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Shalane Flanagan Wins 10,000m Bronze Medal

Posted August 15th, 2008 at 4:43 PM by Stephanie Lowe

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics

Shalane Flanagan won an Olympic bronze medal in the 10,000 meters Friday night in Beijing. She broke her own American record by 12 seconds with a time of 30:22.22. It was only the second time in history that a U.S. woman has medaled in the event.

Flanagan fell ill Tuesday night and suffered from stomach issues that caused dehydration and sleep loss. With competition that included Lornah Kiplagat of the Netherlands and Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia, Flanagan had almost no room for error and some suggested that she should skip the race to focus and prepare for the 5000m. However, after resting for the past few days Flanagan was able to persevere and had an outstanding race.

Her plan was to start conservatively, but keep the leaders within striking distance until near the end when she would kick.

“I was in such a zone. My coach said to fall asleep for a couple laps and then give it go,” Flanagan said, “I ran my hardest and tried to give it my best. I was just running so within myself trying to stay calm.”

Flanagan was in eighth-place at 5000 meters, led by Kiplagat in 15:09.98. Kiplagat then fell back while Dibaba, Elvan Abeylegesse of Turkey and Linet Chepkwemoi Masai of Kenya fought for the lead with Flanagan in fifth, then fourth.

The final laps were close between Masai and Flanagan, but Flanagan managed to outkick Masai by four seconds. However, she did not know what place she was in when she finished.

“I didn’t even know if I was third or fourth. I thought I was maybe fourth — I didn’t want to celebrate too soon,” she said.

The race did not go as smoothly for her teammate, Kara Goucher, who won the bronze at last year’s World Championships. Goucher ran a personal best time of 30:55.16, but was not happy with her tenth-place finish.

“My pace was quick and I started to get hot and I made a major mistake. I let that be my excuse,” Goucher stated.

Flanagan was not the only woman to break a record in the race. She pushed Masai, 18, to a world junior record time of 30:26.50. Ahead of them were gold-medalist Dibaba, who set an Olympic record with 29:54.66, and silver-medalist Abeylegesse’s area record of 29:56.34.

Dibaba and Abeylegesse are the first women to break the 30-minute barrier since China’s Wang Junxia ran the world record (29:31.78) in 1993.

Dibaba said she feels she is capable of breaking the world record possibly within the next year. But for now Dibaba, Flanagan and Goucher must prepare for their next Olympic event, the 5000 meters, August 19.