Ethiopian Review

Ethiopia’s Tirunesh Dibaba, one of the greatest athletes in history, hasn’t run a competitive race since her triumphs at 5,000 and 10,000m at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

At the 2009 Reebok Grand Prix on Saturday, the out of shape Tirunesh still managed to finish in second place and clocked a time of 14:40.93 in the 5,000m. This slow time was almost 30 seconds off her best finish of 14:11.15, which is also the world record.

“This is my first race,” Dibaba said. “I also missed World Cross Country. I want to see how my fitness is in New York.”

“I know that, after the Olympics, people expect me to win every race but I’m not really concerned with that,” added Tirunesh, who married the double Olympic silver medalist Sileshi Sihine last year.

Top Ethiopian runners Kenenisa Bekele, Sileshi and Meseret Defar did not participate on Saturday.

Ethiopian performances in New York

Women 5,000

1, Linet Masai, Kenya, 14:35.39.
2, Tirunesh Dibaba, Ethiopia, 14:40.93.
3, Genzebe Dibaba, Ethiopia, 15:00.79.

Men 1,500

1, Leonel Manzano, United States, 3:34.14.
2, Juan van Deventer, South Africa, 3:34.30.
3, Henok Legesse, Ethiopia

Men 5,000

1. Micah Kogo, Kenya, 13:02.90.
2, Bernard Lagat, United States, 13:03.06.
3, Dejen Gebremeskel, Ethiopia, 13:03.13.
4, Merga Imani, Ethiopia, 13:04.68.
5, Gebre Gebremariam, Ethiopia, 13:13.20.
6, Sahle Warga, Ethiopia, 13:29.78.
7, Habtemu Fikadu, Ethiopia 13:30.29

(JT)