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Genzebe Dibaba Wants More World Records: She and Coach Jama Aden Target Two Marks

Tadias Magazine
By Sabrina Yohannes

Published: Tuesday, May 27th, 2014

New York (TADIAS) — Ethiopia’s Genzebe Dibaba smashed three world marks in two weeks in February, and she plans to attack two more world records this summer. She broke the indoor 1500m and 3000m records and two-mile world best in the winter, before taking 3000m world indoor championships gold in March, and she and her coach Jama Aden considered several outdoor records before the season began.

“I think she can take the mile and two-mile, the 2000,” said the Somali-born Aden in an interview. Genzebe lost her first race of the outdoor season in Doha, Qatar on May 9, but Aden said she’s still on track for her record-setting goals.

“We are still attacking the world records in the 2K and the two-miles,” he said, speaking some days after the Doha race. “She’ll run Ostrava on the 17th of June. She’ll run in the 2K in Ostrava. And then the two-mile, we haven’t set up yet.”

A women’s two-mile race has since been announced for the May 30-31 Prefontaine Classic meet in Eugene, Oregon featuring world 5000m medalist Mercy Cherono of Kenya, who finished ahead of Genzebe in Doha. Genzebe is not listed in that Eugene field, but the current world record in the two miles, 8:58:58, set by Ethiopia’s Meseret Defar in 2007, may just be threatened at the meet.

The 2000m world mark that Genzebe will chase in Ostrava in the Czech Republic is 5:25.36, set by Ireland’s Sonia O’Sullivan in 1994.

In the Doha Diamond League 3000m on May 9, Genzebe was in the lead when she was passed by Cherono and her world indoor medalist compatriot Hellen Obiri. Genzebe eventually drifted to 6th place.

“The race was tough,” said Genzebe in an interview. “I don’t know if it was the weather.” Though she didn’t offer it as an excuse, when asked about the fact that she sat on the Doha track immediately after the race and loosened her shoes, Genzebe said she had hurt her foot while training in spikes a week ahead of the race, causing her to change the shoes she used afterwards, and to also race in Doha with a bandaged foot. “In the hot weather, I experienced a burning sensation in my foot,” she said.

She had expected a challenge from Cherono, she said. “I know Mercy Cherono has speed over 5000 and 3000,” she said, but Obiri’s eventual triumph in the race wasn’t a surprise either. “Obiri is a very strong athlete,” she said. Both of those women were on Kenya’s world record-breaking 4 x 1500m team at the IAAF World Relays this past weekend, and will likely continue to challenge Genzebe in her endeavors this season.

“She didn’t know what went wrong, and she also had a little bit of soreness, but it wasn’t a major problem,” said Aden of Genzebe’s race in Doha, where she finished in 8:26.21.

“8:26 is her personal best, and it was not bad, but everybody else ran very well,” added Aden, who also commented that the pacemaking had not been ideal. Genzebe had previously run 8:37.00 for the distance outdoors. Her Doha vanquishers also slashed their previous bests, with Obiri running an African record 8:20.68, and Cherono 8:21.14.

“I was expecting 8:18, 8:16, 8:14, somewhere in between,” added Aden of Genzebe (whose indoor world record is 8:16.60, a 10-second improvement over her previous indoor best). “She’s in good shape. She trained very well.”

Genzebe is looking forward to several highlights in the season, including the Diamond League 3000/5000 series and the season-ending Continental Cup, which she aims to qualify for at the African championships.

“I want to run very fast in Rome in the 5000, not seeking a world record, but a personal best,” she said of the Rome Diamond League meet on June 5. “And I will focus on the 2000m and [two] mile events.”

Genzebe’s 5000m best is 14:37.56, which she ran in 2011. She has never run 2000m or two miles before outdoors, but clocked her 9:00.48 indoor two-mile world best in her debut over the distance indoors on February 15. She will be hoping to transfer the form that saw her set that mark and her 3:55.17 world indoor 1500m record on February 1 to the outdoor track.

“I’ve trained very well,” she said. “My work with Jama has been going great.”

