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BOSTON (Jan. 9) – Reigning Olympic gold medalists Meseret Defar and Joanna Hayes have been added to a star-studded lineup for the Reebok Boston Indoor Games on Jan. 27 that already includes Tirunesh Dibaba, the double World Champion; Australian Steve Hooker, the world’s top pole vaulter; and American miler Alan Webb.
Hometown favorite Shalane Flanagan, a 2004 Olympian and the 2005 USA Outdoor Champion at 5000 meters who hails from nearby Marblehead, Mass., is also set. Flanagan is returning from injury and has not competed on the track since the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki.
Defar, the 2004 Olympic Champion at 5000 meters, set the World Record at that distance (14:24.53) last summer at the Reebok Grand Prix in NYC, an effort that was named the female Outstanding Performance in the world for 2006. The Ethiopian speedster has twice come within an eyelash of breaking the indoor 3000-meter World Record in Boston, which she calls “one of my favorite cities.
With so many Ethiopian fans I believe I have lots of reasons to run fast there.” She will again run the 3000 meters here, as will Flanagan.
Hayes set the Olympic record on her way to winning gold in 2004 at the 100m hurdles. She was ranked #1 in the world that year by Track & Field News, as well as being named winner of the prestigious Jesse Owens Award.
Since the Reebok Boston Indoor Games began in 1996, a total of 90 Olympic and World Championship medalists have competed in the event, which has also played host to four World Records and eight American Records. In addition, last year’s event featured the deepest men’s indoor mile field ever assembled, shattering the previous mark (eight) with 11 athletes breaking the 4-minute barrier.
The 12th-annual Reebok Boston Indoor Games, the first stop in USA Track & Field’s Visa Championship Series, will be held at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center at Roxbury Community College, 1350 Tremont St., beginning at 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 27. Information and tickets, at $60, $40 and $20, are now available on-line at www.BostonIndoorGames.com or by calling 1-877-TIX-TRAC. The Visa Championship Series returns to the Reggie Lewis Center Feb. 24-25 for the AT&T USA Indoor Track & Field Championships.
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