Tag Archives: Tirunesh Dibaba

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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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Tirunesh Dibaba and Meseret Defar to Contest One Event Each at 2013 World Championships in Moscow

Tadias Magazine
By Sabrina Yohannes

Updated: Friday, August 9, 2013

Moscow (TADIAS) – Ethiopia’s London Olympic champions Tirunesh Dibaba and Meseret Defar will contest just one event each at the 2013 athletics world championships in Moscow, with Tirunesh running only the 10,000-meter final on Sunday August 11, team officials confirmed on Wednesday. Meseret will run the 5000-meter elimination round next Wednesday morning before the final takes place three days later, on the evening of Saturday, August 17.

The two women had been entered in both of those events and were considered favorites to medal twice, while the double gold medal feat that Tirunesh achieved at the 2005 world championships and 2008 Beijing Olympics has served as a tantalizing prospect.

“It’s very difficult for athletes to run three races in one week,” said the Ethiopian athletic federation’s head coach Dr. Yilma Berta in Moscow on Wednesday. “It’s better for them to contest one event each, and take one event each.” The team believes the strategy would set up two golds for the nation.

For the 2004 and 2012 Olympic 5000 champion Meseret, who has medaled repeatedly over that distance, but never yet over 10,000, running the longer event first could jeopardize her chances for the shorter event. It appears to have done so in the 2009 and 2011 world championships, where she ran both events but took just one bronze medal in the 5000m. In 2009, as in 2013, she had run one of the year’s two fastest 10,000m in the world before the championships, but that did not guarantee a medal.

Tirunesh, though, would have already contested her main event, the 10,000, by the time the Moscow 5000 begins. However, even if she were to win the 10,000 and still wish to start in the 5000, she would not be able to do so, said Dr. Yilma. “It’s already been decided,” he said. “Everyone is running one race each. There are also other younger athletes who deserve the opportunity.”

Meseret will be joined in the 5000 by Almaz Ayana, who in July ran the second-fastest time any woman has run this year. That race, in Paris, was won by Tirunesh, who at the time was looking forward to racing over the distance in Moscow in addition to the 10,000.

“She wanted to run both and she had been preparing for both,” said her sister Genzebe Dibaba on Wednesday in Moscow, where she arrived ahead of her sibling. “She’s in better shape than she was last year,” added Genzebe.

The 5000 world record-holder Tirunesh did run both events in London last year, and finished the 5000 in third place after losing a final sprint to her track arch-rival Meseret, who was coming into the race with fresh legs and a fierce determination to regain the Olympic 5000 crown.

No such double attempt is in the federation’s plans for 2013, and Ethiopia’s only Moscow 10,000 and 5000 double gold that will be in the history books when these championships are over will be the legendary Miruts Yifter’s from the 1980 Olympics.

Genzebe also qualified for two events in Moscow, the 5000 and the 1500, in which she is the fastest Ethiopian of the year and the only one to have run under four minutes. “The federation wants me to contest the 1500, since there’s a shortage of athletes in it,” said Genzebe, who will run the event’s first round on Sunday morning, August 11.

The overwhelming favorite to win that event’s final is Ethiopian-born Abeba Aregawi, who represented the nation at last year’s Olympics, but had established ties with Sweden previously and now represents the Scandinavian nation.

Ethiopia does have a favored athlete in the Moscow middle distance events, as Mohammed Aman runs the men’s 800m, which starts its first round of races this Saturday morning in the absence of Olympic champion and world record-holder David Rudisha of Kenya.

Olympic champion Tiki Gelana and former world track and cross country medalist and 2012 Frankfurt marathon champion Meselech Melkamu run the Moscow women’s marathon Saturday afternoon, after which London women’s steeplechase bronze medalist Sofia Assefa competes in the first round of that event.

The 2008 Olympic and 2009 world championship double gold medalist in the 10,000 and 5000, Kenenisa Bekele, is entered as a reserve in the men’s 10,000 final, which takes place Saturday evening. Kenenisa was the fourth-fastest Ethiopian this year in both of his events, after winning the 10,000m in Eugene, Oregon in May.

That race was initially scheduled to serve as a trials race for the Moscow 10,000m, where the first three Ethiopians would automatically make the team, but that plan was abandoned before the Eugene Prefontaine Classic meeting, and Moscow selections were made based on athletes’ fastest times for the season.

“There was a plan to hold a trials race there, and then there was another plan to hold it somewhere else, but neither plan worked out,” said Dr. Yilma. Ethiopia ordinarily selects athletes for track championships based primarily on fastest times, and Kenenisa, who is gradually coming back from injury-plagued years, ran several races this season in search of fast times.