She began training with him in the fall of 2012, after being introduced to him by Tirunesh’s Olympic silver-medalist husband Sileshi Sihine. Aden coaches Djibouti’s world indoor 1500m champion Ayanleh Souleiman, Sudan’s former world 800m champion Abubaker Kaki and others in and near Addis Ababa, and Genzebe joined the group.

“The idea came from Sileshi, as a matter of fact,” said Aden, whose expertise singled him out as a good candidate to coach Genzebe in her middle-distance ambitions.

The former world junior 5000m track and cross country champion Genzebe gives Aden a lot of credit for her recent success. “I would say that everything is due to him, and not just my efforts,” she said. “He helped me in my running and brought me to this level.”

“She was always a good athlete,” said Aden. “She hadn’t been working in the gym or done much hill work. … Now she does fartlek and hills with the boys, and really mixes it with the big boys, like Souleiman, like Musaeb Balla [of Qatar], like Kaki.”

“I was running 400m in 55 seconds,” said Genzebe, describing some of her outdoor workouts under Aden. She added that a valuable aspect of her work with him is his constant attention to the details of her daily sessions.

Aden developed a coaching career over many years, after having represented Somalia in the middle distances in the 1980s, including at the Los Angeles Olympics. “I studied at Fairleigh Dickinson University and did my graduate studies at George Mason in exercise physiology,” he said, of the American schools in New Jersey and the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. “I worked with Abdi Bile when Abdi was running.” Bile was a two-time 1500m world medalist for Somalia, taking gold in 1987 and bronze in 1993, and also contesting the 1996 Olympics.

“I created my own method of training,” said Aden. “I don’t ignore speed, I don’t ignore endurance, I don’t ignore strength. That’s been working with my athletes.”

“His work helped me achieve these results,” said Genzebe of her three indoor world marks. Now, coach and athlete both hope that she can add a couple more world records to her resume before the summer is over.
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Buzunesh Deba Ready for Boston

Tadias Magazine
By Sabrina Yohannes

Published: Saturday, April 19th, 2014

New York (TADIAS) — After placing second at the New York City marathon in November, when Buzunesh Deba of Ethiopia was preparing for next Monday’s 2014 Boston marathon, she came down with a respiratory infection that cost her several weeks of training starting late January. She expected that interruption to affect her race at the New York City half marathon, which took place on March 16, in temperatures below the freezing point.

“It was very cold, and my muscles were tight,” said Buzunesh. “I was with the leaders til about 8 miles, I think.” Things changed at a turn on the course. “I was at the back of the pack when a strong wind came and it flung me back, and after that I was separated from the group,” she said in an interview. “It was very windy and I couldn’t close the gap. After that, at about 9 miles, it was again very windy, and there wasn’t anyone near me, and I got left behind.”

Nevertheless, in a field that included reigning Olympic 10,000m silver medalist Sally Kipyego, 2013 Frankfurt and 2011 Boston marathon champion Caroline Kilel of Kenya and others, the New York City resident Buzunesh managed to finish second behind Kipyego in 1 hour, 8 minutes and 59 seconds.

“Based on that result, I believe I’ll run well in Boston, with God’s help, because it’s my best time,” said Buzunesh. “In 2011, when I ran 2 hours and 23 minutes [to place second in the New York marathon], I had run 1:09:55 [for the half marathon].”

Her 2014 half marathon finish and its nearly 1-minute improvement on her personal best (PB) was all the more meaningful because of her interrupted training in the lead-up to the race. “In fact, when I went into the race, I was thinking I may even be forced to drop out because I’d been sick and might not have enough energy,” she said.

“The training I’ve done after that has gone well to date,” she said this week from her winter training base in high-altitude Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she spent most of the time since mid-December, before leaving Thursday for Boston. “I believe that that New York half marathon PB will help me in Boston, and it gives me confidence.”

“This year, we’ve increased the speed work she does,” said her husband and coach Worku Beyi, adding that she upped the number of fast repetitions of 400m, and that she has also prepared for the hills on the Boston course. “The place where we train in Albuquerque is very hilly,” he said. “We did our last long run on Sunday.”

