# 2004 IAAF World Cross Country Championships

The 2004 IAAF World Cross Country Championships took place on March 20/21, 2004. The races were held at the Ossegem Park in Brussels, the capital of Belgium. Reports of the event were given in The New York Times, and for the IAAF.
The new team scores introduced in 2002 were reverted to the original form as used in 2001 and earlier.
Complete results for senior men, for senior men's teams, for men's short race, for men's short race teams, for junior men, for junior men's teams, senior women, for senior women's teams, for women's short race, for women's short race teams, for junior women, for junior women's teams, medallists, and the results of British athletes who took part were published.

## Medallists

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| Individual |||||||
| Senior men (12 km) | Kenenisa Bekele Ethiopia | 35:52 | Gebre-egziabher Gebremariam Ethiopia | 36:10 | Sileshi Sihine Ethiopia | 36:11 |
| Men's short (4 km) | Kenenisa Bekele Ethiopia | 11:31 | Gebre-egziabher Gebremariam Ethiopia | 11:36 | Maregu Zewdie Ethiopia | 11:42 |
| Junior men (8 km) | Meba Tadesse Ethiopia | 24:01 | Boniface Kiprop Uganda | 24:03 | Ernest Meli Kimeli Kenya | 24:16 |
| Senior women (8 km) | Benita Johnson Australia | 27:17 | Ejagayehu Dibaba Ethiopia | 27:29 | Worknesh Kidane Ethiopia | 27:34 |
| Women's short (4 km) | Edith Masai Kenya | 13:07 | Tirunesh Dibaba Ethiopia | 13:09 | Teyiba Erkesso Ethiopia | 13:11 |
| Junior women (6 km) | Meselech Melkamu Ethiopia | 20:48 | Aziza Aliyu Ethiopia | 20:53 | Mestawat Tadesse Ethiopia | 20:56 |
| Team |||||||
| Senior men | Ethiopia | 14 | Kenya | 30 | Eritrea | 66 |
| Men's short | Ethiopia | 17 | Qatar | 39 | Kenya | 52 |
| Junior men | Kenya | 20 | Ethiopia | 25 | Uganda | 33 |
| Senior women | Ethiopia | 26 | Kenya | 30 | United Kingdom | 74 |
| Women's short | Ethiopia | 19 | Kenya | 21 | Canada | 87 |
| Junior women | Ethiopia | 10 | Kenya | 36 | Japan | 67 |

## Race results
### Senior men's race (12 km)

* Note: Athletes in parentheses did not score for the team result

### Men's short race (4 km)

* Note: Athletes in parentheses did not score for the team result

### Junior men's race (8 km)

* Note: Athletes in parentheses did not score for the team result

### Senior women's race (8 km)

* Note: Athletes in parentheses did not score for the team result

### Women's short race (4 km)

* Note: Athletes in parentheses did not score for the team result

### Junior women's race (6 km)

* Note: Athletes in parentheses did not score for the team result

## Medal table (unofficial)

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Ethiopia | 9 | 6 | 5 | 20 |
| 2 | Kenya | 2 | 4 | 2 | 8 |
| 3 | Australia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | Uganda | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 5 | Qatar | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | Canada | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 6 | Eritrea | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 6 | Great Britain | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 6 | Japan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (9 entries) | Totals (9 entries) | 12 | 12 | 12 | 36 |
* Note: Totals include both individual and team medals, with medals in the team competition counting as one medal.

## Participation

According to an unofficial count, 673 athletes from 72 countries participated. This is in agreement with the official numbers as published. The announced athletes from Guinea did not show.
* Algeria (12)
* Andorra (2)
* Australia (16)
* Azerbaijan (2)
* Bahrain (1)
* Belarus (6)
* Belgium (36)
* Bolivia (4)
* Botswana (5)
* Brazil (5)
* Burundi (4)
* Canada (33)
* Central African Republic (1)
* Chile (2)
* China (8)
* DR Congo (1)
* Croatia (2)
* Czech Republic (2)
* Ecuador (4)
* Egypt (4)
* Equatorial Guinea (1)
* Eritrea (19)
* Ethiopia (30)
* France (32)
* Germany (1)
* Guatemala (2)
* Hong Kong (1)
* Hungary (1)
* Iceland (3)
* Ireland (17)
* Italy (11)
* Japan (23)
* Kazakhstan (2)
* Kenya (36)
* Kyrgyzstan (3)
* Lebanon (2)
* Macau (1)
* Malawi (5)
* Mexico (7)
* Morocco (34)
* Nepal (4)
* Netherlands (6)
* New Zealand (9)
* Palestine (4)
* Peru (1)
* Poland (4)
* Portugal (23)
* Puerto Rico (13)
* Qatar (6)
* Romania (2)
* Russia (15)
* Rwanda (10)
* Serbia and Montenegro (3)
* Seychelles (2)
* Slovenia (2)
* South Africa (12)
* Spain (35)
* Switzerland (13)
* Tajikistan (3)
* Tanzania (13)
* Tunisia (7)
* Turkey (3)
* Turkmenistan (6)
* Uganda (6)
* Ukraine (4)
* United Kingdom (30)
* United States (36)
* U.S. Virgin Islands (5)
* Uzbekistan (6)
* Venezuela (2)
* Zambia (4)
* Zimbabwe (3)