The fastest man in the world over 10,000 this year is the London Olympic 5000m silver medalist Dejen Gebremeskel, who won his first race ever over the distance in Sweden in June, leading his compatriots Abera Kuma and the 2011 world 10,000m bronze-medalist Imane Merga to similarly fast times. The three men will be joined in Moscow by the surprise 2011 world champion, Ibrahim Jeilan, whose role as defending champion allows him automatic entry into the event.

Ibrahim beat Britain’s Mo Farah in 2011, but the Somali-born Farah enters the 2013 race as the reigning 10,000 and 5000 Olympic champion, and is even more heavily favored this season – not that that will stop the 5000m bronze medalist from 2011, Dejen, and his teammates from aiming for another upset victory.

Ethiopian team members receive a warm welcome at Moscow airport

Most of the Ethiopian athletes running in the first few days of the championships arrived in Moscow on Wednesday along with team coaches and officials. They were greeted by Ethiopia’s ambassador to Russia, Kasahun Dender Melese, who met the delegation inside the arrival area at Domodedovo airport.

Members of Moscow’s Ethiopian community gathered in the waiting area of the terminal holding Ethiopian flags and wearing wrist bands and scarves in the flag’s green, yellow and red colors, while some women were decked in traditional outfits from head to toe. Ululations and cheers arose when the delegation appeared, and later, flowers were presented to the London Olympic medalists in the squad.

“We want to support them all,” said Moscow businessman Gezu Gebru. “But to tell you the truth, we also wanted to meet them up close. We always watch them race on television, but this was an opportunity to see them in person.” Gezu and others in his community will also get to see the star athletes racing live in Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium and on the streets of the city during the marathons, starting Saturday morning. The championships end on August 18.
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Related:
Meseret Defar and Tirunesh Dibaba Face Each Other in Zurich (TADIAS)
Steeplechaser Sofia Assefa Follows in Olympian Eshetu Tura’s Footsteps (TADIAS)
Meseret Defar Hoping to Take Back 5000m Gold in Moscow on Saturday Night (TADIAS)

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Featured, Profiles

Le Figaro Names Three Ethiopians to ‘Africa’s 15 Most Powerful Women’ List

Tadias Magazine

By Tadias Staff

April 25th, 2013

New York (TADIAS) – Le Figaro has named three Ethiopians to its list of Africa’s 15 most powerful women, including the long distance track athlete and three-time Olympic champion Tirunesh Dibaba, and Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu, the founder and CEO of the international Ethiopian shoe brand SoleRebels.

The French newspaper also selected Ethiopian-born model Liya Kebede who lives in the United States among Africa’s power women. Other leaders include Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the current President of Liberia, as well as the South African actress and fashion model Charlize Theron, and Kenyan activist, lawyer, and blogger Ory Okolloh who works as Google’s Policy Manager for Africa.

Click here to read the list at www.madame.lefigaro.fr

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Related:

Afrique: quinze femmes puissantes (Le Figaro)

New Book Highlights Stories of 70 Accomplished Ethiopian Women (TADIAS)

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Featured, News

2012 in Pictures: Politics, London Olympics and Alem Dechasa

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Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Updated: Saturday, December 29, 2012

New York (TADIAS) – From the death of former Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to the apparent suicide of Alem Dechasa, and from the surprise results at the London Olympic games to the decisive re-election of President Barack Obama, 2012 has been a year of many lessons and historic transformations.

The televised abuse of Alem Dechasa, the Ethiopian woman that was violently mistreated outside the Ethiopian embassy in Lebanon last March, and her suspicious suicide a few days later, was one of the most watched and heartbreaking stories we covered this year: (In Memory of Alem Dechassa: Reporting & Mapping Domestic Migrant Worker Abuse)

The mysterious absence, illness and death of PM Meles Zenawi was by far the biggest political news of the year in our community. On July 15th the 57-year-old prime minister failed to show up for an African Union meeting that he had religiously attended without absence since the early 90’s. What followed next was several weeks of bizarre secrecy by the Ethiopian government and repeated pronouncements of vague assurances by officials about the status of the PM’s health. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi was eventually declared dead on August 20th and was given a state funeral on September 2nd, 2012 at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Addis Ababa. The confusing summer frenzy also exposed the weakness of the flummoxed political opposition in the Diaspora as disorganized and fractured, neither inspiring confidence nor prepared for public leadership and responsibility.