He is aware of the challenges Buzunesh, whose fastest marathon time is her 2011 New York 2:23:19, faces in Boston. “Right now, Buzuye is 10th on the entry list in Boston in terms of time,” he said, using an affectionate form of his wife’s name. “They are very tough opponents.”

The stacked line-up for Monday’s women’s race includes Ethiopians Mare Dibaba, who ran 2:19:52 in Dubai in 2012 and won in Xiamen, China in 2:21:36 this January, and former world 10,000m silver medalist Meselech Melkamu, who won Frankfurt in 2012 in a course record 2:21:01.

The field also includes a bevy of fast Kenyans like the defending Boston champion and favorite Rita Jeptoo, who won October’s Chicago marathon in 2:19:57, current Chicago and former Boston runner-up Jemima Sumgong (PB 2:20:48), Eunice Kirwa (PB 2:21:41), and former Boston champions Sharon Cherop (PB 2:22:28) and Kilel (PB 2:22:34).

“We come hoping to win,” said Worku. “One thing I admire about Buzuye is that she has no fear.”

It was running with no fear that took Buzunesh to eight marathon wins in the United States including course record wins in the 2011 San Diego and Los Angeles marathons (defeating Mare Dibaba in the latter).

It was running with no fear that took Buzunesh twice to the podium in the prestigious New York City marathon, where in 2011, she finished behind compatriot Firehiwot Dado but ahead of runners like the former world half marathon champion Mary Keitany of Kenya, who had won London in 2:19:19 just seven months prior; and Kilel, who had a PB nearly a minute faster than Buzunesh going in to the race.

“She puts her hard work on display,” said Worku. In the 2013 New York marathon, Buzunesh ran from the front along with her training partner Tigist Tufa, maintaining the pace she had trained for, and disregarding the field behind her, building up a lead of nearly three minutes at one point.

She was only caught in the final miles of the race by then-London champion Priscah Jeptoo of Kenya, who won ahead of Buzunesh’s 2:25:56 second place. The women left in Buzunesh’s wake included the world champion Edna Kiplagat of Kenya, who had run 2:19:50 for second place in London a year earlier.

Both the New York and Boston races are among the major marathons of the world, assembling top fields.

Buzunesh’s 2014 half marathon PB may not result in a subsequent marathon PB in Boston, like it did in 2011 in New York. “I’ve heard the weather is variable: One time, it’s warm; another time, windy; another time cold,” she said. “The weather will be decisive, and there’s also the fact that I don’t know the course, so I’ll know better when I’m in the race.”

Buzunesh was entered in the Boston marathon in 2012, but didn’t run it due to an injury. Last year, she had run the Houston marathon in January, placing second there in 2:24:26, and she was in New Mexico during the running of the 2013 Boston marathon on April 15, when bombs went off near the finish line several hours into the race. With masses of non-professional runners on the course and spectators lining it, the explosions left three dead and many seriously injured.

“We were watching coverage of the race on television, when we saw what happened,” said Buzunesh. “I was so shocked.”

“It’s tragic what happened last year,” she said. “This year, the security level will be increased. It will be like New York was last year. It was very good. They had greatly increased security measures from the start all the way to the finish line.”

Race organizers and Boston law enforcement officials have outlined tightened security procedures and an increased police presence leading up to and on race day this year.

“I don’t think there’ll be anything to be concerned about or anything to fear for us elite athletes or the mass runners,” added Buzunesh.

Ethiopia’s Lelisa Desisa won the men’s race last year, and gave his medal to the City of Boston afterwards as a gesture of empathy for what the city and its residents experienced. Lelisa is back this year, and favored to win again, after a spectacular year. He added a world championship marathon silver medal in Moscow last August to his April Boston win, which itself came after a victory in Dubai that January. He won a fast Ras Al Khaimah (UAE) half marathon this February.

