Tirunesh Dibaba comes to Kenya's rescue
Of Ethiopian origin, twenty five year old Tirunesh Dibaba is a long distance track runner; her forte remains the five thousand meters and the ten thousand meters tracks. Known to many as the “Baby Faced Destroyer,” she is currently a world record holder for the five thousand meters arena.
She also has the distinction of being a current Olympics champion, not only for the five thousand meters but also for the ten thousand meters. This athlete has never failed to provide the people of her country with consistent reasons to gloat with pride and raise their head high in glee.
Tirunesh Dibaba is also the proud holder of four world track titles, an achievement which is an epitome of her athletic class and her physical stamina. Furthermore, she has also been successful in claiming five world cross country titles, further emphasizing her impeccable nature of performance.
It is hence no surprise that this talented athlete commenced her journey in the field of athletics at an age of only fourteen. The current year has proven to add to her successes, as she recently emerged successful at the Samsung Diamond League held under the banner of International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF).
Sprinting effortlessly to claim a shiny gold medal at the five thousand meters, Tirunesh Dibaba proved her worth as an athletic asset to the athletics squad of Ethiopia. Her personal bests testify further how potentially talented and gifted this female athlete is: an extremely impressive completion time of fourteen minutes and just above fifteen seconds at the five thousand meters outdoors and fourteen minutes and slightly above twenty seven seconds indoors speak volumes for themselves.
With the 17th Safaricom African Athletics Championships being held at the Nyayo stadium in Nairobi, Kenya in full flow, the chances of Ethiopia seemed surprisingly bleak in the first two days; a win of only two gold medals and two bronze medals is not something the majority of the world of athletics expected from a country that leaves all others behind at athletic tournaments.
The ten thousand meters women’s race seemed to be the only possible saviour; a lack of victory in this arena implied that the athletics team of Ethiopia would return home without the possession of a single gold medal to gloat about. It was none other than Tirunesh Dibaba who came to the rescue, fetching a shiny gold medal and ending the horrendous drought for the Ethiopians on the fourth day of the African Athletics Championships.
The race commenced with Lenet Masai of Kenyan origin leading the pack of athletes, with Dibaba and Melkamu just trailing behind her. The three powerhouse athletes sprinted almost shoulder to shoulder for a mere four laps, after which Masai was left behind allowing Dibaba to accelerate further and leave both her competitors well away from her. The final four hundred meters covered by Dibaba took a time period of sixty one seconds; while this completion time is greater than that of fifty eight seconds which she accomplished at the World Championships in 2005. It nevertheless provided the large number of Ethiopian supporters seated in the stadium stands as well as back home to jump in ecstasy. This victory allowed Tirunesh Dibaba to stretch her unbeaten string of ten thousand meters race to the number of seven.
Hence, not only did this athlete provide her squad with a much needed gold at the 17th Safaricom African Athletics Championships, it also reminded the world of athletics of her might as a performer. It established the fact that this athlete is amongst those who will always be remembered in the arena of long distance running, for their adept skills, intense passion and most importantly their strong sense of patriotism. Now entirely free of her injuries, and greatly motivated by this recent success, Tirunesh Dibaba will definitely please us in the future with even greater accomplishments hopefully.
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