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Bekele wants to beat his own 5 000 world record at the Zurich Golden League championships
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July 06, 2004, 15:45
The Athens Olympics gets under way in just over a month, and one of the big stars set to emerge is a young Ethiopian known as Kenenisa Bekele (22). Last month, he broke two world records in the space of a week, both of them belonging to his idol, Haile Gebrselassie.
When he was young, Bekele watched his idol on TV, winning races all over the world. A few years later Gebreselassie was his translator, friend, and training partner. Now they're also competitors.
Things have changed a little, now it's Bekele who leads. Gebreselassie is widely accepted as one of the greatest long distance runners ever. But Bekele now expects to beat him every time they race.
In Holland last month, Bekele broke the first world record, in the 5 000m, running the last six laps on his own. A week later in the Czech Republic, he took two seconds off the 10 000m world record, and it's that event he plans to run in Athens. It could be an Ethiopian one-two, because that's also the event Gebreselassie is running.
The friendship remains, but there's no sentiment. Bekele wants to beat him, and looks set to match his legendary status as one of the worlds best ever.
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