Kenya’s reigning Chicago champion Dennis Kimetto is regarded as Lelisa’s toughest opponent, and his compatriot, the former 10K world record-holder Micah Kogo, will also be looking to upgrade his 2013 Boston second-place finish.

The strong 2014 field includes Ethiopians Gebre Gebremariam, the former world cross country and 2010 New York marathon champion, who was third in Boston in 2011 and 2013; former Los Angeles marathon champion and 2014 Dubai runner-up Markos Geneti; and 2013 Rotterdam champion and 2012 Chicago third-placer Tilahun Regassa.

American Ryan Hall, who was third in Boston in 2009 and has since finished just off the podium twice, is also coming to the race from Ethiopia, having spent time training there.

Others coming from Addis Ababa include the nation’s 2013 world championships 10,000m bronze medalist Belaynesh Oljira, who was 5th in the Dubai marathon last year, and the 2012 and 2013 Tokyo marathon runner-up Yeshi Esayias in the women’s race.

The Boston marathon takes place on the Patriots’ Day holiday celebrated in Massachusetts on Monday, April 21, with the elite women’s race kicking things off at 9:32am Eastern time, while the men’s race starts shortly thereafter.
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The race will be televised live throughout the U.S. on the Universal Sports channel.

Related:
Lelisa Desisa Delivers an Ethiopian Victory Amidst Sporting Disappointments

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Meseret Defar and Tirunesh Dibaba Face Each Other in Zurich on Thursday

Tadias Magazine
By Sabrina Yohannes

Published: Wednesday, August 28th, 2013

New York (TADIAS) – The world 10,000m and 5000m champions Tirunesh Dibaba and Meseret Defar will race for the first time in over a year at the IAAF Diamond League 5000 in Zurich on Thursday. A rare and much-anticipated clash between the two Olympic champions over both distances — and an opportunity for both to medal twice – failed to take place at the Moscow world championships this month due to the Ethiopian athletic federation’s preference that they each contest one event.

“If we had both raced twice, Ethiopia could have collected better medals,” said Meseret in an interview at the Moscow Ethiopian embassy some days after she and newcomer Almaz Ayana took gold and bronze in the 5000 there, and Tirunesh and teammate Belaynesh Oljira earned the same medals in the 10,000. “I complied with the request made of me, but my original intention was to contest both distances, and it’s the reason I ran a qualifying 10,000 in which I led for 20 laps.”

The 2004 and 2012 Olympic 5000 champion Meseret ran the year’s fastest 10,000m in June when seeking to make the world championships team.

In the Russian capital, the 2007 world champion Tirunesh regained the title ahead of Kenya’s Gladys Cherono, while the silver medal in the 5000 also went to a Kenyan, Mercy Cherono. Ahead of the championships when the 2008 double Olympic champion Tirunesh and Meseret were provisionally entered in both Moscow races, some athletics experts had speculated that Ethiopia could sweep the medals in the two distances.

“Yes, if we’d both run in the two events, I think we could have taken all the medals,” said Meseret. “Although the Kenyans could have come in between us, and perhaps they might have finished third and taken the bronze, but Ethiopia could definitely have taken gold and silver, I think.”

Ethiopia did sweep all six medals at the Helsinki world championships in 2005, where Tirunesh won both events and Meseret took 5000 silver.

“That could have happened, especially in the 5000 where all three of us are very strong,” said Meseret of the hypothetical Moscow 5000 team in which she would have been joined by Tirunesh and Almaz, who had run the year’s two fastest times. “We could have taken first through third.”

Both Tirunesh and Meseret said they were moved to consent to the federation’s request that they put aside their double medal hopes. “I pulled out of the [5000] race because the federation asked that both of us race one event each so that emerging athletes could gain experience, and Meseret and I agreed,” said Tirunesh after her victory.

“The younger athletes got the opportunity, and they ran very well and I’m so happy about this,” said Meseret.

The federation was content with the four medals earned in the two events and with its strategy to guarantee the most important objectives in each race. “It’s not so much a matter of medals, but a matter of golds,” said the organization’s technical director Dube Jillo in an interview in Moscow after the conclusion of the championships. “If we get the golds and these bronze medals, it’s sufficient. But our goal is developing athletes. The athletes who will tomorrow replace Tirunesh [and Meseret] have run here now, and it’s a matter of achieving that.”

