Athletics Africa Magazine

Yet again, Ethiopian Olympic and two-time world champion Kenenisa Bekele re-writes his world 10,000m record, after narrowly missing it in Hengelo last May, with a 26:17.53 clocking at the 29th Van Damme Memorial - IAAF/TDK Golden League meeting in Brussels. It was a family affair as his younger brother Tariku, set the pace and help drove him through the halfway mark (5k) five seconds inside world record pace. The world record-holder was full of praises for the sell-out crowd and his brother after the race. Then it was Haile Gebrsellassie, now it's Bekele. could it be Is there any end to the Ethiopian domination of this event? your guess is as good as mine.:-) Y.

Will Nigeria get any medal out of the 10th world athletics championships in Helsinki today? Undisputed Africa's best sprinting nation is getting a bashing in here in Finland. The men's 4x100m relay team-our best chance of a medal - crashed out yesterday in lane 1. The women's team doesn't look good though they made it to the final, But out in lane 8, with the slowest qualifying time, only a miracle will do. Let's hope the men's 4x400m team save our pride as usual (Sydney 2000, Athens 2004) tommorrow.

Defending world champion Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia expectedly retained his world 10,000m title in Helsinki this evening. The 23-year-old world record holder and Olympic champion produced a characteristic sprint finish off the final bend with 200m left to win in 27:08.33. Inzikuru wins historic gold for Uganda Ugandan distance queen Dorcus Inzikuru has become the first woman to win the 3,000m steeplechase event at an athletics world championships in Helsinki. Today's triumph gives Inzukuru the first championships gold medal ever for Uganda and only the second medal of any kind for the central African country.

Ethiopia's Tirunesh Dibaba has claimed one half of her double target in Helsinki, after leading two of her countrywomen to a clean sweep of the 10,000m at the 10th IAAF world championships in Athletics. Tirunesh will next challenge for the women's 5,000m title which starts on Wednesday evening, August 10, 2005.

Aliu out, but Emedolu, Zakari and Fasuba through to Semi-Finals tommorrow. Nigerian Uchenna Emedolu (10.16), Olusoji Fasuba(10.24) and Ghanaian Aziz Zakari (10.41) all qualified for tommorrow's Semi-Finals. Reigning All- African games champion, Deji Aliu of Nigeria is out of the 100m contention here in Helsinki. He had looked very uncomfortable while qualifying for the quarter-finals of the men's 100m this morning. Aliu was fifth with 10.39 seconds in the Quarter-finals Heat 3 won by former Nigerian sprinter Francis Obikwelu of Portugal in 10.19 seconds. He had placed third in Heat 8 behind Briton Jason Gardener (10.19 secs) and fellow African Aziz Zakari of Ghana (10.30 secs) with 10.36 secs. The 30-year-old, who had struggled with injuries this season, was tensed through all phases of the race and just managed to hold on to the third position. Invite your friends and colleagues to join millions of other track and field enthusiast to discuss topical issues relating to the grow...