What was inspiring in 2012, however, was the spectacular performance of our women athletes at the London Olympics. Ethiopia earned seven medals this year, three of them gold, courtesy of Tirunesh Dibaba, Meseret Defar and Tiki Gelana — making the country the leader in Africa on the athletics medal count and globally trailing only the United States, Russia, Jamaica and England.

Here are images from some of the biggest stories of 2012.


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Related:
2012 in Review: Ten Arts & Culture Stories (TADIAS)
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Featured, London 2012

Catching Up with Tirunesh Dibaba

Running Times

By Sabrina Yohannes, Published: September 2012 issue

Beijing double Olympic champion Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia has found a few things to surprise her recently. Walking through New York City’s Times Square in June, she came across a sight that forced her to do a double take. A man — known locally as the Naked Cowboy — was strumming a guitar and posing for photographs clothed in nothing but his underwear, cowboy boots and a cowboy hat. “I was shocked,” said Dibaba afterwards with a laugh. “In the city squares, there are many surprising things.”

While preparing to defend her 5,000m and 10,000m Olympic titles in London, Dibaba also found herself gaining a new perspective on her own achievements, especially after injury caused her to miss most of 2011 and a good chunk of 2010.

Continue reading at Running Times.

Featured, London 2012, Reviews

Ethiopian Olympic Athletes Feted

Tadias Magazine
By Sabrina Yohannes

Updated: Friday, August 17, 2012

New York (TADIAS) – Ethiopian athletes at the 2012 Olympics received a hero’s welcome even before they left London when the Ethiopian embassy there hosted a gala dinner in their honor Monday night.

Ethiopia earned seven medals, three of them gold, in athletics in London. The nation’s largest haul ever was in Sydney in 2000, where four out of a total of eight medals were gold; while in Beijing, four out of seven medals were gold.

Ethiopia’s ambassor to the UK, Berhanu Kebede, praised the London team.

“They are first in Africa in athletics and 24th overall and achieved excellent results, and are capable of doing even better,” he said. “They have tremendous potential. … We feel great pride. They have changed the image of Ethiopia and many people have come to know about Ethiopia.”

The nation leads the continent and trails just the United States, Russia, Jamaica and the United Kingdom on the athletics medal table, in which the order of countries is based on number of golds followed by number of silvers and then bronzes.

Kenya follows Ethiopia with two golds, though the country’s overall medal count in athletics, 11, is greater than its East African neighbor’s.

Out of 33 countries that medaled in athletics, only those six took more than one gold, with the rest of the table consisting of those with just one title or only lesser medals.

After a poet referred to the athletes as jewels and another speaker told them they had left Ethiopians abroad “awash in feelings of joy,” gold medalists Meseret Defar and Tirunesh Dibaba and silver medalist Dejen Gebremeskel briefly took to the stage and addressed the gathering at London’s Porchester Hall on Monday night. Wood paneling and red velvet drapes covered the walls and chandeliers hung from the ceiling in the room, which was filled to capacity by a 450-strong crowd decked out in traditional Ethiopian and formal wear.

“You have contributed to our success,” the 5000m Olympic champion Defar told the gathering, citing the reception given to members of the Olympic delegation upon their arrival at Heathrow Airport among other displays of support London-based Ethiopians had provided.

Defar went on to point out the greater success at the London Olympiad of Ethiopia’s female athletes. Five of the seven medals and all three golds were earned by women.

Her comments received general cheers and applause and ululations from some women in the audience, and prompted London 5000m silver medalist Gebremeskel to draw laughter when he felt the need to begin his remarks by stating that he was not necessarily speaking on behalf of the male athletes, but rather the whole team. The London women’s 10,000m champion and 5000m bronze medalist Dibaba echoed Defar’s comments.

The two women and former world cross country champion Werknesh Kidane were resplendent in traditional white Ethiopian dresses, while a wider array of national costumes was on display on members of the audience, a troupe that performed traditional dances, and models taking part in a fashion show of clothes inspired by traditional designs.

“We wished to express the respect we have for [the athletes],” said the ambassador, explaining the goal of the event. “And secondly, to celebrate Ethiopia as a nation of great athletes, past and present. Furthermore, we feel this allows those who don’t know Ethiopia to experience our culture, our dress, our way of life.”

The evening included many non-Ethiopian guests, some having some connection to Ethiopia, and a buffet dinner of Ethiopian and Western fare. The highlight for most in the room, however, was clearly the proximity to the star athletes, who untiringly obliged their requests for photographs and occasional autographs.


