Rwanda: The Wait Continues

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The New Times (Kigali)

18 August 2008
Posted to the web 18 August 2008

Bonnie Mugabe
Kigali

Yesterday, Rwanda's hopes for an Olympic medal were dashed when the country's long distance athletes failed to break the duck in their respective events held at the Bird's Nest Stadium in Beijing, China.

10.000m medal hopeful Dieudonne Disi finished 20th after clocking 27:56:74 in the race which was won by Athens 2004 gold medallist Kenenisa Bekele. He was Rwanda's only hope to salvage the country's poor winning record at the Olympic Games.

Disi started in the leading pack for the first 10 laps but later faded as Eritrea's Zersenay Tadesse increased the pace hence relegating the Rwandan runner to the second pack.

Kenya's Micah Kogo and compatriot Moses Masai will be awarded bronze medals today as the pair reached the finishing line in a time of 27:04:11. Long distance legend Gebrselassie finished sixth.

Meanwhile, Epiphanie Nyirabarame was the first to take to the road in the in the women's 42km marathon race yesterday morning. With a poor start in the first 10km of the race which started at the historic Tiananmen Square in Beijing, Nyirabarame kept her pace among the the last pack for teh entire race.

She clocked 2h:49:39 to claim 66th position in the race which had attracted 83 athletes. 14 athletes bundled out of the race due to the Beijing humid heat and injuries. Romanian's Constantine Tomescu won gold in 2h:26:44.

World champion Catherine Ndereba of Kenya took Silver while China's Zhou Chunxiu won bronze.

In a related development, Jean Glodi Mushambo and Beatrice Uwanyirigira who have spent over a week at the International Olympic Academy are returning home tomorrow.

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Jean-Louis Kayitenkore
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