ADDIS ABABA: Some of the athletes, both men and women, were waiting for transportation at Ghion Hotel here to take them for training sessions at a nearby stadium.
They included Seleshi Sihina, 24, and Tirnesh Dibaba, a 22-year-old girl. “We are training rigorously and are confident of winning medals at the Beijing Olympics,” Sihina told Arab News last week.
Both are champion athletes and have an excellent track record. Both were victorious at the recent Rome Golden League athletics meeting in Italy. The two figure prominently in Ethiopia’s 47-member “Golden” Olympics delegation that includes 37 athletes. The delegation is to leave for China on Aug. 10.
“The Ethiopian Olympic squad bound for Beijing is destined to bring home more medals than the record number collected at the Athens Olympics four years ago,” Youth and Sport State Minister Abdissa Yadeta told a press conference here last week.
“We have set a goal of 10 gold medals to mark the new Ethiopian Millennium (as per the Ethiopian calendar),” Abdissa said while speaking during Ethiopian Olympic Committee’s announcement of the roster of athletes to represent the nation at the Beijing Olympics. Ethiopia will participate in Paralympics and boxing as well. The Ethiopian women’s squad for the marathon includes first world marathon champion, Gete Wami, world champion Berhane Aderre, Dire Tune and Bezunesh Bekele. This will be the last Olympic appearance for Gete and Berhane. Fatuma Roba won in Atlanta eight years ago.
Deriba Mergia, Tsegaye Kebede, Gudisa Shentema and Gashaw Melese line up for the men’s marathon squad to bring back the lost glory believed by many to be an Ethiopian right since the performance of all-time marathon great double Olympic gold medalist Abebe Bikila, followed by Mamo Wolde and recent hero Gezahne Aberra.
Ethiopians believe that the 10,000-meter race will be a clean sweep for their country. The question is which Ethiopian gets the gold, whether living legend Haile Gebrselassie, Kenenisa Bekele or Salehi Sehen,” a committee official remarked.
They also believe that the women’s 5,000 meters will be a matter of formality, as the Ethiopian girls will win the gold, silver and bronze medals.
“I am exceeding my own expectations (in the Beijing Olympics),” Tsegaye Kebede, who won the 2008 Paris Marathon, said.
Few observers who saw marathon runner Kebede enter the 2007 Abebe Bikila International Marathon in July last year as an unknown but emerged victorious in a new course record time would have thought that he would be carrying Ethiopia’s hopes for medals at the 29th Beijing Olympics.
But after a 2:06.40 performance en route to victory in the 2008 Paris International Marathon and several solid half marathon and 10-km performances throughout the year, the 22-year-old is now being touted as a genuine hope for medals in Beijing.
Kebede’s rise to the top level has surprised the athletics community in Ethiopia. After all, he has only been training seriously for less than two years and competed internationally for less than a year.
“I do not think training is the only reason for my improvement. I have big confidence in my abilities and myself. I will be going for gold.”
Kebede’s marathon ambitions do not end there. “I have two big ambitions,” he says. “Apart from Haile, Ethiopia has not had many big marathon runners. I want to become a better marathon runner than I already am.”
“Every time I train at the Addis Ababa stadium, I look at the images of our Olympic champions on Olympic rings. There is a question mark (or a space open for future Olympic champions). I want my photo instead of the question mark.”
