KENENISA BEKELE

'Kenenisa Bekele' (born June 13, 1982, Ethiopia) is an Ethiopian distance runner, one of the most successful distance runners of all time and considered by some as a modern-day great.
He won the gold medal in the 10,000 m and the silver in the 5,000 m at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
He won the Gold in the 10,000 m at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics at Paris completing an Ethiopian sweep with Haile Gebrselassie(2nd) and Sileshi Sihine(3rd), and also won 10,000 m at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics (with Sileshi Sihine(2nd)), a result replicated at the 2007 World Championships. He also won the bronze in the 5,000 m at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics.
He is the older brother of Tariku Bekele.

Contents

History

2004 Athens Olympics

After Olympics

Current world records (as of February 2007)

Personal bests

Major victories

External links

References and notes

History

He was born in 1982 at Bekoji, a town in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia, and is a member of the Oromo ethnic group of Ethiopia.
For five years in a row, from 2002 through 2006, he took both short (4K) and long (12K) races at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, a feat no other runner has accomplished even once. In 2004, he broke the world records for the indoor 5,000 m, outdoor 5,000 m and outdoor 10,000 m.
Bekele is renowned for his ability to accelerate very quickly at the end of a long distance race; in Oslo, Norway in June 2003, Bekele chased after Kenyan Abraham Chebii and ran a 54.64 final 400 to win the race in 12:52.26. Again in Lausanne, Switzerland on July 1, 2003, Bekele recorded a 200 m segment during the last lap in 24 seconds and a 100 m section in 11.xx seconds to run a 52.63 final lap.
Bekele has faced his mentor Haile Gebrselassie once in road competition, once in cross country, and five times on the track. Gebrselassie defeated Bekele on the track in the 2000 Nurnberg 5,000 meters, the 2001 Great Ethiopian Run 10 km, and the Cross de l'Acier in December of 2001, but lost to Bekele in Hengelo 2003 over 10,000 m (26:53 to 26:54), Rome 2003 over 5000 m (12:57 to 13:00), Paris 2003 over 10,000 m (26:49 to 26:50), and Athens 2004 (27:05 to 27:27).

2004 Athens Olympics

He won the gold medal in the 10,000 m and the silver in the 5,000 m at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
In 2004 August 20, in the 10,000 m final, three Ethiopians attempted to duplicate their 2003 World Championships sweep. Since Haile Gebrselassie had been suffering from inflammation on his Achilles tendon for five weeks before he came to Athens, Bekele and Sileshi Sihine slowed the race down to give him a chance of a medal, putting their own victory in jeopardy. However Gebrselassie was dropped as Bekele and Sihine upped the pace to shake off other leading competetors, Zersenay Tadesse and Boniface Kiprop. Bekele let Sihine lead him out and then hit the front with 500 m to go, sprinting away with the last lap in 53.02 seconds and won the race with a new Olympics record 27:05.10.
Sileshi Sihine finished 2nd(27:09.39), Eritrean Zersenay Tadesse 3rd(27:22.57), Boniface Kiprop from Uganda 4th(27:25.48), the defending champion Haile Gebrselassie 5th(27:27.70).
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Eight days later, in 2004 August 28, in the 5000 m final, Bekele confronted Hicham El Guerrouj, the 1500 m Olympics winner, and Eliud Kipchoge, the 5000 m World champion. At the 5000 m of 2003 World Championships of the previous year, Kipchoge, El Guerrouj and Bekele were the gold, silver and bronze medalists respectively. Even though Bekele was holding the 5000 m world record, at the Olympics he finished 2nd, being kicked down by El Guerrouj with 50 m to go and barely failed to win the Olympics 5000m/10000m double. El Guerrouj won a double over 1500 m and 5000 m.
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Afterwards a Ethiopian singer song writer Teddy Afro released a famous misic video, Tarik Teserra ("History was Made"), in honor of world record holder and 2004 Olympic gold medalist, Kenenisa Bekele.
^[5] Bekele ended the year ranked as 2004 Man of the year by Track & Field News magazine: he had broken the indoor world record for 5,000 meters (12:49.60), the outdoor world record for 5,000 meters (12:37.35), won both the short course (4k) and long course (12K) races for the third year in a row at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, broken the world record for 10,000 meters (26:20.31), and broken the Olympic record in winning the gold medal in the men's 10,000 meters (27:05.10), while also winning two 3,000 meter races and the Ethiopian Championship for 5,000 meters for good measure. (Interestingly, every world and Olympic record Bekele broke this year had been set by Haile Gebrselassie.)

