Sunday, 12 October 2008
Emphatic third triumph; Tadese goes solo from 5km – Men’s Race Report, Rio 2008
Zersenay Tadese wins the World Half Marathon Championships for the third year in a row (Getty Images)
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – Zersenay Tadese dominated today’s IAAF / CAIXA World Half Marathon Championships, taking a 21km stroll along the picturesque Atlantic coast of this ‘Marvellous City’ renowned internationally more for its slightly clad sunbathing beauties than athletics brilliance. The manner of the Eritrean’s victory was a picture in itself. Tadese’s run was a solo venture of such athletics magnitude that if transferred to the full marathon when the 26-year-old makes his first attempt at that distance next year, even the likes of Haile Gebrselassie and Samuel Wanjiru will have to take notice. Tadese won the first prize of US$30,000 in a time of 59:56, nearly two minutes ahead of his closest challenger, Patrick Makau Musyoki (1:01:54) who was also silver medallist in 2007, with Qatar’s Ahmad Hassan Abdullah, the 2004 bronze medallist, taking third (1:01:57). Unlike the women’s race, the team contest (maximum of five to start per team, with three to score) was not close with Kenya, first (3:07:24), Eritrea, second (3:09:40) and Qatar (3:10:52), third. It was Kenya’s third consecutive victory in this national contest. First three-time champion Mountains, sun, sea, sand and Zersenay Tadese were the fundamental elements of today’s race. The first four provided a stunning setting for this annual global road running championship, while the fifth dominated the athletics sporting proceedings. At 9.15am local time at the San Conrado beach, near Gavea Rock the gun fired for the men’s race with the elite runners of the World Championships setting off from a separate start line some 200m ahead of the mass ranks of some 16,000 runners who were competing on the same course in the annual Rio Half Marathon. Rwanda’s Dieudonne Disi and Tadese, were the only two runners who ever got an unobstructed view of the course which hugged the coast, passing by the famous white sanded beaches of Leblon, Ipanema, Copacabana, Botafogo and finally Flamenco before dog-legging back a short distance to finish in Cuauhtemoc Square. Disi, sixth in Udine last year, was the first of these two race leaders to get his nose in front immediately at the start. The Rwandan was followed closely by a group of approximately 20 runners as the competitors climbed an incline of 5m in altitude for 2km before descending back to sea level for another 2km, to meet the first of the main beaches, Leblon. With just 12 minutes on the clock, Tadese became the second and final race leader. A seemingly effortless surge gave the defending two-time champion a clear lead within a few fluent strides. That ultimately was ‘game over’ in the battle for individual gold at least. Two minutes later when Tadese went through 5km (14:06), as the race came close to Ipanema, the potency of his attack became clear, cutting a swathe through the ranks and hopes of his pursuers. The following pack, an exaggeration in a sense as the chasers were never that tightly gathered together, numbered a mere dozen runners, five Ethiopians, three Kenyans, two Qataris, one Japanese and one Rwandan. Another two kilometres later and Tadese had whittled his genuine opponents down to five – Kenya’s Stephen Kipkoech Kibiwott, Patrick Makau Musyoki, last year’s silver medallist, and Joseph Maregu, Ahmad Hassan Abdullah of Qatar, the bronze medallist in 2004, and Ethiopia’s Deriba Merga. As they approached 10km (27:55), Tadese had put nearly half a minute between himself and his nearest opponents. It was at this time that Merga’s race was beginning to falter due to an upset stomach which was ultimately to lead to him dropping out of the race. But by the time that Tadese reached 15km (42:02), Merga’s compatriot Abebe Dinkesa joined Tadese’s group of chief chasers so keeping Ethiopia’s challenge for the minor medals alive. At about the same time Maregu was finding the pace a little too hot, and slipped off this lead group of pursuers. By now the silver and bronze medals were the realistic extent of anyone’s aspirations other than Tadese, as the defending champion was now one and half minutes ahead of the field, with the margin growing by the moment. Tadese’s running style was as fluid as the ocean breaking on the shore to his right. Both were a picture and we were wallowing in the spectacle. At this point the early race leader Disi was 1:45 down on the lead, with Japan’s Yusei Nakao doing his best to stay with him, while a lot further back but still in the top-12 was local pre-race hope Marilson Dos Santos. The Brazilian had a good final few kilometres and by the end of the day had done enough to grab 8th place (1:03:14). Ahead of all, Tadese passed 20km in 56:45, and completed the half marathon in 59:56 to become the first ever three-time men’s race winner in the history of the competition. Behind him the three longest serving members of the posse, fought it out in a strong battle for the tape, with Makua (1:01:54) heading by three seconds Abdullah, with Kibiwott, just one second further back in fourth. In the last 5 to 6km of the race Nakao made a fine surge of his own to break away from Disi, catching a fading Dinkesa who dropped off the leading chase group as they began their battle for the minor medals. The reward for the Japanese was a fifth place finish (1:02:05). Nakao had left Disi a minute behind, the Rwandan finishing sixth, edging ahead of Dinkesa in the final sprint – 1:03:03 to 1:03:04. Chris Turner for the IAAF
Congratulation Zersenay
This is the secret of SAWA!!!
VIVA Zersenay VIVA Eritrea.
Eritreans are proud of you.
Zersenay:You make us all proud!
wowwwww viva great Eritrea!!!
He is the man!
Thank you for making us proud!!!
i proud of you zersenai,and eritrea proud of you too,VIVA
Hasewti Kedemti nai weyani mengisti Eritrea nezeresenai ab wesai nekeykeyed elom zewreyeywo dea abey besihu Viva mengisti Eritrea Viva zeresenai hasewti kedemti nay weyane kedeat ke entay teblu
Viva zeresenai Ezom sheyeti adi kedemti nay weyane mengisti Eritrea nezeresenay ab wesai keydu keyewedader kebluna zekeneyu higi ke entay keale hasot alekum.
