Haile Gebrselassie smashed his own 5,000-metre indoor world record at an international meeting to become the first man to complete the event in less than 13 minutes indoors. The happy-go-lucky Ethiopian finished at Stockholm’s Globen arena in 12 minutes 59.04 seconds, crushing his own world record by more than 11 seconds in an astonishing performance of pace and power. Gebrselassie, Olympic 10,000-metre gold medallist at the Atlanta Olympics last year, had set the previous indoor world record of 13:10.98 seconds in Germany. “It felt like Addis Ababa here tonight,” the grinning Ethiopian athlete told reporters after the race as a noisy contingent of compatriots in the 9,000-strong crowd went wild with delight.
Other important events:
1792 US President George Washington signs an act creating the US Post Office.
1809 Saragossa, Spain, is captured by French forces after a bloody siege.
1872 Hydraulic electric elevator is patented by Cyrus Baldwin.
1928 Britain recognises independence of the TransJordan.
1935 Karoline Mikkelson becomes the first woman to visit Antarctica
1941 Romania breaks relations with Netherlands.
1942 Japanese invade island of Bali in Dutch East Indies during Second World War.
1962 Astronaut John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit Earth.
1964 Morocco and Algeria sign an accord to end border conflict.
1967 Indonesia’s President Sukarno surrenders all executive power.
1986 Russia launches the Mir space station.
1990 England announces it will unilaterally lift ban on new investments in South Africa.
1992 Israeli troops break through UN barricades in Lebanon to attack rocket-launching fighters.
1997 The US government refuses to recognise World Trade Organisation’s authority in its dispute with the European Union over trade with Cuba.
1998 The last power cable supplying downtown Auckland, New Zealand, fails, leaving 100 blocks dark for weeks.
1998 Tara Lipinski becomes the youngest Olympic women’s figure skating champion in history by winning the ladies’ figure skating title in Nagano, Japan.
1999 India and Pakistan start first bus services in 51 years.
2002 A fire breaks out on a train travelling from Cairo to Luxor, killing 373 people.
2003 Pakistani Air Force chief, Air Marshal Mushaf Ali Mir, dies in plane crash.
2005 Hunter Stockton Thompson dies of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his Woody Creek home.
2007 Three ultra-endurance athletes complete the first-ever run across the world’s largest desert.
2008 Space shuttle Atlantis and its crew return to Earth, after successful delivery of a new European lab to the international space station.
2013 Estonia becomes the first country in the world to establish a national electric car charging network.
2014 Libyans votes to elect a panel to draft a new constitution.
2015 New Zealand cricketer Brendon McCullum hits fastest World Cup 50 off 18 balls against England in Wellington.
2016 Italian Sara Errani wins the Dubai Duty Free Women’s Open.
