May 27 (Reuters) – F ormer 10,000 metre s world record holder
Haile Gebrselassie failed to qualify for the London Olympics
after finishing seventh at the Fanny Blankers-Koen Games in
Hengelo, Netherlands on Sunday.
The 39-year-old trailed home in a time of 27 minutes 20.39
seconds, nearly nine seconds behind winner Tariku Bekele in a
race staged as an official Ethiopian Olympic trial.
Bekele finished in 27:11.70, just ahead of Leleisa Desisa
Benti who will join him in London. The third spot in the
Ethiopian team is being held open for world record holder
Kenenisa Bekele who has been suffering from injury problems.
Gebrselassie had been hoping to travel to his fifth Olympics
and was in confident mood after winning the Great Manchester Run
last weekend. He won gold in the 10,000 metres in 1996 and 2000.
Santos Luguelin of the Dominican Republic set the
second-best time of the year in the men’s 400 metres.
The 18-year-old won in 44.45 seconds, a time only bettered
by American Olympic champion LaShawn Merritt in 2012.
(Writing by Matt Barker, editing by Ed Osmond, to query or
comment on this story email
sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com
)
