Athletics at the 2000 Sydney Summer Games:

The heavy favorite was Ethiopia’s Haile Gebrselassie, the defending gold medalist, World Champion in 1993, 1995, 1997, and 1999, and the current, and three-time, world record holder. His challenge would come from Paul Tergat (KEN), silver medalist in 1996, and who had held the world record in 1997 after running 26:27.85 in Bruxelles, and had won the last five International Cross-Country championships. The final was much closer than expected, as at the bell there were five runners together – Geb, Tergat, Assefa Mezegebu (ETH), Patrick Ivuti (KEN), and John Cheruiyot Korir (KEN). Tergat moved ahead on the backstretch and only Geb responded. On the final straight, there was nothing to choose between them but Geb pulled ahead in the last few strides to defend his gold medal, as they ran the last 200 in 25.4. Tergat had his second consecutive gold medal, and commented, “I did my best. I can do no better than that. I had nothing left at the end.”