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).