Not even a gold
crumb for the table
Kenenisa takes all the gold
By Michael Samson
As it is traditional for
Ethiopians never to leave a dining table without leaving some crumbs
in honor of the table, the Brussels bound national team left four
medals in honor of the medal table, out of the 18 medals designated
for the 32nd Annual World Cross Country Championship.
Of course the now world athletic phenomenon, 21 years old Kenenisa
Bekele went a bit further when it comes to the delicious gold medal
hunt, leaving absolutely nothing even for the sake of that tradition.
Actually since the days of Mirutse, Yifter, Mohammed Kedir and Yohanes
Mohammed sweeping the medal table in a single discipline, is very
normal at least once in every annual major international athletics
meet.
When the two-time Olympic Gold medallist Derartu Tulu, Berhane Aderre
and Workinesh Kidane took the 10,000 meter medal at the world
championship held in Paris last year, the athletics world was really
surprised at the miracle. But this time claiming 14 of the 18 medals
has left everyone flabbergasted and confused.
The current world champion Kenenisa Bekele not only won the Gold
medals in the cross country event but wrote a new history winning the
event three years in a row: Dublin in 2002, Lausanne in 2003 and now
in Brussels. No one was able to challenge him in these events.
The rival Kenyans who vowed to crush Ethiopian athletes appeared with
a team of 36 athlets and went home with only one Gold, thanks to their
ever great woman athlete, 36 year old Edith Masday-Massay. Edith
should be admired for her win, which could easily be compared wiht
snatching meat from the jaws of a lion. Tirunesh Dibaba, Teiba Erkaso
and Worknesh Kidane were the ones who chased her until the finishing
line. Tirunesh claimed the Silver, while Teiba settled for the Bronze.
As he told the BBC reporter two days before the competition,
Kenenisa’s contenders were the other two Ethiopians Gebre Egziabiher
and Sileshi Sehin. They were the only threats to his astonishing world
record.
And while Kenenisa snatched the two gold medals within 24 hours, Gebre
Egziabiher also claimed two silvers within the same duration.
Sileshi’s patriotism stood above all when he finished third after that
unexpected fall. Gebre Egziabiher showed his compassion by escorting
his teammate the last 20 meters before dashing to win the silver
medal.
In the 5000-meter field competition a new face, Meba Tadesse fought
his way to take the gold against the Ugandan and Kenyan athletes. Of
all the showdowns Meba was the one who faced strong contenders from
which he finally lunged to the finishing line with Ugandan and Kenyan
athletes in hot pursuit to win the silver and bronze medals
respectively.
Ethiopian Highland Rally live on DStv
The Ethiopian Motor
Association’s dream of getting international audience seems to be
coming to reality.
Thanks to “MultiChoice Ethiopia”, one of the major sponsors of the
sport, DStv is to air the Rift Valley High Land Rally to worldwide TV
viewers. A two-member DStv crew have arrived in the capital to shoot
and transmit live today’s Rift Valley car rally, the first Ethiopian
motorcar race to enjoy a continent wide TV coverage.
The international coverage is expected to give great opportunity for
the sponsors to advertise their brand throughout the continent of
Africa when the18th Ethiopian Rift Valley Highland Rally is launched
at Meskel Square, the famous venue for motor sport starting point.
The racecars started rolling for the grueling and gut wrenching 519 Km
rally at 7:00 o’clock this morning. Their journey will take them
through the Eastern Shoa Rift Valley where drivers will have to
maneuver treacherous roads, dangerous turns, heart stopping up and
downs at very high speeds.
According to Ato Tsega Kumelachew, Marketing and Public Relations
Officer, the dozen cars, oiled, lubricated and tuned to perfection are
all expected to finish the race partly because the seasoned race
drivers and their co-pilots have had time for a very thorough
preparation for the race. Renato Gulla is here from Italy for the
occasion; Ernesto Molinari, George Paulo, Anteneh Techome, the new
comer Maxim Latela, the Gulla brothers and Roberto Gabrazi are few of
the stars who would shine on the Sunday morning race.
