The main photo above shows Tirunesh Dibaba crossing the line to win gold in the final
of the women's 10,000m at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka,
thus successfully defending the title she
had won two years earlier in Helsinki. Her time of 31: 55.41 was a seasons best and saw her
finish nearly 4 seconds clear of the silver medal winner Elvan Abeyleglesse. Remarkably,
Dibaba had suffered from severe stomach cramps during the race and had come close to pulling
out she later commented "I have won many championships, but I have never been challenged as
much as this because of the stomach trouble I experienced. If it hadn't been a matter of representing
my country, I would have dropped out. I'm happiest about the gold medal I won today."
At one point Dibaba was at the rear of the field and she labelled her victory as the "toughest" of her career.
"Yes, I can say this was the toughest, " she said. "They had left me far behind, and I came from behind to
win this race. I didn't think I could catch up so this is my biggest accomplishment. I had a stomach problem
that made the race difficult for me, but according to God's will I was able to win and I'm extremely happy."
The injury forced Tirunesh to withdraw from the 5000m, thus denying her the opportunity to repeat the
5000m/10000m double that she had achieved at the previous World Championships. The inset pictures
are also during the final, including the top left photo which shows Dibaba narrowly ahead of Abeyleglesse
and well clear of the rest of the field, with just over a lap remaining.
.
|
Women's 10000m Final.
2007 World Athletics Championships.
|
| 1. Tirunesh DIBABA |
|
ETH |
|
31: 55.41 |
| 2. Elvan ABEYLEGESSE |
|
TUR |
|
31: 59.40 |
| 3. Kara GOUCHER |
|
USA |
|
32: 02.05 |
| 4. Joanne PAVEY |
|
GBR |
|
32: 03.81 |
| 5. Kimberley SMITH |
|
NZL |
|
32: 06.89 |
| 6. Deena KASTOR |
|
USA |
|
32: 24.58 |
| 7. Ejegayehu DIBABA |
|
ETH |
|
32: 30.44 |
| 8. Philes ONGORI |
|
KEN |
|
32: 30.74 |
|