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Dibaba plans distance double
World 10,000-metre champion Tirunesh Dibaba says she expects to run both the 10,000 and 5,000m events in Beijing, hoping to become the first woman to scoop the Olympic distance double.
- Reuters
- Published: 23:01 August 14, 2008
Beijing: World 10,000-metre champion Tirunesh Dibaba says she expects to run both the 10,000 and 5,000m events in Beijing, hoping to become the first woman to scoop the Olympic distance double.
In 2005 Dibaba became the first woman to win both races at a world championships when she led an Ethiopian podium sweep in both events in Helsinki.
She retained the 10,000 title in Osaka last year after suffering from abdominal pain mid-race but skipped the 5,000 days later.
"My expectation is that I will run both," she said after arriving in Beijing. "It's being said that it's a little hot here, so the final decision will be made after the 10,000."
The Ethiopian 10,000m team includes her sister Ejegayehu who narrowly and embarrassingly lost gold to China's Xing Huina at the 2004 Olympics, and Mestawet Tufa.
The elder Dibaba has painful memories of Athens when she thought she had won the 10,000m final and did not react when the Chinese athlete, whom she thought was a lapped runner, swept past her in the final metres of the race.
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