Kenenisa Bekele

Medal record
Bekele at Berlin 2009
Men's athletics
Competitor for  Ethiopia
Olympic Games
Gold	2004 Athens	10000 m
Gold	2008 Beijing	10000 m
Gold	2008 Beijing	5000 m
Silver	2004 Athens	5000 m
World Championships
Gold	2003 Paris	10000 m
Gold	2005 Helsinki	10000 m
Gold	2007 Osaka	10000 m
Gold	2009 Berlin	10000 m
Gold	2009 Berlin	5000 m
Bronze	2003 Paris	5000 m
World Indoor Championships
Gold	2006 Moscow	3000 m
African Championships
Gold	2006 Bambous	5000 m
Gold	2008 Addis Ababa	5000 m
All-Africa Games
Gold	2003 Abuja	5000 m

Bekele followed by Abraham Chebii and his brother Tariku at the XXV Cross Internacional de Itálica (Spain).

Kenenisa Bekele (Amharic:ቀነኒሳ በቀለ; born June 13, 1982 in Ethiopia) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner, who holds the world record and Olympic record in both the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres events. He is the reigning two-time Olympic champion over 10,000 metres and the most accomplished runner in IAAF World Cross Country Championships history, with six long (12K) course and five short (4K) course titles. Since 2003, Bekele has not been beaten over 10,000 m, and with his vast array of medals, many consider him to be one of the greatest distance runners of all time.

He is the older brother of Tariku Bekele, also an accomplished distance runner.

History

Bekele was born in 1982 at Bekoji, in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia, the same town as the Dibaba sisters; Ejegayehu, Tirunesh and Genzebe, and their cousin Derartu Tulu.

In August 2001 he set a new 3000 metres World Junior Record, 7:30.67 in Brussels. The record was broken by Augustine Choge four years later.^[1]

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 5000 m, outdoor 5000 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 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 on 1 July 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 six times on the track. Gebrselassie defeated Bekele on the track in the 2000 Nurnberg 5000 metres, the 2001 Great Ethiopian Run 10 km, and the Cross de l'Acier in December 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 World Championships over 10,000 m (26:49 to 26:50), Athens 2004 Olympic Games (27:05 to 27:27), and in the 10,000 m in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games (27:01 to 27:06).

2005 - 2008

On 4 January 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 metres and in excellent physical condition.

Over the next several weeks following Alem's death, Kenenisa grieved. He resumed racing on 29 January, and lost indoors over 3000 m to South African Irishman Alistair Cragg after sprinting towards the line with one and a half laps to go, while thinking that there was only half a lap left. Such confusion was presumed to have been caused by his grief. 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 Tadese 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.

On 8 August 2005, 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.^[2]

On 26 August 2005, 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 5000 m halves of 13:09 and 13:08.^[3][4] At the end of 2005 Bekele was voted the Track & Field News magazine athlete of the year for the second year in a row.

When Bekele won the 3000 m at the World Indoor Track & Field Championships in Moscow on 12 March 2006, he became the first athlete in history to be Olympic champion, world outdoor track champion, world indoor track champion, and world cross country champion.

In 2006 he won five out of six ÅF Golden League events (5000 m) in the same season, which earned him a total of $83,333.

Bekele flying the Ethiopian flag in Berlin

On 17 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 24 March 2007, however, his remarkable racing streak of 27 consecutive victories in cross country races (dating back to his last previous loss in December 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 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 Tadese 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.

He recovered from that rare failure to take the 10,000 metres title at the 2007 IAAF World Championships in Osaka, once again besting his compatriot Sileshi Sihine. During that race, he looked like he was going to be dropped several times over the last 800 metres but recovered to scream by Sihine with 150 metres to go and take his third straight world title.

On 18 November 2007, Bekele married Ethiopian film actress Danawit Gebregziabher at the Sheraton Addis, in Addis Ababa. [1]

In Edinburgh on 30 March 2008, Bekele won his 6th World Cross Country title (long course - 12k), breaking the three way tie of 5 wins he had previously shared with Paul Tergat and John Ngugi. With this win, Bekele laid sole claim to most decorated athlete in IAAF World Cross Country Championships history. He has won 6 long course (12k) individual gold medals, 5 short course (4k) gold medals, 1 junior championship (8k), and 4 team gold medals for a sum total of 16 gold medals. His overall medal count (both individual and team results) stands at 27 medals: 16 gold, 9 silver and 2 bronze.

2008 Beijing Olympics

On 17 August 2008 Bekele won gold in the 10,000m finals with a time of 27:01.17, setting a new Olympic Record in the process. In a race in which 20 men broke the 28 minute barrier and four finished under Bekele's 2004 Olympic record of 27:05.10, he needed his renowned finishing kick to pull out the victory, running a 53.42 second final 400 meters (similar to the 53 second final 400 meter sprint he used to win the gold medal in Athens in 2004 over the same distance).^[5]

On 23 August 2008 Bekele bested his competitors and won the 5,000m finals, shattering Saïd Aouita's Olympic Record by almost eight seconds with a time of 12:57.82. The race was remarkable for Bekele's manner of doing most of the pacing himself before accelerating to a scintillating finish: his last 3,000 meters only took 7:35.53, his final 2,000 meters 4:56.97, last 1,600 meters 3:57.01 (=3:58.6 final mile) and his final lap a punishing 53.87 seconds.