“The maximum number of golds available in each race is one,” he continued. “What would be the purpose of having both do double duty? So we let each one concentrate on one event and run. Secondly, we have young athletes who are capable of medaling and we know this from their training and their competitions. And even if they don’t medal and we get just two golds, … we need to provide them with global championships experience.”

Of the young athletes who made the teams as a result, Ababel Yeshaneh was ninth in the 10,000m and Buze Diriba placed an impressive fifth in the 5000. Buze and Tirunesh’s world indoor 1500m champion sister Genzebe join Meseret and Tirunesh in the Weltklasse race in Zurich on Thursday. The stacked field includes three Kenyan silver medalists — both of the Cheronos who medaled in Moscow and the 2009 and 2011 runner-up in the world championships 5000, Sylvia Kibet – as well as their compatriot Viola Kibiwot who was fourth in Moscow.

The title match-up however is between Meseret and Tirunesh, who are one another’s fierce rivals on the track and last raced regularly in the 2006 IAAF Golden League which preceded the current Diamond league series of competitions. Sparks flew on the track as the pair traded victories and most notably, Meseret won the last race in the series where Tirunesh was headed for a jackpot prize for multiple victories and had to settle for a lesser award as a result.

They last met in the 2012 London Olympic 5000, where Meseret snatched victory in the final lap from Tirunesh, who was attempting the golden distance double, but had to settle for a 5000 bronze to go with her 10,000 gold. Prior to that, the two raced at the New York Diamond League meet where Meseret was a late entrant and lost to her rival in a moderately-paced 5000, in which both were seeking to make the Olympic team.

“I’ve raced many times with Meseret,” said Tirunesh when a reporter at the press conference following the Moscow 10,000 questioned hers and Meseret’s not doubling up there, and he also asked if she feared Meseret over 5000. “She’s beaten me and I’ve beaten her. But this is the world championships and we are competing against the world.”

“There’s nothing for me to fear,” she added.

“I like to run with her,” said Meseret when asked at her Moscow post-race press conference about racing her rival in future. “She is the strongest athlete and my biggest competitor.”

The next such contest takes place at 8:13pm Zurich time and 2:13pm Eastern United States time on Thursday and decides the winner of the 2013 race for points in the Diamond League women’s 5000. Tirunesh enters the Zurich race slightly fresher than Meseret as her last race was the 25-lap run in Moscow on August 11. Meseret has since run two rounds of the Moscow 5000 and won a 3000 in Stockholm last Thursday in a world-leading time, and she currently leads the race for points by a small margin.

The two women are also scheduled to meet over the half-marathon distance at the Great North Run in England on September 15.
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Meseret Defar: “It’s A Big Achievement For Me” After 5000m Gold in Moscow

Tadias Magazine
By Sabrina Yohannes

Updated: Saturday, August 17, 2013

MOSCOW (TADIAS) – After missing out on the 5000m gold at the last two world championships, Ethiopia’s two-time Olympic champion Meseret Defar reclaimed the title in Moscow on Saturday night.

“It’s my sixth world championships and I won my second gold medal of the world championships,” said Meseret who last won the event six years ago in Osaka, Japan. “It’s a big achievement for me.”

“The race today was very tactical, the first kilometer was slow, then the pace started to increase,” said Meseret, who kicked for home with 200m remaining and won in 14:50.19 ahead of Kenya’s Mercy Cherono, while Ethiopia’s Almaz Ayana earned bronze in 14:51.33.

“I am happy with my medal,” said Almaz, who led for many laps. “We did a good team race.”

“The Kenyan president was watching from the stands,” said Cherono, who caught Almaz on the homestretch. “He told me yesterday that he would look for me, so I had to struggle to make him proud.”

