Olympic return
Sileshi Sihine of Ethiopia will make his second career Olympic appearance in Beijing this summer, where he figures to contend for gold medals in both distance races. At the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Sihine won a silver medal in the men’s 10,000m.
Building toward Beijing
Sihine had a strong showing during 2007 and appears primed for the Olympic year. He won two of his three starts at 5,000m, taking gold at the Rome Grand Prix and the Brussels Grand Prix, where he ran a season-best 12 minutes, 50.16 seconds, the second-fastest time in the world. At the World Championships in Osaka, Japan, Sihine took silver in the 10,000m behind fellow Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele. Bekele won in 27:05.90 and Sihine ran 27:09.03.
Athens ascent
The strength of the Ethiopian distance squad was on full display at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, with Kenenisa Bekele winning gold in the 10,000m in an Olympic-record 27:05.10 and Sihine taking silver in 27:09.39. It marked the first time that runners from the same country finished 1-2 in the event since the Berlin Games in 1936, when Ilmari Salminen, Aryo Askola and Volmari Iso Hollo of Finland swept the medals.
Clean sweep
Sihine burst onto the international track scene at the 2003 World Championships in Paris. There, he earned the 10,000m bronze medal, completing an Ethiopian sweep along with gold-medalist Bekele and silver-medalist Haile Gebrselassie. It was the first sweep of the event by one country at an international competition since the trio of Finns did it at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.
Breakthrough year
In 2003, Sihine won national titles in the 5,000m and 10,000m, setting championship records in both events. In his 5,000m victory, he defeated Bekele, the current world-record holder in the event. In the 10,000m, Sihine finished behind Bekele and Gebrselassie. He was then named to the world championship team, setting the stage for the historic sweep at the 2003 Worlds.
No shame in second
Sileshi’s talent is unquestioned, but he has earned the moniker “Mr. Silver” because he has run in the shadow of countryman Bekele, perhaps the greatest distance runner of all-time, throughout his career. With some of the fastest times in history and a stockpile of international medals — most of them silver — it could be argued that Sileshi’s legacy might be that of the most underrated runner in history.
Early inspiration
Gebrselassie inspired Sihine to start running seriously. “Whenever I saw Haile win races, I would feel like standing up and running,” Sihine said. Sihine enjoyed significant success as a junior. At the 2002 World Junior Championships, he took silver in the 10,000m behind teammate Gebre-egziabher Gebremariam, and finished sixth at the 2002 World Cross-Country championships.
Source: NBC Olympics
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