Ethiopia's 10,000m world champion Berhane Adere was aiming to accomplish something no woman athlete had done before -- the golden double of the 5000m and the 10,000m.
Adere had the credentials all right. She had already set a championship record in winning the women's 10,000m on the opening day of the ninth World Athletics Championships. And she had set the second fastest time ever in the shorter race just two months ago. Her timing of 14:29.32 was 3.5 seconds faster than what any of her rivals for the world championship had achieved this year.
In the event, her timing never came under any kind of threat. But then neither did the gold come to the 30 year-old Adere. The Ethiopian finished a disappointing tenth in a field of 15 athletes in a tightly fought race.
But that does not mean Ethiopia's stranglehold over the long-distance races is near an end. The gold medal still went to Ethiopia, with a generation-next athlete, Tirunesh Dibaba, 18, winning in 14:51.72, just 0.54 of a second ahead of Marta Dominguez of Spain.
Kenyan veteran Edith Masai, 35, missed out on the silver by a mere four-hundredths of a second, the 5000m equivalent of a photo finish in the sprints.
Likewise, Yelena Zadorozhnaya of Russia missed out on the bronze by just six-hundreths of a second.
Adere, meanwhile, finished in a slow (by her standards) 14:58.07, just a minute and a half ahead of early pace-setter Gabriela Szabo of Romania.