Seated from left to right: Werknesh Kidane and Meseret Defar. (Photo courtesy of Sabrina Yohannes)


Steeplechaser Nahom Mesfin (at right) and 1500m runner Dawit Wolde (not pictured) spontaneously escort London double medalist Tirunesh Dibaba, holding a banner Ethiopian flag behind her. (Photo by Sabrina Yohannes)

“I’ve run in London many times,” said Dibaba. “Many Ethiopians live here and they are always by our side, encouraging us. They left their work behind and came to the stadium to support us and their support means a lot to us. It gives me a morale boost and motivates me to run harder to please them.”

She also expressed pride in the female athletes’ performance in London, where Tiki Gelana won the women’s marathon and Sofia Assefa took bronze in the women’s steeplechase.

“It happens that way sometimes,” said national track coach Hussein Shibo on Tuesday. “The women’s performance has risen over the years.” He went on to enumerate the nine gold medals won by Ethiopian women at recent Olympiads since Barcelona in 1992 when Derartu Tulu became the first black African woman to win gold, and he compared that to the seven Ethiopian men’s golds in that time frame. (Ethiopia boycotted the 1984 and 1988 Games.)

“The numbers are close,” he said. “However, the women have shown growth and we are happy that they have come from behind and reached this level. In the 1500, if Abeba’s race hadn’t gone wrong and if Genzebe hadn’t been injured; and if [800m runner] Fantu hadn’t been injured, the women might have totally dominated the results. So perhaps we can say this time belongs to the women.”

Abeba Aregawi and Dibaba’s sister Genzebe were top contenders in the women’s 1500, but while Aregawi finished outside the medals, Dibaba was injured during the qualifying rounds. Injury also kept Fantu Magiso out of the women’s 800.

In many events, the competition is more fierce on the men’s side, while some countries’ cultures keep women out of sports. Ethiopian women have had the example of Tulu and 1996 Atlanta marathon champion Fatuma Roba to follow, augmented by the successes of Tirunesh Dibaba and Defar.

Injuries affected the men’s results in London too, with Beijing double champion Kenenisa Bekele making his way back from injury-filled years and the year’s second-fastest 5000m runner in the world, Hagos Gebrhiwet, having been injured in the lead-up to London, while Athens Olympics fourth-placer Gebregziabher Gebremariam suffered an injury while in London before the 10,000m race.

Bekele, who was fourth in that race, left London and headed back to Ethiopia a couple of days after it. His brother Tariku took bronze.

“The overall results are very good,” said London Olympic team leader Nega Gebregziabher on Monday, adding however, “We had expected a lot, and of those, we have achieved a few.”

“With some of the younger athletes, for example, in the 1500, the 800 and also the men’s 5000, in which we could have won, due to their youth and inexperience, we suffered losses,” he said. “We will assess our performance and guage what we must do going forward.”

Mohammed Aman was also widely expected to medal in the men’s 800.

“We have the world championships coming up [next year] and these youth are fully capable of being successful,” added Gebregziabher. “Ethiopians everywhere greatly encourage our athletes, and admire our athletes, and it’s important that they boost their morale and provide encouragement, and we are confident that they will.”

Meanwhile, an even younger athlete was taking in the proceedings at Porchester Hall with special appreciation. Ethiopia’s first ever female Olympic swimmer Yanet Seyoum Gebremedhin, 18, was seated next to Dibaba at the dinner.

“She’s a very strong athlete and a role model for us,” said Gebremedhin. “I’m so happy to be representing my country alongside her. I’ve always wanted to meet her.”

Her wish was granted when the athletics team arrived in London and Gebremedhin found herself staying on the same floor in the Olympic Village, and receiving words of encouragement from her and Defar and other team members.

“They all advised me to work hard and not give up hope,” said Gebremedhin, who watched their races with interest. “Swimming and running are very different, but I’ve learned many lessons,” she said. “They fight til the very end.”

Though not expected to medal, Gebremedhin had encouraging results of her own and hopes to inspire those who are younger still. “I improved my personal record, which is Ethiopia’s record,” she said. “I hope others will learn from my experience. I’ve competed for six years and to reach the Olympics in six years is very good, but I don’t have a coach and I work on my own. If we had coaches, we could do better and not just improve our own personal bests, but, I believe, make history.”

At the 2012 Olympics, Dibaba and Defar did make history. Tulu lost and then regained the 10,000 crown in 2000, but in London, the Beijing 2008 champion Dibaba became the first to successfully defend the title, while Defar became the only woman to win the 5000m twice, after she first won in Athens in 2004.