Viva Zeresenay viva mengisti Eritrea. Wedket heleneom nezishetu kedemti naay woyane zekonu Awaten Asmarinon
hi i hope wish all the best
Congaratulation Taddese you made us proud,what an inspretion for the rest Eritreans that follow your path.Keep up the rest of your dream,may god be with you in capturing the Marathon gold medal in U.K.and I know you will.
Make us feel proud again!!
Eritrea 4 life!
Viva Zerisenai.
Bandera Ertra ambelbilkaya tehagoshna.
Ajoka
Every fiber of my body was proud when you trimphed yesterday at the half marathon race in Rio de Janero, Brazil. You are our nation’s pride and I bow to you my dear brother!
Congrats brother Zerisenay…all deki eri are proud of you
we are proud of you wedi ERE
We are proud of you Zeresenai
every single Eritrean person is proud of you. you did it and you gonna do it more and more.your victory is endless men ,,,, just kip it up,,long life ni Ertran eritrawianin.
VAI Cosi Grande zeriesenai …………SEI STATO BRAVISSIMO ….
Zeresenay you replaced marraton . Well done thanks!!!
where is ethiopian
Wow realy i am proud of zersenai………congra Zersenai and eritrawit mukaney yihibineni wowwwwwwww and keep it up……
we are proud of you bro. congratulation!!!
Congratulations !!!
viva Zereesenay !! you did it .Tokishkayom ….i am proud of you , real eritrean .i wish all my bests in your future …..
hi zeresenay you made proud us you did exellent job and congra for your wedding RHUS GAM FOR YOU AND YOUR FIANCE
Good job bady
you the best Zersenay haway i am so proud of you keep the hard work. we all love you go wedi ERI shukor
HI SEBA ASTIKAN SEBA SITE WHEREEVERWE ARE WE ARE PRUMD OF YOU
congratulaion zerseney eritrea 4ever
Fisrst of all, the RAIMOQ team congratulations! You have an excellent Web. We are prowd of you. Keep on doing the superb job.
Zeresenay! You are the best and you made history individualy and for your great country. You are the row model for the entire generetion.
Your humbl and good character is inspiring. Thank you Ertra that you gave us this idol and icon.
Viva!
wawawwwwa.beravo
you are the best.teawet teawet
Congratulation Zersenay we love you
u are the one from Ethiopian man. u are the first runner after Kenenisa bekele.
thank’s Zeresenay
hiiiiiiiiiiiii
ane sportawit mukan bitami iye zifetu entay kigebr alni
we never give up. at anything we do. eri knows big dreams can happened. when work hard tadese.
Zerisenay , Good Job Brother.
We are proud of you . Thanks God for you are ours!
we are proud of you congra
we r happy zeresenay and we hope that u will be success again marathon next aprill 2009 and i hope u will be broken world record that was took by haile gebreslasie and good luck .
weare so proud of you men,and good lick for next.
weare so proud of you men,and good lick for next.
tanks for ever men
wawwwwwww am so proud of you zeresenay thanks for working hard for our flag … goolouk man
AJOKA ZERESENAY KETSELO BTAEMI DES ELUNA DES YBELKA asmarino,assena,awate ,deqebat……….kulukum meinti haki tkalesu antsar hgdef ajokum ajona nebari hager ember nebari mengsti yelon hgdef kea mealtu wediu eyu kemtom zehalefu kihalif eyu,zelealemawi zkri nsemaetat eritrea .
Congratulations Zeresenay.make proud your country.make them proud seewaatena. make proud people of the Best of all make proud the goverment of eritrea espically president Isisas Afewreki Awet nehfash hezebee ERITREA Gegena.cawee.
I had a dream a dream that I was looking to come !
Thanks Zeressenay u makes proud of u!
በዚ ናይ የርሰናይ አወት ሓጎሰን ድስታየን ወሰን የበሉን ንጅገና ዘር እሰናይ ታደሰ ናይ ዘውሃና መልእክቲ ህብሽህካ ክበሎ እፈቱ ብምቅሻል ድማ ንብለኦም አትለትከስ አሰር ዘርሰናይ ንክህዙ የትስፍው
this is the mining of eri middle east inaddetion to king of aleam/world in hand under respection and freedom pawer for ever for all people in world thank you GOD and zeressenay FOR REALITY LAND .
this is the mining of eri middle east inaddetion to king of aleam/world in hand under respection and freedom pawer for ever for all people in world thank you GOD and zeressenay FOR REALITY LAND .
this is the mining of eri middle east inaddetion to king of aleam/world in hand under respection and freedom pawer for ever for all people in world thank you GOD and zeressenay FOR REALITY LAND .
bro
agokum geganu kweghalna eu gfegna ktef wlke melaki khass eu
Bravissimo frattello Eritreo. I wish you the best.
Let freedom ring in ERITREA!
win to Zeressenay
I.wish also all best your the future
hiiiiiii you
You are #1, Wedebat Eritrea!
Let freedom ring in Eritrea!
Yes ! ERITREA WILL BE FREE!!!!!
Bravo fratello! ! !
WE are proud of you!
Let freedom ring in ERITREA!
ERITREA will be free SOON!
he is the best in the world;)
peace is there what do you mean let freedom ring eritrea?that stuipid ok.if want say bravo for zersenay that is enough
gegna hagere ghena welda tehabena
awet nehsfshe
wedi afom beri