Ethiopian duo raise the bar

I’m not sure we know how lucky we are that Kenenisa Bekele and Tirunesh Dibaba have chosen to make so many appearances in the United Kingdom.

The world’s two greatest distance runners - with a collective total of 45 Olympic and world golds - are due to be in action again at the Great North Cross Country in Edinburgh on Saturday.

Between them they have won this corresponding race on seven occasions and in Bekele’s case, his 2001 victory as a teenager was the first of a six-year 27-race win streak at cross country.

The Ethiopian pair are not just great distance runners, they are among the finest sportsmen of their generation.

Having dominated for most of the noughties there is every sign they will do so throughout the “teens” and even into the 2020s.

Their Ethiopian predecessors Haile Gebrselassie (now 36) and Derartu Tulu (37) are still winning big races and setting records. Bekele and Dibaba will not reach those ages until 2018 & 2022 respectively and Dibaba has already talked of competing at the 2024 Olympics.

Why are they so good ? They run fast, they win big races and make it look easy.

Bekele has held the world records at 5000m (12:37.35) and 10,000m (26:20.31) since 2004. He alone has operated at that level since then. Could he be the first man to run 5000m in less than 12:30, which would represent sub-60 400m for twelve and a half laps.

Put another way, this would be 4:01 miling for more than three miles.

He and his agent have talked of 2010 as being the “year for world records,” with Kenenisa saying he wants to add the very tough 3000m world record to his portfolio.

We should savour such moments because records of that calibre will not come along as frequently as the men?s 100m or women?s pole vault have done in recent years.

Dibaba has been known as more of a racer than a pacer, but a woman who can finish a quick 5000m race with a lap of 57 seconds clearly has much left in the tank.

One feels she could even approach the Ethiopian record at 400m (54.42) - though she could not have been more disinterested when I once made that suggestion.

Dibaba has set world records at 5000m, indoors and out, and then at the end of a low-key year in 2009, ran a phenomenal 46:28 for 15km in Nijmegen to break the official world record at that distance by 27 seconds.

And yet the statistics show that was not near her limit on that occasion. Incredibly, she was 30 seconds behind world record schedule at 10km but her final 5km of 15:05 was 57 seconds quicker than the old record holder!

So whereas Bekele is now looking for success at shorter distances, Dibaba has given us a glimpse of what might be possible for her at half marathon (21.1km) and beyond.

Unless the Olympics are awarded to Ethiopia in the near future, Bekele and Dibaba can never win a bigger race for them than they have done so already on multiple occasions.

Bekele has held at least one Olympic or world title ever since 2001, Dibaba since 2003. Both won the 5000m & 10,000m double in Beijing and have taken world titles at both distances.

At the IAAF World Cross Country Championships they are the most successful performers of all-time, including the additional medals which they have gained as part of winning Ethiopian teams.

Collectively they have run and won 18 races at 10,000m. So far no-one has beaten them at these distances and these have not been staged events against weak opposition. They have taken on and defeated the best in the world.

Athletics is not like figure skating were points are awarded for presentation, but if it were then Bekele and Dibaba’s scores would be near to 10.0.

Biomechanical experts have already remarked on Bekele’s smooth and efficient running action. I don’t think I have ever seen Dibaba lose form at any stage of a race.

Images of either of these super runners in full flow could be used in a textbook of distance running.

Their only weakness, if it is a weakness, is that each are relatively media-shy in comparison with sporting stars of similar prominence.

For the moment they appear unwilling to share as much of their personality as the wider sporting media demand.

For the rest of us it is enough to let their feet do the talking so let us look forward to seeing the latest demonstration in Holyrood Park on 8 January.