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Journalism of Courage
Saif Saeed Shaheen of Qatar shattered the world steeplechase record at the Golden League meeting on Friday to ease the disappointment of being banned from the Olympics by his former federation Kenya.
The 21-year-old world champion, who emigrated to Qatar for economic reasons, clocked seven minutes 53.63 seconds. Formerly known as Stephen Cherono, Shaheen completed the last lap in 63 seconds to better the world mark of 7:55.28 set by Brahim Boulami of Morocco at the same meeting in 2001.
Russian Olympic champion Yelena Isinbayeva set a second world record of the night when she broke her own mark set in Athens. Isinbayeva succeeded with her third attempt at 4.92 metres, her seventh world record of the year.
Only two athletes now remain in contention for the million dollar jackpot shared between competitors who win each of their events at the six Golden League meetings. Brussels is the penultimate competition which climaxes in Berlin on September 12.
