Kamathi's `kick' lays Gebrselassie low

By K.P. Mohan

EDMONTON, AUG. 8. An emperor was dethroned at the Commonwealth Stadium on Wednesday. A wiry, little Kenyan, who talked in whispers, brought off the biggest coup in distance running. Well after he had accomplished what no other man had in eight years, Kenyan Charles Kamathi hardly seemed to realise the significance of his achievement.

Haile Gebrselassie was beaten. On a stage which he had owned since 1993, the monarch of distance running bowed to the extra- ordinary sprinting ability of the 23-year-old Kenyan over the last 150 metres. The 10,000 was the final event of Day 6 at the World athletic Championships and as it finished on a chilly night, a deathly silence seemed to descend on the stadium. Moments earlier there was cacophony all around, with a sizeable batch of Ethiopians cheering to the sound of the drum-beat.

In the end, there was just the bronze for Gebrselassie, his Ethiopian team-mate Assefa Mezgebu having sprinted to the silver, behind the Kenyan who looked a mile away. Mezgebu was almost apologetic as he explained how he was able to beat Gebrselassie. ``I go for gold, not go for winning against Haile,'' said Mezgebu, bronze medallist at the Sydney Olympics as well as in Seville. ``I am happy with my silver, happy for myself, but the bronze for Haile...'' Mezgebu allowed that sentence to hang.

Through the course of what turned out to be a historic race, there never was any hint of what was eventually going to happen. Yes, anything could be possible in a race where the pace picked up every now and then only to slow down.

The Kenyans had played the waiting game to perfection with the Ethiopians, but as Paul Kosgei took the `bell' with Gebrselassie a step behind, there was no great advantage for anyone.

On the back-straight, the fight really developed and from 250 metres out, the Ethiopians headed by Gebrselassie, were truly on their way. Kamathi would not give up. He came wide of the three Ethiopians from 150 metres and kicked hard coming into the home straight. ``Till the last 100 metres, I was confident of winning,'' said Gebrselassie.

But the man whose finishing `kick' had laid many a brave runner low, could not match the Kenyan. Mezgebu saw the futility of it and as he looked over his left shoulder toward the legend, 90 metres out from the line, the story was clear.

One last glance it was from Mezgebu to find whether the great man was going to respond with a second `kick' or a magic of his own and once satisfied that nothing was forthcoming, he was off, though late, in chase of Kamathi.

Kamathi clocked 27:53.25, the slowest outside of Seville, since 14 years in World Championship history, but understandable at this altitude. Mezgebu was timed 27:53.97 for the silver and Gebrselassie 27:54.41. The last time someone had beaten Gebrselassie in a 10,000 metres, was in the heats of the World Championships in Stuttgart in 1993, when Antonio Silio of Portugal edged him. Gebrselassie went onto win the title, though, his first of four.

Since 1992, Gebrselassie had been beaten in a 10,000 final only once, by Kenyan William Sigei and countryman Fita Bayissa in the African Championships in Durban on June 24, 1993. The last man to beat him outdoors before this evening was Kenyan Daniel Komen, in the 5000m in Zurich in 1996.

In the interview room, it was strange that Gebrselassie would take any seat other than the middle one. He patted Kamathi on the back, saying `` I congratulate him.''

The last 100 metres, Gebrselassie said, was really incredible. ``I had the full confidence in me.'' He said that he had fever last Sunday and had become normal only on Tuesday. But that was not as an excuse, for, he quickly added that he was in really good shape here compared to the Sydney Olympics.

``But I don't know what happened in the last 100 metres. My body wouldn't (respond)'', said Gebrselassie. Many a great finisher had met his match in Gebrselassie and now the little Kenyan had done something unthinkable, beat the `King' with a finishing `kick' that looked specially devised for the occasion.

``Was he finding a sprint finish opponent of such calibre for the first time?'' Gebrselassie was asked. ``No'', came the answer and he mentioned Kenyan Paul Tergat and Moroccan Khalid Skah as men with great finishing kicks. He had beaten them all, on every stage.

Kamathi mumbled a few words. Strangely, it did not seem to matter what he was saying. For the record, the Kenyan has been one of the top distance runners the past two seasons. He had finished third in the 12km event of the World Cross-Country Championships this year and had, in his first race in Europe, in 1999, run the fastest for the year, a 26:51.49. Helping him through a really tough race, were two other Kenyans, Paul Kosgei and John Cheruiyot Korir who finished seventh and eighth respectively.

The Ethiopians took three of the top four places, the coveted spot eluding them. Behind Gebrselassie came Yibeltai Admassu, while Spanish marathon runner, Fabian Roncero was fifth. He had played along with the Kenyans and Ethiopians and even took over the lead at times.

To a suggestion that he might have run his last 10,000 metres, Gebrselassie replied in the negative. ``I have to do something. Losing (and going out) not good. It is not good to move to marathon now,'' said the Ethiopian with that patented smile. Yes, even as he crossed the line in third place for the first time in eight years, he had that smile on his face.

