Kluft, Defar set for Reebok Boston Indoor Games
Posted Tuesday, 4 December, 2007
BOSTON (Dec. 4) - Carolina Kluft and Meseret Defar, widely considered the top female track-and-field athletes in the world, will be among the headliners at the 2008 Reebok Boston Indoor Games on Jan. 26, organizers announced today. Tickets for the 13th annual Olympic-style event are on sale now by calling 1-877-TIX-TRAC.
As reigning Olympic gold medalist in the heptathlon, Kluft owns the unofficial title of World's Best Female Athlete. The 24-year-old from Sweden reinforced her claim last summer by becoming the first three-time heptathlon World Champion in the history of the sport. In Boston, she will compete in the long jump, her best individual event. In 2004, she made the Olympic long jump final just days after winning heptathlon gold.
Defar's 2007 season, meanwhile, was highlighted by four World Records and a World Championship gold medal at 5000 meters. The Ethiopian distance star, also 24, was honored last month by the International Association of Athletics Federations, the world's governing body of the sport, as 2007 World Athlete of the Year. Last year, Defar set world marks at 3000 meters indoors, 5000 meters and 2 Miles (twice). The distance at which she will compete in Boston is yet to be announced.
Since the Reebok Boston Indoor Games began in 1996, more than 90 Olympic and World Championship medalists have competed in the event, which has also played host to five World Records and nine American Records. Last year, fans witnessed a 5000-meter World Record by Tirunesh Dibaba and an American Record at 3000 meters by Shalane Flanagan, a hometown favorite who grew up in nearby Marblehead, Mass. In 2006, the event featured the deepest men's indoor mile field ever assembled, shattering the previous mark (eight) with 11 athletes breaking the 4-minute barrier.
Sponsored by Reebok International Ltd., with its world headquarters in Canton, Mass., the event is owned and produced by Global Athletics & Marketing, Inc., an athlete-representation and events firm based in Boston. More athletes for the 2008 event will be announced soon.
The 13th-annual Reebok Boston Indoor Games, the second stop in USA Track & Field's Visa Championship Series, begins at 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 26 at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center at Roxbury Community College, 1350 Tremont St. Information is now available on-line at www.BostonIndoorGames.com, and tickets are on sale by phone at 1-877-TIX-TRAC. On-line ticket sales will begin soon.
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