BY TEWODROS KASSA
Ethiopia is known for its greatest male and female long distance runners. The athletes owned the world record in numerous marathons, 10,000, and 5,000 metres races. From the beginning of international athletics races, Ethiopian athletes continue to be unbeatable in the world long distance running. When there is a long distance race, there are Ethiopian athletes who qualify for the race with outstanding performance.
These Ethiopian athletes also attracted the attention of the international media and the global sport spectators.
Currently, the Ethiopian long distance runners are also showing an outstanding performance in the World Athletics Championships, Oregon 2022.
Ethiopia took home the gold in the only medaling event of the morning session, as Gotytom Gebreslase won the women’s marathon. In total, Ethiopia had three medallists on Monday. Gotytom Gebreslase also won the women’s marathon world championships title in a very close contest with Kenyan Judith Korir. Gebreslase’s winning time of 2:18:11 was a new World Athletics championships marathon record.
Ethiopia is leading the World Athletics championships in the second place next to USA.
The following are some of the top Ethiopian long distance runners that won various races and wrote a colourful history in the athletics sport.
Abebe Bikila
He was born August 7, 1932, near Debre Birhan Town and died on October 25, 1973, Addis Ababa. Ethiopian marathon runner Abebe won a gold medal and set a world record while running barefoot at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, then bested his own record at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. Abebe was the first athlete to win two Olympic marathons. Not only that he was also the first African to win the Olympic marathon gold medal and is known as the first athlete to win two Olympic gold medals in marathon. He participated in fifteen marathons in his lifetime including the Olympics and Ethiopian marathons.
The son of a shepherd, Abebe began running at age 24. He was little known outside of Ethiopia when he entered the 1960 Olympics and ran the marathon, barefoot, on the cobblestones of the Appian Way. Tied for the lead for much of the race, he broke ahead in the last 1,000 metres and crossed the finish line at the Arch of Constantine in 2 hours 15 minutes 16.2 seconds. Four years later he underwent an appendectomy 40 days before the Tokyo Olympics. Nevertheless, he won a second gold medal, running the marathon this time wearing shoes in 2 hours 12 minutes 11.2 seconds. He entered the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City but was forced to drop out of the marathon with a broken leg after 10 miles. A member of the Emperor Haile Selassie’s imperial bodyguards, Abebe rose to the rank of captain in the palace guard. An automobile accident in 1969 left him a paraplegic.
Haile Gebrselassie
He was born 18 April, 1973 in Asella, Arsi Town. He is an Olympic and world champion. He becomes unique by winning two Olympic gold medals at 10,000 meters, and four world championships at the same distance.
He has won major titles at all distances from 1500 meters to the marathon. During his career, he broke 27 world records and is widely considered one of the greatest distance runners of all time.
Although he is still a keen runner, he has announced plans to enter into politics to help his country, Ethiopia move forward.
Kenenisa Bekele
He was born June 13, 1982, near Bekoji, in Arsi. He is a long-distance runner who won Olympic gold medals in the 10,000 meters in 2004 and in both the 5,000 meters and the 10,000 meters in 2008. He later had success in the marathon.
Like many of his countrymen, Kenenisa admired Ethiopian Olympic gold medal-winning runners Haile Gebrselassie, Fatuma Roba, and Bekoji native Deraru Tulu, but his first athletic love was football (soccer). Kenenisa attended school through the ninth grade, and it was at school that he was introduced to running. He finished fourth in his first race, but in 1998 he won a provincial cross-country title and placed sixth in the Ethiopian junior championships. His success led to an invitation to join the Mugher Cement Factory team, coached by Tolosa Kotu, then the Ethiopian national marathon coach.
Derartu Tulu
She was born on 21 March 1972 and is an Ethiopian former long-distance runner, who competed in track, cross country running, and road running up to the marathon distance. She currently serves as President of Ethiopian Athletics Federation.
Derartu Tulu grew up tending cattle in the Arsi highlands of Ethiopia. She did not realize that she was an unusually fast runner until she was 16 years old.
Deratu is the first Ethiopian woman and the first black African woman to win an Olympic gold medal, which she won in the 10,000 metres event at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games
Meseret Defar
She was born on November 19, 1983 in Addis Ababa. She is a long-distance runner, world champion, and Olympic medalist who broke a number of world records, including those in the 3,000 meter, 5,000 meter, and 2 mile races.
Meseret began her running career in primary school and won several primary and secondary school competitions in her home country of Ethiopia. At the world youth championships in Poland in 1999—her first international competition—Meseret took second place in the 3,000 meters. The following year she won two more silver medals, both in the 5,000 meters, at the African Championships in Algiers and the World Junior Championships in Santiago. Her achievements during the 2002 season included gold medals in the 3,000 and 5,000 metre races at the World Junior Championships, making her the first woman to win the 3,000 meter, 5,000-meter double.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD FRIDAY 22 JULY 2022