“It’s very pleasing that at this critical competition, at the Olympics, the whole team has performed this well,” said Defar.
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Related:
Tirunesh Dibaba and Meseret Defar to Contest One Event Each at 2013 World Championships in Moscow

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Featured, London 2012

Two-time Olympic 10,000 Champion Tirunesh Dibaba Confirmed and Prepared for London 5000

Tadias Magazine
Running | London 2012

By Sabrina Yohannes

London (TADIAS) – Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia will run the first round of the 5000 meters at the 2012 Olympics on Tuesday just four days after defending her Beijing Olympic 10,000m crown in spectacular fashion in London.

“I’m very happy, this is my third gold,” said Dibaba Friday night after winning the 10,000 in 30 minutes 20.75 seconds ahead of Kenyans Sally Kipyego and Vivian Cheruiyot. “I’m ready to run the 5000, the decision is the federation’s.”

The Ethiopian athletic federation needed little persuasion. “She will run, 100%,” said the organization’s technical director, Dube Jilo.

The first woman to win the two events at one Olympiad when she accomplished the feat in 2008, Dibaba had been entered in the shorter event in London as a reserve, due to her having the fourth-fastest time for the distance this year among her compatriots. But with the federation also observing the fitness of the selected athletes during training, her potential double attempt had been anticipated.

Jilo praised the dominant fashion of her 10,000 victory. “To come from having being out with injury for two whole years and achieve this is a great accomplishment for her, and for us and for our country,” he said.

Dibaba returned to competition on New Year’s Eve after having suffered from injuries that kept her out of both the 2009 and 2011 world championships.

In the interim, she successfully defended her 2008 African 10,000m title in July 2010 in Nairobi defeating, among others, the hometown favorite Linet Masai, who had won the 2009 world championships race in the absence of Dibaba, then the defending world champion. The Ethiopian had also won both distance races at the 2005 world championships.

The 2009 world 5000 title went to Cheruiyot, who completed the double in Daegu in 2011, and coming into the London 10,000, the Kenyan was a favorite along with Dibaba.

“I wasn’t thinking about any individual athlete, I was thinking only about winning,” said Dibaba after her second straight Olympic 10,000m victory.

Prior to London, the Athens 5000m bronze medalist Dibaba had elaborated on her thoughts about Cheruiyot in an interview.

“Vivian has become much stronger than in the past,” she said. The two women did not race during the Kenyan’s red-hot 2011 season due to Dibaba’s injury layoff, but the Ethiopian pointed out that she had previously run against a rising Vivian Cheruiyot — and won.

“We raced in London,” said Dibaba, who won the 5000m in 14 minutes, 36.41 seconds to Cheruiyot’s 14:38.17 at the Crystal Palace on August 13, 2010, in addition to finishing ahead of the Kenyan at the world athletic final in Thessaloniki, Greece in September 2009. “She had just won the world championships 5000 when we raced. She was strong then too and she’s strong now.”

“We’ve run indoors as well as outdoors,” added Dibaba, who won the Edinburgh cross country and Birmingham indoor two-mile races in early 2010, over eight seconds ahead of Cheruiyot both times.

“I know Dibaba is a tough lady,” said Cheruiyot Friday night. “We are coming here to try our best because there is a time for everybody.”

“I’ve watched her race so many times and she can run really well, and she can close really well, and I respected that,” Kipyego, who took the lead at times in the race, said of Dibaba. “I tried to push the pace to try to make it painful for everybody. Unfortunately, it didn’t work on her.”

The three women will meet again in the 5000m in London, as both Cheruiyot and Kipyego are also doubling. That race will also include Dibaba’s teammate and rival Meseret Defar, the 2004 Olympic champion, whom Dibaba defeated over the distance in New York in June.

The Ethiopian women’s team entered in London comprised the nation’s three fastest 5000 runners of the year: Defar, former world indoor 1500 champion Gelete Burka and Genet Yalew. The event’s world record-holder Dibaba will replace the less experienced Yalew in the team.

“I will take a bit of a rest tomorrow and then I will prepare for the 5000 heats,” said Dibaba Friday. “I know I’ve trained well.”

The elimination round of the women’s 5000 takes place 10:55am on Tuesday morning, with the final set for 8:05pm Friday, August 10.
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Sabrina Yohannes is reporting from London.

Featured, London 2012

Ethiopian Athletics Team Set to Begin Departures for London Olympics

Tadias Magazine
Running News | London 2012

By Sabrina Yohannes

London (TADIAS) – The 2012 London Olympic Games are officially open as of the declaration during the July 28 opening ceremony, but the bulk of Ethiopia’s star athletics team will arrive in the English capital during the subsequent week, ahead of the athletics program that starts Friday, August 3rd.

Ethiopia’s opening ceremony flag bearer is swimmer Yanet Seyoum Gebremedhin, one of two swimmers making history as the nation’s first at the Olympics.

