Bekele and Defar ditch double-gold assault plans over pollution worries
Two Olympic middle-distance champions plan to compete in only one event at the Beijing games next summer because of the 'disgusting' conditions they expect to encounter.
Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele won the men's 10,000 metres at Athens in 2004 and was silver medallist in the 5,000m, but said he would only contest one of those events in Beijing.
Speaking after competing in the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix meeting on Friday, Bekele, the 25-year-old world record holder in the 5,000m and the 10,000m, said: 'This time around, I will only race in one discipline.
'The decision is based mainly on the conditions in Beijing. It's a mixture of [concern about] disgusting weather and air pollution. I know it's going to be very hot. It will be a struggle to compete [in multiple events].'
Bekele, though, didn't specify which distance he would drop in Beijing.