Record breaker Dibaba wins gold in women's 10,000 metres
Tirunesh Dibaba ran the second-fastest women's 10,000 meters ever.
Friday, 15, Aug 2008 10:38
Tirunesh Dibaba smashed the Olympic record to win gold in the women's 10,000 metres.
The Ethiopian edged a thrilling battle with Turkey's Elvan Abeylegesse to cross the line in 29 minutes 54.68 seconds.
Dibaba and Abeylegesse were neck-and-neck with six laps left before she mounted a late assault to clinch victory.
America's Shalane Flanagan took the bronze medal while Britain's Jo Pavey came 12th in a new personal best.
Pavey, 34, clocked 31:12.30 and will now focus on the women's 5,000m heats which start on Tuesday.
The Briton said she was annoyed with herself for slipping away from the main group with 11 laps to go.
"I'm disappointed, you feel like you've made a fool of yourself," Pavey told the BBC.
"It was such a blistering pace. I'm disappointed because my training has been going well in the last year."
Her compatriot Kate Reed, competing in her first Olympics, finished 23rd in 32:26.69.
But she slammed UK Athletics chief Dave Collins after revealing he asked her to
run a 2km time-trial the night before to prove her fitness.
"Dave Collins wanted to make sure I wasn't going to let the team down, I guess he didn't want any bad performances," the 25-year-old said.
"But to put somebody through that the day before their first ever major international is absolutely appalling."