Of the athletics team led by 2008 double Olympic champions Kenenisa Bekele and Tirunesh Dibaba, the first wave will leave Addis Ababa on Monday July 30; while the final batch, the men’s marathon runners, will depart a few days prior to that race, which is being held on the last day of the Olympics, August 12.

DISTANCE DOUBLE POSSIBLE

Dibaba’s 10,000-meter race is the first track final of the Games and takes place on the evening of Friday, August 3, when she will be joined by Belaynesh Oljira and former world cross country champion Werknesh Kidane.

Unlike at the athletics world championships, Olympic team reserve members will, for the most part, not travel to London, unless replacing an already-injured athlete, and only three athletes per race can be accredited to stay in the Olympic Village at any time. In the 5000m, though, the announced reserves are themselves members of the 10,000m team — and they are in fact the Beijing Olympic champions in both events.

In addition to leading the men’s and women’s 10,000 teams, Kenenisa Bekele and Tirunesh Dibaba were named as reserves in the shorter event, so the possibility of both of them, Dibaba in particular, defending both titles remains.

Of the women on the 5000m team, the young Genet Yalew is significantly less accomplished than the runners she joined there, 2004 Olympic champion Meseret Defar and former world indoor 1500 champion Gelete Burka; and indeed, some athletes have referred to Yalew as the 5000m reserve.

If she contests the 5000, the former double world champion Dibaba will be tackling the first round heat in that event four days after her 10,000 final.

SELECTION BASED ON FAST TIMES

Contrary to media reports that referred to races in various European cities this summer as Ethiopian Olympic trials, selection to the nation’s Olympic team is based primarily on the fastest times run by athletes in their event this season, with their ongoing fitness also being taken into consideration. Typically, the year’s four fastest athletes in a given Olympic track event make up its roster of three runners and a reserve.

Dibaba contested just one 5000m track race this season, winning at the New York Diamond League in 14 minutes, 50.80 seconds, which is the fourth fastest among Ethiopian women this season, after the clockings of Defar, Burka and Yalew in Rome.

Similarly, Bekele ran the fifth-fastest Ethiopian men’s 5000m time of the year, 12:55.79, in Paris (while the fourth-fastest athlete, his brother Tariku, is contesting just the 10,000m). The fastest times in the entire world this year were those of Ethiopia’s 2011 world bronze medalist Dejen Gebremeskel and his compatriots Hagos Gebrhiwet and Yenew Alamirew, who all ran under 12:50 in the same Paris race.

OTHER FINALS ON THE FIRST WEEKEND OF ATHLETICS

The first round of the men’s 1500m, with Mekonnen Gebremedhin tackling the favorites, also takes place on the first day of athletics in London, followed the next morning by the 3000m steeplechase heats with Sofia Assefa and Hiwot Ayalew.

The night of Saturday August 4 features the men’s 10,000m final, an event in which Ethiopia has taken gold at every Olympics since 1996, courtesy of Haile Gebrselassie and Kenenisa Bekele. Former New York marathon champion Gebregziabher (Gebre) Gebremariam joins the Bekele brothers in London.

The women’s marathon final with 2009 world bronze medalist Aselefech Mergia and the women’s 1500m heats, featuring Dibaba’s world indoor champion sister Genzebe and newcomer Abeba Aregawi as contenders, round out the Ethiopian action in the first weekend of athletics.

While Ethiopia, historically a nation of long distance runners, has genuine 800m medal hopes this year in Fantu Magiso and especially Mohammed Aman, Bereket Desta is entered in the 400m having met the lower “B” standard of entry for the sprint event.
—–

Dates of London 2012 athletics finals with Ethiopian finalists anticipated:

Friday August 3rd:  9:25pm – Women’s 10,000m.
Saturday August 4th:  9:15pm – Men’s 10,000m.
Sunday August 5th:  11am – Women’s marathon; 9:25pm – Men’s 3000m steeplechase.
Monday August 6th:  9:05pm – Women’s 3000m steeplechase.
Tuesday August 7th:  9:15pm – Men’s 1500m.
Thursday August 9th:  8pm – Men’s 800m.
Friday August 10th:  8:05pm – Women’s 5,000m; 8:55pm – Women’s 1500m.
Saturday August 11th:  7:30pm – Men’s 5000m; 8pm – Women’s 800m.
Sunday August 12th:  11am – Men’s marathon.

