World 5,000 and 10,000 metres women’s champion Tirunesh Dibaba will lead a 33-strong Ethiopian squad to the world athletics championships in Osaka, Japan, this month, the Ethiopian Athletics Federation (EAF) said on Friday.Olympic 10 000 metres champion Kenenisa Bekele will defend the world title he won in Helsinki two years ago.Ethiopian athletes have won 31 medals, including 13 golds, at the world championships.
“We have a good team and the Kenyans and everybody else will see a real fight,” EAF spokesman El Shadai Legash said.
Dibaba, who also won the 5 000 title in Paris in 2003, will again face her compatriot Meseret Defar in a repeat of last year’s Golden League showdowns.
Dibaba has been out of the limelight, focusing one her training, but Defar has enjoyed a season where she sliced nearly eight seconds off the world 5 000 record in Oslo and won the All-African Games 5 000 final in Algiers last month.
The men’s 5 000 has two Ethiopian squad members who took gold and silver in the last world junior championships in Beijing, China, in August 2006.
Champion Tariku Bekele will compete in his second world championships after finishing seventh in Helsinki.
Ethiopian squad:
Men - Derese Mekonnen, Mekonnen Gebremedhin (1,500), Roba Gari, Nahom Mesfin (steeplechase), Sileshi Sihine, Tariku Bekele, Abraham Cherkose, Bekana Daba (5,000), Kenenisa Bekele, Sihine, Gebregziabher Gebremariam, Tadesse Tola (10 000), Geshaw Melese, Dejene Berhanu, Ambesse Tolosa, Gudissa Shentema, Tesfaye Tola (marathon).
Women - Mestawet Tadesse (1 500), Netsanet Achamo, Mekdes Bekele, Zemzem Ahmed (steeplechase), Tirunesh Dibaba, Meseret Defar, Gelete Burika, Meselech Melkamu (5 000), Tirunesh Dibaba, Mestawet Tufa, Teyiba Erkesso, Ejegayehou Dibaba, Aheza Kiros (10 000), Robe Guta, Askale Tafa, Dure Tune, Adanech Zekiros, Shetaye Gemechu (marathon).
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No Wonder USA Flies Happily with Bronze and Turkey goes Black to grasp Silver!
By Mubarak Bingawi
Amongst many eagerly waiting Ethiopians, I sat as a Sudanese, married to an Ethiopian trying to cope up with the overwhelming emotions of cheerleading, supporting and adrenaline pumped moment of nationalism. It is obvious that the two neighboring nations meet and stand on many solid cultural, traditional and historical grounds that lead to natural sympathy with each other.
Osaka games proved to be another occasion to translate this cohesion, only to feel this clearly reflecting while watching the “Amazingrace” and the incredible recovery of this tiny beautiful 21-year-old gem who captured all imaginations.
It wasn’t really a surprising win, as everyone expected the Ethiopian Team, including Tirunesh to harvest the gold, following the footsteps of pioneering legends such as Bikila, Wolde, Tulu, Fatuma, Gebre Selassie and Bekele, to name a few. However, the moment of fear, disappointment and hope that holds the breath. Tirunesh Dibaba had a crash, stomach pain and the stultifying torpor hanging over the world championships. Nevertheless, she survived against the odds, and with her, we recovered… a whole nation has recovered. She rallied from a midway collision involving teammate Mestawat Tufa, hit her stride again and won the 10,000 to defend her title… with a smile to spare!
The emotions were impassionate and no way to escape the tears of joy.
Dibaba took the lead with a lap to go, kicked for home, and beat Turkey’s “Habesha” Elvan Abeylegesse for the gold in a race full of surprises. Has any one noticed the joy of surprised American Kara Goucher who took bronze? Indeed, it was not a surprising win for Tirunesh who proved that she is a genuine heroine and a National African Pride!
Keep it up fellow Ethiopians and let it be a State’s attention, represented by the EAF focusing on Ethiopian athletes as a team, not as individuals. You are the children of high plateaus of Abyssinia with all the natural potentiality to dominate the long distances, for decades to come.
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August 26th, 2007 at 6:15 AM