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| Photo | AFP Ethiopia’s Ibrahim Jeilan leads the pack in the men’s 10,000 metres final at the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championships in Daegu on August 28, 2011. Jeilan won gold. |
Ethiopians wept tears of sorrow and then joy as the 10,000 metres pendulum swung ferociously from the depths of a falling champion to the heights of a brand new star.
On a night when Kenya again failed to strike gold in the men’s 10,000m final at the World Championships, Japan’s Honda Motor Company rolled yet another speed machine off its production line as Ibrahim Jeilan sped past a battling Mo Farar (Britain) to win a badly needed gold medal.
The victory came in a race that probably saw the beginning of the end of Kenenisa Bekele’s memorable era, the multiple world and Olympic champion, like ex-champion Meseret Defar the day before, pulling out of the race at the 6,000m mark injured.
“My legs refused to move. The pain in my leg and hip was too much, but I’m happy the title remained in Ethiopia,” said Bekele, double champion two years ago in Berlin, graceful in defeat.
Kenya’s trio of Paul Tanui, Martin Irungu Mathathi and Peter Kirui all fell by the wayside as Ethiopia also took the bronze through Deriba Merga in Day Two action highlighted by world prints record holder Usain Bolt’s 100m finals false start debacle.
Jeilan, the 2006 World Youth 10,000m champion and World Cross Country Championships junior race winner in Edinburg, produced a late kick from 150 metres to go, to win in 27 minutes 13.81 seconds.
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