Ethiopian athletes entered in London 2012 athletics events
(as previously announced, including, in italics, those reserves who will likely not travel to London):

400m
Men: Bereket Desta

800m
Men: Mohammed Aman
Women: Fantu Magiso

1500m
Men: Mekonnen Gebremedhin, Dawit Wolde, Teshome Dirirsa; Aman Wote (reserve)
Women: Abeba Aregawi, Genzebe Dibaba, Meskerem Assefa

5000m
Men: Dejen Gebremeskel, Hagos Gebrhiwet, Yenew Alamirew; Kenenisa Bekele (reserve)
Women: Meseret Defar, Gelete Burka, Genet Yalew; Tirunesh Dibaba (reserve)

10,000m
Men: Kenenisa Bekele, Tariku Bekele, Gebregziabher Gebremariam;
Lelisa Desisa (reserve)
Women: Tirunesh Dibaba, Belaynesh (sometimes spelled Beleynesh) Oljira, Werknesh Kidane;
Aberu Kebede (reserve)

Marathon
Men: Ayele Abshero, Dino Sefer, Getu Feleke;
Tadesse Tola (reserve)
Women: Tiki Gelana, Aselefech Mergia, Mare Dibaba;
Bezunesh Bekele (reserve)

3000m Steeplechase
Men: Roba Gari, Birhan Getahun, Nahom Mesfin
Women: Sofia Assefa, Hiwot Ayalew, Etenesh Diro;
Zemzem Ahmed (reserve)

News, Reviews

Conversations With Filmmakers of ‘Town of Runners’

1 Comment

Tadias Magazine
By Tigist Selam

Updated: Friday, April 20, 2012

New York (TADIAS) – As the countdown to the 2012 Olympic Games in London gets underway, a remote town in the Arsi region of Ethiopia called Bekoji is receiving international attention as the world’s capital of long-distance running. During the Beijing Olympics four years ago, runners from Bekoji won all four gold medals in the long-distance track events. The highland Arsi region is home to many of Ethiopia’s Olympic Champions, including Haile Gebrselassie, Tirunesh Dibaba, Kenenisa Bekele and Derartu Tulu.

A new film co-produced by British-Ethiopian Dan Demissie and directed by notable filmmaker Jerry Rothwell introduces us to the town of Bekoji through the eyes of two teenage female athletes as they progress from school track to national competitions. The 86 minute documentary is also part of the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival, which is currently underway in New York.

In a recent interview with Tadias Magazine, the film’s award-wining director said the movie was inspired by Dan Demissie’s interest in the Ethiopian town and its legendary coach. “Dan came across the coach’s work in Bekoji when doing research and we knew that’s where we wanted to focus,” Rothwell said. “The coach used to be a school teacher, he has an incredible passion for what he does and all the athletes trust him.”

The story centres on Mr. Sentayehu Eshetu, a former elementary school Physical Education instructor, who discovered and trained several of the country’s top runners, most significantly Derartu Tulu, the first African woman to win a gold medal at the Olympic Games. Narrated by their friend Biruk who runs a kiosk on the main road into town, the documentary follows two girls, Alemi and Hawii, over a three-year period from 2008 to 2011, as they strive to become professional runners. Through their struggle, the film gives a unique insight into the ambitions of young Ethiopians balancing their lives between the traditional and modern world.

Demissie proposed the idea of Town of Runners to Met Film Production back in 2008, while still a student at Met Film School. During his three years there he worked on the Bekoji project while fulfilling graduation requirements, and has now started graduate studies at the National Film and Television School in the U.K.

Demissie said working on the movie was personally rewarding for him. “It was my first time going to Ethiopia and I got to know the place where I was from,” Demissie told Tadias. “It sounds kind of cheesy, but it’s true I fell in love with Ethiopia.” He said: “It was the best experience of my life.”


Dan Demissie (left) and Jerry Rothwell. (Photo credit: Townofrunners.com)


The coach Mr. Sentayehu Eshetu. (Photo credit: Townofrunners.com)

“I always saw how Ethiopia was portrayed in the media,” Demissie continued. “It’s always famine and war and all of these kinds of negative stereotypes that wasn’t a fair representation.” He added: “I wanted to make a film that countered that image, give it more of a balance. It was my dream to make a film about Ethiopia. I read about this small town and I thought that it was a good story. It’s about people creating their own destiny. That’s what attracted to me it. Later on I found out that I had distant relatives in the region.”

For Rothwell, neither Africa nor running is new. “I’d spent 5 years of my childhood in Kenya and my hero at that age was Kip Keino [the retired Kenyan track and field athlete and two-time Olympic gold medalist] and then much later my daughter had taken up the sport seriously and so I was spending a lot of time by athletics tracks in the U.K.,” Rothwell said. “And Ethiopia is just such a beautiful place to shoot, it is such a rich country.”