By winning the 10,000/5,000 meter double in the Beijing Olympics, Bekele joined another elite group of athletes: Hannes Kolehmainen (1912), Emil Zátopek (1952), Vladimir Kuts (1956), Lasse Virén (twice, in 1972 and 1976), and Miruts Yifter (1980).

2009 World Championships

Kenenisa Bekele at the 2009 World Championships.

Bekele won two gold medals at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics, held in Berlin. His double victories in 5,000 m (13:17.09) and 10,000 m (26:46.31) were unprecedented and by doing this became the first man to take both the long distance track gold medals at the same World Championships.^[6] In spite of his unrivalled success in athletics, he did not experience the mainstream appeal that others such as Haile Gebrselassie did. His quiet demeanour and aversion to interviews did not make him a highly marketable athlete in the Western world. Fellow world record holder Usain Bolt stated that Bekele's achievements had not received the recognition that they deserved.^[7]

2010

Bekele made a disappointing start to the new year, finishing 4th in the Cross Country International at Edinburgh, in a race he was favored to win. The conditions out on the course did not appear to be favorable to him, with several inches of snow settled over the park. After staying with the lead group for the first few kilometers, team running by a trio of talented Kenyan athletes ran him out of the contest over the last few long laps.

Current world records (as of October 2008)

• 5,000 m indoor world record 12:49.60 (Birmingham, on 20 February 2004)
• 5,000 m world record 12:37.35 (Hengelo, on 31 May 2004)
• 10,000 m world record 26:17.53 (Brussels, on 26 August 2005, breaking his previous record of 26:20.31 from 8 June 2004)
• 2,000 m indoor world record 4:49.99 (Birmingham, on 17 February 2007)
• 2 mile indoor world best 8:04.35 (Birmingham, on 16 February 2008)

Personal bests

Major victories

• 2009 World Track Champion 5,000 m, Berlin
• 2009 World Track Champion 10,000 m, Berlin
• 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in Athletics 5,000 m, Beijing
• 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in Athletics 10,000 m, Beijing
• 2008 African Championships in Athletics 5,000 m, Addis Ababa
• 2008 World Cross Country Championships (12K), Edinburgh
• 2007 World Track Champion 10,000 m, Osaka
• 2006 African Championships in Athletics 5,000 m, Bambous
• 2006 World Cross Country Champion in short race (4K), Fukuoka
• 2006 World Cross Country Champion in long race (12K), Fukuoka
• 2006 World Indoor Track Champion 3,000 m, Moscow
• 2005 World Cross Country Champion in short race (4K), Saint-Étienne
• 2005 World Cross Country Champion in long race (12K), Saint-Étienne
• 2005 World Track Champion 10,000 m, Helsinki
• 2004 World Cross Country Champion in short race (4K), Brussels
• 2004 World Cross Country Champion in long race (12K), Brussels
• 2004 Olympic Champion 10,000 m, Athens
• 2003 World Cross Country Champion in short race (4K), Avenches
• 2003 World Cross Country Champion in long race (12K), Avenches
• 2003 World Track Champion 10,000 m, Paris
• 2002 World Cross Country Champion in short race (4K), Dublin
• 2002 World Cross Country Champion in long race (12K), Dublin
• 2001 World Junior Cross Country Champion 8000 m

References and notes

External links

• The Official Kenenisa Bekele Website
• Kenenisa Bekele Webpage
• Beijing 2008 Men 10000 m - EthioTube Video
• Beijing 2008 Men 5000 m - EthioTube Video
• IAAF profile for Kenenisa Bekele
• IAAF: Focus on Athletes

Records
Preceded by Haile Gebrselassie	Men's 10,000 m World Record Holder 8 June 2004 –	Succeeded by Incumbent
Preceded by Haile Gebrselassie	Men's 5,000 m World Record Holder 31 May 2004 –	Succeeded by Incumbent
Awards and achievements
Preceded by Hicham El Guerrouj	Men's Track & Field Athlete of the Year 2004 – 2005	Succeeded by Asafa Powell
Sporting positions
Preceded by Stephen Cherono	Men's 5,000 m Best Year Performance 2004 – 2009	Succeeded by Incumbent
Preceded by Haile Gebrselassie Micah Kogo	Men's 10,000 m Best Year Performance 2004 – 2005 2007 – 2009	Succeeded by Micah Kogo Incumbent
Preceded by Isaac Kiprono Songok	Men's 3,000 m Best Year Performance 2007	Succeeded by Edwin Cheruiyot Soi