11 Aug 2012

Dibaba hoping to secure another track double

5:11 am on 11 August 2012

With an historic sprint double-double in the bag for Jamaican Usain Bolt, Ethiopian athlete Tirunesh Dibaba hopes also to achieve another track double at the London Olympics.

If she takes gold in the women's 5000m on Friday, she will have won both the longest track races at successive Games - in London and Beijing in 2008.

Dibaba retained her 10,000m crown on 3 August with a scintillating last lap, finishing in 30min 20.75s and showing that the 27-year-old was back to her best after years of injury.

If she can win, Dibaba will be emulating the 5000m/10,000m double of Finland's Lasse Viren at the Munich Games in 1972 and the Montreal Olympics in 1976.

Her main challenger in the 5000m may be Kenya's Vivian Cheruiyot, who has played second fiddle to Dibaba for most of her career, but who won the 5000m and 10,000m at the 2011 world championships.