Bekele successfully defends Olympic 10,000 title

Kenenisa Bekele has successfully defended his Olympic 10,000-meter title in a competition record time, leading teammate Sileshi Sihine in an Ethiopian 1-2 again.

Bekele hit the front 450 meters from the finish Sunday and crossed in 27 minutes, 1.17 seconds to beat the record he set four years ago.

Sihine, who was second at the Athens Olympics and at the last two world championships, took silver in 27:02.77. Micah Kogo of Kenya won bronze in 27:04.11.

Haile Gebrselassie, who won the 10,000 at the 1996 and 2000 Games, faded to finish in sixth place.

The 35-year-old Ethiopian switched to the marathon after the Athens Olympics, where he finished fifth.

He opted against competing in the marathon in Beijing because of pollution concerns.

BEIJING, Sunday, AP