The Unofficial 2008 Beijing Olympics Blog

World record holder Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia confirmed his supremacy in distance running by successfully defending his Olympic gold medal in the Men’s 10000m at the National Stadium on Sunday, August 17.

Bekele sliced almost four seconds off the Olympic record he set at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, finishing in 27:01.17. The silver medalist was perennial minor medalist Sileshi Sihine of Ethiopia, who clocked 27:02.77, while Micah Kogo of Kenya won bronze in 27:04.11.

The caliber of the race was so high that the first four finishers all beat the old Olympic record of 27:05.10.

Kidane Tadesse of Eritrea controlled the pace for most of the early stages of the race, with Bekele content to sit in third position.

The pace picked up when former world record holder and two-time Olympic champion Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia took control at the 6000m mark. With seven laps to go, Athens bronze medalist Zersenay Tadese of Eritrea regained the lead before Koso went to the front after 8000m.

Seven runners were in the front pack with two laps remaining, but at the final lap bell Bekele pulled away from Sihine, eventually winning by 20m.

Bekele is the sixth man to have won back-to-back Olympic titles in the Men’s 10000m.

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our free updates via RSS or e-mail. Find out more about subscribing here. Thanks for visiting!

Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia has won gold and set a new Olympic record in the Women’s 10000m at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 15.

Dibaba’s time of 29:54.66 was enough to break the old record of 30:17.49 set by fellow Ethiopian Derartu Tulu and hold off silver medalist Elvan Abeylegess of Turkey who ran a time of 29:56.34. Bronze went to Shalane Flanagan of the United States in a time of 30:22:22.

The world record of 29:31.78 seconds in this event is held by China’s Wang Junxia China, set in 1993.