– U.S. win both 4x400m relays to top medal table
BERLIN, (Reuters) – On a frantic final day of competition in the Olympic Stadium Kenenisa Bekele underlined his place as one of the all-time greats of distance running when he added the world 5,000 metres title yesterday to Monday’s 10,000 gold.
The unprecedented world championship double comes after he won both events at the Olympics last year, while he is also the world record holder at both distances.
Yusuf Saad Kamel’s bid to match him with a middle distance double failed as the 1500 metres champion finished third in the 800 after a front-running win for South African Mbulaeni Mulaudzi.
Maryam Yusuf Jamal crossed the line second in the women’s 1,500 metres but retained the title after race winner Spaniard Natalia Rodriguez was disqualified for pushing over Ethiopian favourite Gelete Burka.
Brittney Reese of the United States won the women’s long jump with a 7.10m leap while Norway’s Andreas Thorkildsen won the men’s javelin with an 89.59 throw. China’s Bai Xue, 20, won the women’s marathon in the morning in 2:25:15, ahead of Japan’s Yoshimi Ozaki and Aselefech Mergia of Ethiopia.
The United States, who failed to get either team into Saturday’s sprint relay finals after changeover errors, finished on a high by winning both 4x400m relays in emphatic style.
That ensured they finished top of the medals table with 10 golds and 22 medals in all, ahead of Jamaica, who had seven golds and a total of 13. Kenya and Russia both claimed four golds with a host of countries taking two.
Ethiopia was one of them and both came courtesy of Bekele.
MIGHTY DOUBLE
A week ago he matched Haile Gebrselassie by winning his fourth successive 10,000 title and on Sunday did something not even his great compatriot managed by also taking the 5,000 title.
The 27-year-old hit the front with two laps to go but for once did not have things all his own way.
A nervous glance over his shoulder showed he had concerns but though American defending champion Bernard Lagat briefly drew level on the home straight, Bekele forged clear again to win in 13:17.09.
“I’ll never forget this race,” Bekele said. “I won double gold and I am so happy.”
Mulaudzi, 2004 Olympic silver medallist, took the 800 by the scruff of the neck and though he almost blew it when he stumbled at the finish, he stayed upright just long enough to win in 1:45.29.
Defending champion Alfred Yego of Kenya was second and Kamel third, both given the same time of 1:45.35.
Mulaudzi’s win gave South Africa an 800m double after teenager Caster Semenya won the women’s race earlier in the week hours after the IAAF announced she was undergoing gender verification tests.
The women’s 1,500 was a physical race from the start but Rodriguez took it a step too far when she tried to squeeze past Burka on the inside and sent her sprawling.
The Spaniard went on to win but must have suspected her glory would be short-lived as she barely celebrated and instead tried to console the tearful Ethiopian.
After she was duly disqualified, Jamal was promoted to the gold medal position, Britain’s Lisa Dobriskey moved up to second, with American Shannon Rowbury awarded bronze.
The U.S. women won the 4x400m relay by a street as individual champion Sanya Richards brought them home in 3:17.83, more than three seconds clear of Jamaica and third-place Russia.
For the eighth time in the last nine championships, the curtain was brought down by the Americans winning the men’s 4×400.
Angelo Taylor, Jeremy Wariner, Kerron Clement and LaShawn Merritt, all individual Olympic or world champions in the 400 or 400 hurdles in their careers, came home in 2:57.86, well clear of Britain and surprise bronze medallists Australia.
“Putting the best quarter-milers and the best 400m hurdlers in the world out there, we expect greatness,” said Wariner. “And that is what we did today.”
