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BOSTON (Nov. 19, 2007) – Since 1996, the first year of the Reebok Boston Indoor Games, more than 90 Olympic and World Championships medalists have made a winter pilgrimage to Boston, giving fans the chance to cheer – and often meet – the same athletes at whom they’ve marveled on TV. Maurice Greene, Stacy Dragila, Gail Devers, Haile Gebrselassie, Kenenisa Bekele, Carolina Kluft, Bernard Lagat, Allyson Felix, Meseret Defar, Craig Mottram … the list goes on and on.

On Aug. 8, 2008, in Beijing, the Olympic Games will begin. On Jan. 26, 2008, in Boston, the story of those Games will begin to unfold.

Over the years, the Reebok Boston Indoor Games has played host to five World Records, nine American Records and 14 National Records for countries from around the world. In 2007 alone, the sell-out crowd at the Reggie Lewis Track & Athletic Center witnessed a World Record, an American Record and four other national marks, led by Ethiopian superstar Tirunesh Dibaba and American standout Shalane Flanagan.

For Dibaba, it was her second World Record set here. The 21-year-old World Champion first broke the world mark for 5000 meters in 2005 (14:32.93), came close to doing it again in 2006 and last year shattered it with an eye-popping run of 14:27.42. It was so fast, even she was impressed.

“I was concentrating on this race, so I had the confidence to break it (the record),” she said afterward, adding: “I didn't think I could break it by this much.”

Not long afterward, local favorite Shalane Flanagan, who grew up in nearby Marblehead, Mass., destroyed the American Record for 3000 meters when she boldly challenged Olympic gold medalist and World Record-holder Meseret Defar of Ethiopia for the lead late in the race, sending her hometown crowd into a frenzy. Her runner-up time of 8:33.25 ripped almost six seconds off the American Record.

Three Australians – Sarah Jamieson (Mile, 4:28.03), Steve Hooker (Pole Vault, 19 feet, 0.75 inches/5.81m), and Craig Mottram (3000m, 7:39.24) – set National Records. The stories for Boston first-timers Jamieson and Hooker both had a twist: the former, the 2006 Commonwealth Games silver medalist, was racing for the first time ever indoors; the latter, ranked #1 in the world, was competing on poles borrowed from Jeff Hartwig. Hooker’s poles were lost in transit from Australia. Mottram won here for the second consecutive year.

Also bettering a National Record was New Zealander Kim Smith, with her third-place finish at 3000m in 8:38.14.

And that was just in 2007. For a look at the many highlights from the past 12 years, click on History under Meet Info. For a look at the new highlights of 2008 as the Olympic year kicks off, we’ll see you on January 26th at 5:30 p.m.