she won with her final-lap sprint, finishing ahead of Elvan Abeylegesse of Turkey, who took the silver in 15:42.74, and Defar, who said she was left in pain after being bumped and settled for bronze in 15:44.12.
“This was totally contrary to my thinking,” Dibaba, 23, said of the torpid pace. “I was expecting a faster pace. They didn’t do it. I can outkick them anytime, so I waited.”
Anyone expecting a thrilling duel would have been disappointed with the tactical dullness. But Dibaba did not apologize on this hot, humid night for running a minute and a half slower than her world record of 14:11.15, set in Oslo, Norway, in early June.
“I came here to represent my country,” Dibaba said. “The major object is to win.”
With two Olympic gold medals, a world record at 5,000 meters, four world track titles and four in the world-cross country championships, Dibaba can now lay claim to the mantle of world’s greatest female distance runner.
Perhaps she even deserves the title ahead of her cousin Derartu Tulu, a two-time Olympic champion at 10,000 meters who in 1992 became the first black African woman to win a gold medal at the Winter or Summer Games.
“I really don’t know, but I’m fighting for it,” Dibaba said.
Yet it is Tulu who commands a greater presence in Ethiopia. She is a pioneer who inspired many young runners, including Dibaba, and she has a more open, public persona, while Dibaba appears reserved and unforthcoming.
“In terms of achievement, yes, she might have surpassed Tulu,” said Elshadai Negash, a prominent Ethiopian track and field journalist. “But given that Tirunesh is so shy and withdrawn, she hasn’t been getting all the credit she deserves.”
Four years ago, Defar won the 5,000 at the Athens Games and Dibaba took the bronze. They train together before major international competitions. They both seem to have a social conscience. Defar is a goodwill ambassador to the United Nations Population Fund and has previously given her world-record bonuses to children’s charities. Dibaba supports a voluntary counseling and testing program for HIV/AIDS, which has ravaged Ethiopia.
Despite their common purpose, or because of it, the two runners keep a competitive distance between them. Even on the Web site of the International Associations of Athletics Federations, track and field’s world governing body, Defar insisted, “I only speak about myself and will only answer questions about myself.”
Two weeks after Dibaba set the 5,000 world record in June, Defar countered with a personal best of 14:12.88 in Stockholm, the second-fastest time ever run.
That set up what seemed to be an engaging Olympic final in the 5,000, which has been open to women since the 1996 Atlanta Games. But Defar was reluctant to set a fast pace, and so was everyone else.
“I was shocked,” said Kara Goucher of the United States, who finished ninth in 15.49.39.
The pace quickened in the later laps, but Defar never applied any real threat, saying that she had been bumped, leaving her limping and unable to unleash a kick. Dibaba ran the bell lap in 59 seconds and strolled home with the victory.
“She’s a sprinter, she’s beautiful to watch,” said Shalane Flanagan of the United States, who took 10th in 15:50.80, running on tired legs after winning a bronze in the 10,000. “And she’s got an innate ability to read everything on the track.”