So Dibaba ended up with five wins, joining her compatriot Bekele


Sunday 3 September 2006
Meseret Defar with her victors flowers
after denying Dibaba over 5000m in
Berlin

04 September 2006

It was a particularly tough afternoon for Tirunesh Dibaba, one of the Jackpot contenders setting out for a perfect set of six victories. Once again, it came down to a final lap sprint between the World champion, and her compatriot, the Olympic titleholder, Meseret Defar. Dibaba, had always prevailed in this dash for the line in the previous five Golden League meets but today as Defar closed on her shoulder with 250m to go, we sensed an upset as Dibaba didn’t immediately respond.

And a shock we got in dramatic style in the last 100m, as the two elfin Ethiopian figures battled their way home. Defar got the decisive edge, and the woman who only a couple of days ago Dibaba had called ‘her sister’ had suddenly deprived her of $125,000 extra helping of Jackpot cash. The finishing times were 15:02.51 to 15:02.87. Defar’s last lap was 56.4 seconds and Dibaba’s 56.9.

Meselech Melkamu (15:05.82), Gelete Burka (15:07.45) in third and fourth brought home an Ethiopian sweep of the top places.

Source: IAAF