DAY 5: London World Championships notebook
Ethiopia's Genzebe Dibaba finishes the semi-finals of the women's 1,500m at the 2017 IAAF World Championships at the London Stadium in London on August 5, 2017. PHOTO | JEWEL SAMAD |
Dibabas robbed in city hotel
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These championships have been a nightmare for Ethiopian star Genzebe Dibaba. The 1,500 metres world record holder failed to get a medal in Monday’s final won by Kenya’s Faith Chepng'etich. Worse still, Genzebe and her sister Tirunesh lost an unspecified amount of cash when their separate rooms in a central London hotel were raided by unknown people. Indeed when it rains, it pours!
Too much for Haile to take
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Still on Ethiopia’s misfortunes, multiple world record holder and distance running legend Haile Gebrselassie is recovering in Addis Ababa after being rushed to hospital at the weekend after his pressure shot up during Sunday’s marathon races. Gebrselassie, now Ethiopia’s athletics federation president, is fine, but just couldn’t handle Tamirat Tola’s duel with Kenya’s winner Geoffrey Kirui in the exciting men’s race.
Food poising strikes athletes
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Several cases of gastroenteritis (bacterial food poisoning) have been reported here, with Botswana’s running star Isaac Makwala forced out of the 200 metres heats with a running (no pun intended) stomach. Tuesday, the sprinter was struggling to be in shape for the 400m final as Public Health England battled to contain the outbreak, issuing a statement reassuring all that things were under control.
Crystal Palace sleeping pods
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Premier League club Crystal Palace has introduced sleeping pods for its players to use between training sessions at their training ground in Beckenham, London. The pod is a pop-up inflatable room with beds, developed by the company Snoozebox, which coach Frank de Boer hopes will help his players recover between training sessions.
