My Sportsman of the Year: Brave Bekele goes the distance

Simon Lewis’s selection: Ethiopian runner Kenenisa Bekele.

SPORTING greatness comes in many forms. From one sportsperson’s ability to alter the course of a big match or event with one, crucial moment of individual skill or tactical awareness to another dominating her discipline with a consistency and level of preparation that far outweighs the combined talents of her rivals.

And then there’s the athlete who travels the furthest distance to conquer an affliction or overcome a huge setback, and move on to achieve his sporting goals. Kenenisa Bekele falls into the latter category and for that he gets my vote as sportsperson of the year.

Having won the 2002 world cross-country championships long course title as a raw 19-year-old, the Ethiopian distance runner announced his arrival on the track in 2003 with the world championship gold at 10,000 metres. The following year saw him set world record times at both 5,000 and 10,000, taking both marks from legendary compatriot Heile Gebrsellasie. And he confirmed his big-race class as Gebresellasie’s true successor by winning Olympic 10,000m gold medal in Athens, reducing the great man to fifth place.

Yet Bekele began this year in the worst possible way, when a January 4 training run took a tragic turn with his 18-year-old fiancée Alem Techale collapsing on the road as they began to run side by side.

Despite Bekele’s desperate attempts to save her, Alem died on the way to hospital. They had been due to marry last May. Rather than withdraw from his sport to reflect and to mourn, Bekele opted to run through the grief and it was a truly heart-wrenching sight.

Just over four weeks after her death, the 22-year-old found himself in Boston for the Reebok Indoor Games 3000m and while his physical well-being was not in doubt as he led the runners around the tight curves of the Reggie Lewis Center track, the mental strain was obvious as he miscounted the number of laps, kicking for victory a circuit too soon and moving to an outside lane thinking he had won when the rest of the field behind him kicked at the bell.

Ireland’s Alistair Cragg was the beneficiary, and while he was delighted to claim such a major scalp, he understood not just his good fortune but the circumstances behind it.

For Bekele, though, the journey back to normality had begun and another two months on from Boston, he struck back in spectacular style to win both short and long course titles at the world cross-country championships in St Etienne, France, dedicating the victories to his lost love.

The 12km victory was his fourth straight world title in the event and Bekele further stamped his return to dominance at a rain-soaked world track and field championships in Helsinki during the summer when he took gold in the 10,000m to add to his Olympic triumph. Despite pressure from his country’s athletics federation, Bekele resisted the chance to go for a double in the 5,000 but continued to amaze by breaking his own world record at 10,000 by almost three seconds at the Ivo van Damme meeting in Brussels, 18 days after winning world gold, running 26 minutes 17.53 seconds.

By anybody’s standards, Bekele’s achievements would signify a magnificent year. Given the tragic background to his last 12 months, they represent an extraordinary feat of emotional strength in addition to his awesome talent.

Bekele had started the year in grief and ended it as the IAAF’s male athlete of the year, reducing double world sprint champion Justin Gatlin, for once, to a distant runner-up.

And with no Olympics or world championships set for 2006, Kenenisa Bekele’s next 12 months could be another case of just him against the clock.