After Olympics

On January 4, 2005, Bekele's fiancee, 18-year-old Alem Techale, died of an apparent heart attack while on a training run with him. Although it was initially stated that no autopsy was performed, Techale and Bekele's manager, Jos Hermens, later said that an autopsy had revealed nothing conclusive about the young woman's death. She was the 2003 World Youth Champion in the 1500 m and in excellent physical condition. The mystery surrounding her death has raised suspicion about the possible use of EPO or other performance-enhancing drugs by Techale and perhaps other athletes in Hermens' care. However, Kenenisa has never been implicated and there is no evidence to suggest that he has ever used performance-enhancing drugs.
Over the next several weeks following Alem's death, Kenenisa grieved. He resumed racing on January 29, and lost over 3,000 m to South-African Irishman Alistair Cragg. A few weeks later he lost to fellow Ethiopian Markos Geneti over 2 miles. In March, Kenenisa faced his toughest challenge yet. Despite his grief and recent losses on the track, he lined up to defend his long and short course titles at the 2005 IAAF World Cross Country Championships. In dramatic fashion, Kenenisa bested the field in the short course despite a fast pace set by Qatari Saif Saaeed Shaheen. He followed that win with a long course victory the next day over Eritrean Zersenay Tadesse and Kenyan rival Eliud Kipchoge. The 2005 World Cross Country double victory is considered by many to be the most amazing of Kenenisa's career to date. And while this victory was just one step toward healing his broken spirit, it is among the greatest emotional and physical triumphs in Athletics history.
In 2005 August 8, Kenenisa Bekele won the gold medal in the 10,000 m at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki with a stunning last 200 m spurt.
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In 2005 August 26, Bekele set the current 10,000 m world record '26:17.53' at the 29th Memorial Van Damme meeting – TDK Golden League – in Brussels, Belgium, slicing nearly 3 seconds off his previous world record 26:20.31, and running with 5,000 m halves of 13:09 and 13:08.
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[8] At the end of 2005 Bekele was voted the Track & Field News magazine athlete of the year for the second year in a row.
In 2006 he won five out of six Golden League events (5,000 m) in the same season, which earned him a total of $83,333.
On 17th February 2007, he broke the indoor world record over 2000 m in Birmingham, UK, with a time of 4:49.99. His spectacular final 300 m aided this time which would be considered excellent even outdoors.
On March 24, 2007, however, his remarkable racing streak of 27 consecutive victories in cross country races (dating back to his last previous loss in December of 2001) came to an end when after leading the race on the next to last lap of the 2007 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Mombasa, Kenya he succumbed to the very hot, humid conditions (which caused more than 1/6th of all competitors to drop out) and was passed by eventual winner Zersenay Tadesse on the last lap before Bekele dropped out. This was greeted with cheers by the Kenyan crowds, an occurrence which has been frowned upon by the wider athletics community.

Current world records (as of February 2007)

★ 5,000 m indoor world record 12:49.60 (Birmingham, England, on February 20 2004)

★ 5,000 m world record 12:37.35 (Hengelo, Netherlands, on May 31 2004) from compatriot Haile Gebrselassie at 12:39.36 (on June 13, 1998)

★ 10,000 m world record 26:17.53 (Brussels, Belgium, on August 26 2005, breaking his previous record of 26:20.31 from June 8, 2004, which at the time replaced Gebrselassie's former record at 26:22.75 from June 1, 1998).

★ 2,000 m indoor world record 04:49.99 (Birmingham, England, on February 17 2007)

Personal bests

Distance	Mark	Date	Location
1,500 m	3:33.08	July 25, 2006	Stockholm
3,000 m	7:25.79	August 7, 2007	Stockholm
5,000 m	12:37.35 (WR)	May 31, 2004	Hengelo
10,000 m	26:17.53 (WR)	August 26, 2005	Bruxelles

Major victories

★ 2007 World Track Champion 10,000 m, Osaka (Japan)

★ 2006 African Championships in Athletics 5,000 m, Bambous (Mauritius)

★ 2006 World Cross Country Champion in short race (4K), Fukuoka (Japan)

★ 2006 World Cross Country Champion in long race (12K), Fukuoka (Japan)

★ 2006 World Indoor Track Champion 3,000 m, Moscow (Russia)

★ 2005 World Cross Country Champion in short race (4K), St. Etienne (France)

★ 2005 World Cross Country Champion in long race (12K), St. Etienne (France)

★ 2005 World Track Champion 10,000 m, Helsinki (Finland)

★ 2004 World Cross Country Champion in short race (4K), Brussels (Belgium)

★ 2004 World Cross Country Champion in long race (12K), Brussels (Belgium)

★ 2004 Olympic Champion 10,000 m, Athens (Greece)

★ 2003 World Cross Country Champion in short race (4K), Avenches (Switzerland)

★ 2003 World Cross Country Champion in long race (12K), Avenches (Switzerland)

★ 2003 World Track Champion 10,000 m, Paris (France)

★ 2002 World Cross Country Champion in short race (4 Kilometers), Dublin (Ireland)

★ 2002 World Cross Country Champion in long race (12 Kilometers), Dublin (Ireland)

★ 2001 World Junior Cross Country Champion 8000 m

External links

★

★ IAAF: Focus on Athletes

★ This page has all the stats on Bekele.

References and notes

1. 2004 Athens Olympics Brilliant Bekele takes gold - BBC
2. 2004 Athens Olympics Haile farewell - IAAF
3. 2004 Athens Olympics YouTube video:
Men's 10000 m
4. 2004 Athens Olympics YouTube video:
Men's 5000 m final
5. Teddy Afro's music video
Bekele Song - Anbessa

6. 2005 World Championships 10000 m final
7. Bekele 10000 m world record - IAAF
8. Bekele 10000 m world record - YouTube video