“It was almost a coming-of-age film,” Rothwell added. “It was wonderful to see a teenager grow from being 14 years old grow to 17, and to have shared so much time with them.”

But Demissie pointed out that language was a problem for the mostly European film crew. “Back in England, I listened to my parents speak Amharic at home and I would respond in English. In Ethiopia, however, we were in a place where they talked Oromiffa and Amharic, so that was pretty challenging at times,” he said.

Rothwell quipped: “It was great to see Dan getting better at his Amharic.”

“Sometimes there is just so much bureaucracy,” Demissie added, speaking about other challenges of making a film in Ethiopia. Rothwell agreed: “Because there is control of the media, it was difficult at times to get permission to shoot.”

And where are Alemi and Hawii today? “Hawii is on her way back to the running club and she is building herself up there after her injuries,” Demissie said. “Alemi left her running club, but we are not so sure why. It just recently happened.” Rothwell shared: “When we first started to ask the coach about runners, we were interested in how achievement would affect the subjects. It wasn’t about who were the best runners. We followed the coach to one of his competitions and we saw how strong their friendship was.”

The Town Of Runners soundtrack features legendary band leader and father of Ethio Jazz, Mulatu Astatke, and additional recordings from Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guébrou, as well as a score by the British composer Vincent Watts.

“It’s a great score and the pre-recorded music is amazing,” Demissie said. “I want to thank the project manager Samuel Tesfaye who was key on the ground. We couldn’t have done it without him.”
—
Town of Runners will screen at Tribeca Online Film Festival on Thursday, April 19, at 6:45 PM.

Watch: Extended trailer – Town of Runners

Watch the trailer – Town of Runners

—
Related:
Town of Runners – review (Guardian)
The Ethiopian town that’s home to the world’s greatest runners (Guardian)

News

Tirunesh Dibaba Sets 15Km World Record

Above: Ethiopia’s double Olympic champion Tirunesh Dibaba –
pictured here in 2006 photo – sets new 15km world record.

World Track: Track and Field Resource
Publish on Nov 15th, 2009

NIJMEGEN, Netherlands — Ethiopia’s double Olympic champion Tirunesh Dibaba improved the 15km world record on Sunday on her way to victory at the 26th edition of the Zevenheuvelenloop 15Km in Nijmegen. The 5,000m and 10,000m Olympic champion clocked 46min 28sec to better the previous mark of 46:55 which was set by Japan’s Kayoko Fukushi in Marugame on February 5, 2006. Read more.

VIDEO: Race + interview Tirunesh Dibaba in Nijmegen

Tirunesh Dibaba at Pre-race Pressconference

Featured

Tirunesh Dibaba Withdraws from Berlin Games

Above: Double Olympic champion Tirunesh Dibaba, pictured
here at the 3rd Annual Reebok Grand Prix in New York two
years ago, will not participate in the 5000m competition at
the 2009 World Athletics Championships in Berlin due to
injury. She had already pulled out of the 10000m race last
weekend (Photo: Tadias Magazine).

AFP
By Luke Phillips
Wednesday, August 19, 2009

BERLIN — Ethiopian world medal hopes were dealt a further blow Wednesday when Olympic champion and world recorder holder Tirunesh Dibaba pulled out of the women’s 5000m here. Read more.

Related from Tadias Archives:
Tirunesh Dibaba Takes Second at 2009 Reebok Grand
Prix in New York

Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Published: Sunday, May 31, 2009

New York (Tadias) – Ethiopian double Olympic champion Tirunesh Dibaba, who headlined one of the many high powered competitions at the Reebok Grand Prix in New York City on 30 May, finished second in the Women 5000 meter run. Linet Masai of Kenya was first.

Dibaba was challenged by, among others, Genzebe Dibaba, her younger sister who came in third, and Kim Smith from New Zealand, the national record holder at 5000 and 10,000m.

The Reebok Grand Prix is the fourth stop of USA Track & Field’s Visa Championship Series and it was held at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island.

Here are the top five results for Women 5000 meter run
1. Linet Masai (Kenya) at 14:35.39A
2 Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia ) at 14:40.93A
3 Genzebe Dibaba (Ethiopia ) at 15:00.79
4 Kim Smith (New Zealand ) at 15:26.00
5 Jen Rhines (United States) at 15:32.39

Press Conference Tirunesh Dibaba and Kim Smith – 2009 Reebok Grand Prix2009 Reebok Grand Prix PreviewTadias photos from the 2007 Reebok Grand Prix in New York