Another veteran, German Lars Riedel took his fifth World title, nudging Olympic champion Virgilijus Alekna of Lithuania by 32 centimetres in discus. Alekna touched 69.40 in the third round, but Riedel had a 69.50 in the next and then followed up with another one of 69.72, eventually the winning throw, on his fifth attempt. Another German, Michael Mollenbeck was third with 67.61, just four centimetres better than Russian Dmitriy Shevchenko.

``The competition was very strong today. Virgilijus was as good as ever and I am very proud to have won on this fantastic day, '' said Riedel. ``My winning throw was nearly perfect. Had my leg been a little quicker during my spin I would have thrown over 70 metres. I missed four weeks of training with my knee surgery, but it looks like it was all worth it,'' said the 34-year-old German who exulted just as Alekna fouled his final attempt. ``I want to take revenge in the very next competition,'' said Alekna.

In an engrossing high jump competition earlier, Germany had struck another gold, through Martin Buss. World record holder Javier Sotomayor of Cuba finished outside the medal-bracket,, though he cleared the same height as second- placed Russians Yaroslav Rybakov and defending champion Vyacheslav Voronin, at 2.33.

Both Rybakov and Voronin were awarded the silver with no bronze medal being given. Both the Russians cleared 2.30 on their first attempts while Sotomayor took one more jump at that height. The Cuban could not go beyond that, failing three times at 2.36.

Buss, bronze winner on the last occasion, in Seville, gambled and won. He failed once at 2.33 and passed his next attempt at that height and opted for 2.36 and sailed over. He explained later that he was not going to win anything with a second attempt clearance of 2.33 and had thus passed that height.

There was disappointment for the home fans in that Mark Boswell finished joint seventh with a height of 2.25m after having passed 2.30 and gone for 2.33 straightaway. Olympic champion Sergey Klyugin of Russia also failed at 2.33.

The Kenyan sweep of the medals in the 3000m steeplechase did not materialise. Just as he had done at the last World Championships and in the Sydney Olympics, Moroccan Ali Ezzine got into the medals. He had won bronze on earlier occasions but this time he had the silver behind Kenyan Reuben Kosgei, the Olympic champion.

World record holder Bernard Barmasai was passed on the straight, 40 metres from the finish by Ezzine. A third Kenyan, Raymond Yator, after having kept close company with the others, fell in clearing the last water jump and managed only the eighth place.

Moroccan Nezha Bidouane had her revenge. Beaten on the line last time by Cuban Daimi Pernia, the Moroccan had a runaway victory this time, finishing nearly five metres ahead of Russian Yuliya Nosova, clocking a world-leading 53.34 seconds in the 400m hurdles event. Pernia was third this time in 54.51s.

America suffered two severe setbacks as Olympic intermediate hurdles champion Angelo Taylor and high hurdler Terrence Trammel went out in the semifinal stage.

Making it into the 400m hurdles final was Saudi Arabia's Olympic silver medallist, Hadi Somayli, with 48.64. Asia had one more representative, Japanese Dai Tamesue clocking a National mark of 48.10 to be second-ranked among the qualifiers for the final.

Susanthika Jayasinghe was disqualified in the women's 200m heats, for cutting lanes, while the other Sri Lankan, Damayanthi Darsha qualified by winning her heat in a season best 22.88s. Cayman Islands' Cydonie Mothersill led the qualifiers with 22.54s. Marion Jones won her heat easily in 22.70.

Gabriela Szabo announced that she would be competing in the heats of the 5000 metres to be held on Thursday night. She had threatened to boycott had Russian Olga Yegorova been allowed to enter. Yegorova had tested positive for EPO at the Paris Golden League meeting but the IAAF lifted her suspension after it was found that the correct protocols were not in place in the testing procedure that the French authorities adopted.

The results:

Men's 10,000m: 1. Charles Kamathi (Ken) 27:53.25, 2. Assefa Mezgebu (Eth) 27:53.97, 3. Haile Gebrselassie (Eth) 27:54.41.

3000m steeplechase: 1. Reuben Kosgei (Ken) 8:15.16, 2. Ali Ezzine (Mar) 8:16.21, 3. Bernard Barmasai (Ken) 8:16.51.

Men's high jump: 1. Martin Buss (Ger) 2.36m, 2. Yarslav Rybakov Rus) and Vyacheslav Voronin (Rus) 2.33.

Men's discus throw: 1. Lars Riedel (Ger) 69.72m, 2. Virgilijus Alekna (Lit) 69.40, 3. Michael Mollenbeck (Ger) 67.61.

Women's 400m hurdles: 1. Nezha Bidouane (Mar) 53.34, 2. Yuliya Nosova (Rus) 54.27, 3. Daimi Pernia (Cub) 54.51.

GLANCE OF A GIANT-KILLER: Charles Kamathi (left) glances at Haile Gebrselassie (right foreground) during the final of the men's 10,000 metres at the World athletic Championships in Edmonton on Wednesday. The Kenyan `out-kicked' the legendary Ethiopian to end a domination that stretches back to nearly eight years. - AP

* * *

Friday's finals

Women's triple jump

Men's 400m hurdles

Women's 200m

Men's 5,000m

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