“Despite the hard task of winning the sponsors heart, the association
is becoming stronger on all fronts. The number of car race fans is
increasing every day and there is a serious adherence to the annual
race calendar,” Tsega said.
In appreciation of DStv’s commitment to give the race continent-wide
coverage MultiChoice Ethiopia gave a lavish cocktail party yesterday
evening at Hilton Addis Ababa.
A new era for Ethiopian soccer?
The Ethiopian Olympic
National Soccer Team journeyed to its historical mission of qualifying
for Athens Olympic soccer cups final, which takes places in
Kampala-Uganda today.
The Ethiopian team now in
pole position to represent Africa as one of the four teams, needs to
win by any means if it is to take part in the Olympics in Athens. The
fact that its counterpart Uganda is already out of the competition has
the advantage of boosting the pride and confidence of the home team.
The qualification of the Ethiopian team also meant victory for the
East African soccer that is generally classified as the poorest in the
continent. The host’s team performance in the last two weeks encounter
against Angola in Luanda can be categorized as nothing but a
qualification duty so as to escape CAF’s fine, or simply to appear on
the field. Only 14 players had traveled to Luanda just 24 hours before
the start of the game.
Thus Seyoum Abate’s
squad, who now have every advantage of winning their first away match,
are shouldering the historic mission of getting the country’s soccer
to the Olympic cup final for the first time ever. So far in the
campaign the home team won three of their home matches and lost twice
in their away journey. With a 4-0 defeat against both Morocco in
Rabat and Angola in Luanda, Seyoum Abate is now 90 minutes away from
the Olympics that would turn him a hero to the country’s soccer fans.
When the qualification
draw was officially announced Seyoum told soccer fans that Ethiopia
has the best chance of winning the group at the time. Many laughed at
Seyoum’s based on the ground of past experiences.
Now he and his squad find
themselves at a crucial turn where they can disprove the critics and
show that anything is possible when it comes to soccer.
The good news is that the
teams law maker, Ashenafi Girma is to join the party for the first
time after two-match ban for his red card against Uganda here in
Addis. Degu Abebe as central defense with Yonas G/Michael and Daniel
Habtamu if full backs, Seyoum’s defense looks capable enough not only
to stop Uganda’s strikers but to hand some help to the midfield which
is comprised of Ashenafi Girma, Hyder Mensur, Getu Teshome, Zewdu
Bekele and Debrom Hagos. The attack is headed by Tafesse Tesfaye who
is now in good shape, Andulam Negusse the second striker whose duty is
to create goal chances to Tafesse. An abundant fire power on the bench
Seyoum has it all to start a new era for the country’s soccer.
Also in the qualification
matches Cameroon the reigning champions are to face the toughest
encounter against Mali.
Cool footwear for
the Olympic champs
Haile G/Selassie to wear
adiSTAR
adidas’ ClimaCool®
technology is at the forefront of a range of technologies designed to
help Olympic athletes achieve peak performance at the 2004 Olympic
Games in Athens, Greece. With temperatures expected to soar over 100
degrees in Athens, ClimaCool® will help athletes stay cool and
maintain optimal body temperature during training, competition and on
the podium.
Heat load will be tremendous on long distance runners like world
renowned champion, Haile Gebre Selassie running the men’s 10,000
meters. Haile will compete in the adiSTAR Competition footwear with
heat reflecting film inserts to enhance the open mesh and ventilation
in the shoes to help him lose as much heat as possible.
In 2004 adidas continues its global commitment to the Olympic games in
Athens, outfitting 21 National Olympic Committees including the 2004
Ethiopian Olympic Team and more than 4,000 athletes from around the
world.
Adi Dassler, founder of adidas, was producing track shoes for Olympic
athletes as early as the 1928 games in Amsterdam. Since then, adidas
has consistently made advances in technologies specifically designed
for Olympic competitors.
(Source: adidas)
|
Tuesday
March 30' 2004
