EDITOR’S NOTE: The celebration over Kenenisa Bekele’s win in the 5k turned into a protest by the 35,000 sport fans inside the Addis Ababa Stadium who chanted “Free Teddy! Free Teddy!” The live broadcast by state-controlled TV immediately switched to sport commentators when the protest started. Shortly after that, the notorious Federal Police, Meles Zenawi’s death squads, entered the stadium and the event ended without further incident.
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(AP) — World record holder Kenenisa Bekele held on to win the 5,000 meters in Ethiopia on Sunday at the African Athletics Championships.
The Ethiopian, who pulled out of Wednesday’s 10,000, won the shorter race in 13 minutes, 49.67 seconds. Isaac Songok of Kenya finished a close second 13:49.91, and Ali Abdush of Ethiopia was third.
Bekele’s younger brother, Tariku, traded places with Kenenisa Bekele throughout the race but finished fourth. The elder Bekele, who also holds the world record in the 10,000, pulled out of that event because he said he didn’t have enough time to recover from winning his sixth world cross-country title in Scotland in March.
Bekele said he had also planned to skip the 5,000, but eventually succumbed to pressure to compete before a home crowd.
“I had to change my decision to run because many people were asking about me, ‘Why didn’t Kenenisa run in front of his own country?”‘ Bekele said.
Songok took an early lead Sunday, but the Bekele brothers soon took over and led a five-man pack for the rest of the race. Songok, however, surged ahead in the last lap to take silver.
The 5,000 drew a mixed crowd of long-distance hopefuls, including barefoot runner Matjeane Masilo of Lesotho, who finished 11th in the 20-man race, and Abdinasir Sa’id Ibrahim of Somalia, who finished 17th.
“My practice is very hard because my country is in a war,” Sa’id Ibrahim said between gulps of air and swigs from a bottle of water.
“Sometimes I can’t make training because there is fighting.”
Bekele’s win confirmed Ethiopia’s domination of the distance events as the championships. The host country swept the men’s and women’s 10 000, and Ethiopians got two medals in each of the 5 000 races.
Ethiopian women also took gold and silver in the 3 000 steeplechase.
Zemzem Ahmed won in 9:44, and Mekdes Bekele – who is not related to the Bekele brothers – finished ahead of third-place Ruth Bosibori of Kenya.
South Africa won the most medals at the five-day event, taking 12 gold and 22 overall. Nigeria was next with 19 medals, including seven gold.
Ethiopia finished third in the medals table with 15 overall, including six gold, while Kenya had 16 with five gold.