Ethiopian Olympic Team Announced

[joeltetreault]

http://www.iaaf.org/OLY08/news/kind=100 ... 46133.html

Notables: Bekele doubling, or at least, saying he will double. I am surprised Sihine doesn't move down to the 5000m after his great win in Rome. Geb on the team for 10000m of course. It will be interesting to see if he actually runs, I get the impression from news reports with him and his coach that the WR in Berlin is more of a priority and they are trying to juggle the speed training for the 10000m with the distance training for the marathon. Training to run fast in both has to be counterproductive on some level.


MEN
1500m: Derese Mekonnen, Mulugeta Wondimu, Mekonnen Gebremedhin, Demma Daba
3000m Steeplechase: Nahom Mesfin, Roba Gari, Yacob Jarso
5000m: Kenenisa Bekele, Tariku Bekele, Abraham Cherkos, Ali Abdosh
10,000m: Kenenisa Bekele, Sileshi Sihine, Haile Gebrselassie, Ibrahim Jeylan
Marathon: Tsegaye Kebede, Deriba Mergia, Gudisa Shentema, Gashaw Melese

WOMEN
1500m: Gelete Burka, Meskerem Assefa
3000m Steeplechase: Zemzem Ahmed, Mekdes Bekele, Sofia Assefa
5000m: Tirunesh Dibaba, Meseret Defar, Meselech Melkamu, Belaynesh Fekadu
10,000m: Mestawet Tufa, Tirunesh Dibaba, Ejegayehou Dibaba, Wude Ayalew
Marathon: Gete Wami, Berhane Adere, Bezunesh Bekele, Dire Tune

[Alan Shank]

Re: Ethiopian Olympic Team Announced

http://www.iaaf.org/OLY08/news/kind=100/newsid=46133.html

Notables: Bekele doubling, or at least, saying he will double.

Last I heard, he had said he would not double.

MEN
1500m: Derese Mekonnen, Mulugeta Wondimu, Mekonnen Gebremedhin, Demma Daba
3000m Steeplechase: Nahom Mesfin, Roba Gari, Yacob Jarso
5000m: Kenenisa Bekele, Tariku Bekele, Abraham Cherkos, Ali Abdosh
10,000m: Kenenisa Bekele, Sileshi Sihine, Haile Gebrselassie, Ibrahim Jeylan
Marathon: Tsegaye Kebede, Deriba Mergia, Gudisa Shentema, Gashaw Melese

Note that they can only enter three per event, so 1/4 of those will not run.

WOMEN
1500m: Gelete Burka, Meskerem Assefa
3000m Steeplechase: Zemzem Ahmed, Mekdes Bekele, Sofia Assefa
5000m: Tirunesh Dibaba, Meseret Defar, Meselech Melkamu, Belaynesh Fekadu
10,000m: Mestawet Tufa, Tirunesh Dibaba, Ejegayehou Dibaba, Wude Ayalew
Marathon: Gete Wami, Berhane Adere, Bezunesh Bekele, Dire Tune

I expect that T Dibaba will double, as she seems to be better than ever now, fully over her stomach problems. Defar has yet to show last year's form, but the 5K duel is very high on my list of "most anticipated" events.
Cheers,
Alan Shank
Woodland, CA

[joeltetreault]

Re: Ethiopian Olympic Team Announced

The fourth members are the alternates.

[SQUACKEE]

There are no 10,000 heats, correct? So the 10k-5k guys have reason to try the double. Lagat and Bekele in the 5- will Bek try to break away early or run a long kick? Very exciting.

And can Baby face come back from the 10 and take down Defar?

[doug091463]

when are they going to announce which 3 runners in events that have 4 selected for the event that will run, the front page of letsrun.com gave a link to a newspaper article that said 2 female marathoners actually got into a fist fight before practice, because they were argueing who should get the final spot to run in the olympics and a letsrun poster gave a link to a newspaper article that said a ethiopian male marathoner pulled a gun on another male marathoner.

letsrun is a lot like the tabloids in that some truth is mixed with a bunch of garbage, but both the front and the poster gave links. anyone know when orhow they are going to decide which 3 run?

[doug091463]

now the story is on the trackandfieldnews front page, so the story has more credibility. i wish they would name the teams as bezunesh bekele (aka china) is my favorite runner and by surprise pick to win the olympic marathon in 3 weeks.
the obstacles in front of her are selectors who no one knows who they are going to pick. the anxiety of not knowing if she has a marathon in 3 weekss, the heat, humidity and pollution of beijing and a great field.