Bekele struggles to retain African 5,000m title

Tariku Bekele, of Ethiopia, left, runs
alongside his older brother Kenenisa
Bekele of Ethiopia, right, during the
men's 5,000-meter race at the African
Athletics Championships in Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia, Sunday, May 4, 2008.

04 May, 2008

ADDIS ABABA (AFP) - Ethiopia's world record holder Kenenisa Bekele was forced to fight all the way before retaining his African 5,000 metre title on Sunday at the African athletics championships.

Kenya's Isaac Songok took the race to his Ethiopian rival and the two men remained engaged in a neck-and-neck battle before Bekele eased off at the end to win in 13 minutes 49.67 seconds.

Songok, a former world junior 5,000m champion, was a close second in 13:49.91 with another Ethiopian Ali Abdush third in 13:50.64.

Bekele had had a change of heart to defend his 5,000m African title after pulling out of the 10,000m earlier in the week citing lack of sufficient training after the World cross country championships in Edinburgh.

"After the cross-country championships I was very tired, I didn't train for 10 days," he explained. "I didn't expect this race to be so strong, but I was confident of winning."

The African championships may have seen the last of another legend Maria Mutola of Mozambique who trailed home in second behind Kenyan newcomer Pamela Chelimo in the women's 800 metres.

The Sydney Olympic gold medallist and four-time world champion has announced she will retire after the Beijing Olympics Games in August.

South Africa retained the overall title by finishing top of the medals table with 22 medals, including 12 golds ahead of Nigeria and hosts Ethiopia after five days of competition.