Women's 500M Finals Results: World Record Holder Tirunesh Dibaba Falls to Third; Mesert Defar Wins Gold
Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba may have clocked in the world record time for the women's 5,000-meter relay in 2008, but at the London finals, it was fellow Ethiopian Meseret Defar that took the gold home.
Defar ranked in first place with a time of 15:04.25 seconds. Kenya's Vivian Jepkemoi Cheruiyot came in second and to everyone's surprise, Dibaba came in third with a mark of 15:04.73.
Dibaba won gold for the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter at the 2008 Olympics and she came in first place in all-around ranking of the round one event, which aired on Aug. 7.
Winning her second consecutive win for the 10,000-meter while performing in London, fans thought Dibaba would do the same for the 5,000-meter. Defar ranked in second place in her round one and has no previous Olympic medal wins. Her win on Friday was a surprise to many, especially because it was not a close call. People expected Dibaba at least to win the silver.
The other Ethiopian in the race, Gelete Burka, came in fifth with 15:10.66.
This is Ethiopia's sixth track and field medal from the 2012 Olympics. Dibaba received two and included her win on Friday, Defar has one.