Meseret took 5000m bronze at the 2009 and 2011 world championships in which she had contested that event as well as the 10,000m. She and her compatriot Tirunesh Dibaba, who took gold over both distances in 2005, had wanted to make the same double attempt in Moscow, until Ethiopia’s athletic federation intervened.

“I thought of contesting both because I’m in very good shape,” said Meseret who ran the year’s fastest 10,000m time of 30:08.06 in Sollentuna, Sweden in June to make the Ethiopian Moscow team in the event. “In the 10,000m race with which I qualified for the championships, I ran 20 laps alone, leading the field. When I saw that, I knew I could run well and perform well, and I was personally convinced.”

Meseret’s personal best for the distance is 29:59.20.

“In the end, based on the federation’s request that we both run one event each to allow upcoming athletes to participate, both of us agreed and gave the opportunity to the youngsters,” she said.

The two-time Olympic 10,000m champion Tirunesh won the Moscow world championship race on Sunday, leading her teammate Belaynesh Oljira to bronze.

“Giving the younger athletes the opportunity has made me feel good, and Tirunesh got the gold as you saw, and I’m very pleased,” said Meseret, who was keen to uphold national pride along with her less-established teammates in the 5000m.

The two star athletes have shared the long distance titles at global championships on prior occasions, with Tirunesh winning the 10,000m and Meseret the 5000m at the 2007 world championships and 2012 Olympics.

Meseret suffered just one loss this outdoor season, to Tirunesh’s sister, the world indoor 1500m champion Genzebe Dibaba, in Shanghai in June. “One week before that race, I was ill,” said Meseret.”I was coughing and had a bad cold.”

“After that, after I recovered from my illness, I was back to my best when I performed well and ran a fast time in Oslo,” added Meseret, who in Norway ran the third-fastest 5000 of the year, 14:26.90, winning ahead of Viola Kibiwot of Kenya, who will be in Saturday’s final, and Genzebe.

The year’s fastest 5000m runner, Tirunesh, clocked 14:23.68 in July in Paris, where her surprise runner-up was the 2013 Ethiopian steeplechase champion Almaz Ayana in 14:25.84.

“She’s a very strong and good young athlete,” said Meseret of the relative newcomer Almaz. “As you have seen, she recorded a remarkable performance in Paris and she’s very strong now too.”

The Athens 2004 Olympic champion Meseret regained that title in London last year after taking bronze in Beijing in 2008, and she has now succeeded in staging a similar comeback at the world championships, trading up her Berlin 2009 and Daegu 2011 bronzes.
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Related:
Steeplechaser Sofia Assefa Follows in Olympian Eshetu Tura’s Footsteps
Tirunesh Dibaba Wins Women’s 10,000, Mohammed Aman Wins Gold in 800

Video: Meseret Defar qualifies for – 5000m Women – (10 AUG 2013)

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Steeplechaser Sofia Assefa Follows in Olympian Eshetu Tura’s Footsteps

Tadias Magazine
By Sabrina Yohannes

Updated: Thursday, August 15, 2013

MOSCOW (TADIAS) – History was made in Russia’s Luzhniki Stadium as an Ethiopian made the podium in the steeplechase at a global championships for the first time ever on July 31, 1980, when Eshetu Tura took the bronze medal at the Moscow Olympic Games. Thirty-three years later, history repeated itself when one of his athletes, Sofia Assefa, also took steeplechase bronze in the same stadium at the 2013 athletics world championships on Tuesday night, becoming the first Ethiopian — male or female — to medal in that race at the biennial event.

“Repeating Eshetu Tura’s achievement places me in the history books,” said Sofia, who also followed in his footsteps last year in London, when she became the first female steeplechaser from her nation to medal at the Olympics, earning bronze. “I’m very happy, praise God.”

Sofia’s accomplishment in Moscow was made all the more dramatic after she fell at a jump during the race and recovered to finish in 9:12.84 behind Kenya’s African champion Milcah Chemos and national champion Lydia Chepkurui, who ran 9:11.65 and 9:12.84.

