Was Dibaba's 2005 or 2008 double more impressive??

[liuxuan]

Both of Dibaba's 2005 world championships wins were recently uploaded on youtube and I gotta say, ive got the 10k on dvd anyway, but I had been waiting for yonks to see the 5000m last lap against defar again and it was breathtaking!

Just wondering what performance you guys think was more impressive, her helsinki double or the beijing double? I realise theres not much too pick as they were both done in similar fashion, and both were pretty much faultless! I think the Beijing 10,000m was more impressive than the helsinki one for the obvious reason of the time, which I believe was the true WR, although the helsinki 10k looked awsome because she had adere to fly past at 200m.

I think the helsinki 5000m though, was by far the best competitive championship 5000m performance ive ever seen. She really worked defar hard in the last 4 laps, taking the lead before a quick breather with 2 laps left - then the last lap was just heart in mouth material from start to finish. she was just as impressive on the last lap in beijing, but it was slower, and less exciting, but that was more to do with defar not quite having it at the end rather than anything to do with dibaba.

i'll vote for beijing just because its the olympics, but I dont think theres much to choose.

[nevetsllim]

I've gone for the 2005 doubles because I had no idea Dibaba could finish a 10000m that quickly! Plus the 2008 Olympic 5000m final was inexplicably dull and Tiru ran the second half of the 10000m in 14:44.68, whilst the Olympic final was one-minute slower.

[liuxuan]

Yup, 58.5 off a 30:24 pace is unbelievable!!

I still think Tulu's 60.1 in Sydney for 30:17 is almost as impressive!

[26mi235]

2008

1) it is the Olympics, more of a focus than the WCs
2) it was 'WR' (for many of us) and after Osaka who expected 30-low, much less 29 with a last-lap sprint-off
3) too much weight is given to the slow pace of the 5000; she still had to win it while also running the great 10,000, so strategy played a key role in determining pace (slow pace does not equate to bad race), besides we saw one fairly fast and one quite fast 5000.

[SQUACKEE]

Warning! Open love letter for the Princess of distance running and as sick as Marlow and Stacy.

Both doubles are equally great in their own way. Beautiful, striking and powerful. This supernatural goddess is a vision on the track. The way she does it is the way it should be done.