Bekele aiming for another long-distance Olympic double

LONDON – By now, everybody knows Kenenisa Bekele is fallible. He proved as much at last year’s world championships. Driven by intense pride though, the Ethiopian is coming back to defend his two long-distance Olympic titles.

He was winding down high-altitude training close to Addis Ababa on Tuesday, preparing to fly to London where he has a shot next Saturday to become the first runner to win three straight 10,000 metre Olympic titles.

One more Olympic gold, or two if he adds the 5,000, would probably sweep him past compatriot Haile Gebrselassie as the greatest distance runner ever.

A lot is counting against him though. Several years of injury have hurt his performances and his results this summer have been remarkably un-Bekele like, finishing as an also-ran in four Diamond League 5,000 races this summer.

But never count Bekele out. After he walked off halfway through the 10,000 race at last year’s world championships seemingly spent for the year, he came back two weeks later to set the fastest time of the season over the distance. Read full story on myask.com