With two laps to go, Sofia was comfortably tucked in the lead pack, in fifth place behind the two Kenyans and Ethiopia’s All Africa Games runner-up Hiwot Ayalew and Etenesh Diro. “The race was tough … but I was doing well,” said Sofia. “I took a running leap and crashed into the hurdle. When I fell, I was very worried, because it’s very difficult to fall and get up again. I only had 700m left. The effort you make to catch up costs you a lot of energy.”

Sofia was quickly dropped by the leading four runners and overtaken by Kenya’s Hyvin Jepkemoi, leaving her adrift in sixth place. “But I just kept going, thinking that I’ll leave with whatever God gives me, whatever I get,” she said.

She gradually regained contact and resumed her fifth place position at the bell and coming into the final turn, she overtook Hiwot and chased the Kenyan pair down the homestretch, gaining ground but unable to reel in either. “If I hadn’t fallen, I think that even if I didn’t win, we would at least have finished closer together,” she said. “I don’t know, maybe I might have been second.”

She didn’t think she would have beaten Chemos. “She’s strong and she always beats me,” said Sofia, who has beaten Chemos in one steeplechase race each season since 2009 compared to the nearly two dozen times the Kenyan has bested Sofia. “But I would have stayed with them and fought hard til the very end, and if I had been beaten, I would have been beaten,” added Sofia. “But God be praised, this for me is sufficient.”

She was still in a slight daze over her fall and eventual outcome when she encountered Ethiopia’s newly-crowned 800 meter champion Mohammed Aman in the mixed zone for athletes and media, and he embraced and congratulated her. She started talking to him about her fall and her voice trailed off. “Ayzosh,” he comforted her in Amharic. (“It’s OK.”)

She had just come from the track where she had been handed an Ethiopian flag and congratulated by members of the team who had been on hand to see her medal, including Eshetu Tura and the head national steeple coach Bizuneh Yaye, though neither she nor they had brought up Eshetu’s Moscow bronze. “I didn’t think of it at the time,” she said. “But both of them were there, and they’re very happy.” Upon being reminded of the decades-old historic achievement she’d emulated in the same city and stadium, she added, “Even though it’s with another bronze, it’s great that it was repeated.”

Eshetu also earned a steeplechase silver medal representing Africa at the 1977 International Association of Athletics Federations’ (IAAF) World Cup, a continental team competition that was a predecessor to the current IAAF Continental Cup, in which both Sofia and Ethiopian men’s steeplechaser Roba Gari medaled for Africa in 2010, he with a silver and she with another bronze. (The competition is not, however, seen as a global championship in the same sense as the Olympics or world championships.)

In the season leading up to her Moscow bronze, Sofia had five podium finishes in the IAAF Diamond League series of one-day competitions. Prior to emulating Eshetu’s Olympic feat in London last year, she had four. “I had high expectations because I had run well in the Diamond League,” said Sofia, who had run her personal best and Ethiopia’s national record 9:09.00 in the Oslo Diamond League meet on June 7, 2012 behind Chemos’ 9:07.14 African record. “The whole time I was running [at the London Olympics], I was thinking about medaling,” said Sofia. “I may not have had the confidence to be first, but I thought I might place second or third.”

After the Olympics, she arrived in Ethiopia without fanfare. “I didn’t return with the team,” she said. “I had races scheduled and I went straight to the site of a race from London. I saw the team’s homecoming reception in Addis Ababa on the internet and it was nice. As I didn’t even [finish my race] in Stockholm, I wished I had gone back with them.”

She received plenty of praise from Ethiopia’s only other Olympic medalist in her event , Eshetu, and her other coaches, including former steepler and 1980 Moscow 5000m runner Yohannes Mohammed. “The coaches are great,” she said. “They were very happy. They always encourage me, telling me I can run even better.”

A year after London, Sofia has indeed increased her global medal tally, and made her mentors proud. Coming into Moscow, she had hoped to reach a higher step on the podium, and that future hope remains. “I have bronze,” she said. “I believe I have to put in my effort to, God willing, achieve something better — be it silver or gold.”
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Related:
Ethiopia Celebrates Highest Ever World Championships Medal Haul in Moscow

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