Women's 3000 Metres - Defar the fouth time

Meseret Defar promised “something special” for today’s 3000m final and the Ethiopian superstar delivered with a convincing victory to become the first four-time winner in the event.

“This was a very important victory for me,” said a beaming Defar after adding to her triumphs from 2004, 2006 and 2008. Her time, 8:51.17, was only the third fastest of the quartet, but that mattered little to the 26-year-old multiple world record holder.

“I changed my tactics: at first I was thinking about a fast race, but then I saw it would be better to wait for the final kick, and that worked well.”