Oromo Athletes Sweep Medals at the 11th IAAF World Championships in Athletics

Click here to watch Kenenisa, Tirunesh, Meseret, Maryam & Sileshi cruise to the finishing lines with sprinting speed! @ the Gadaa.com Video Playlist.

Bekele dominates in Spanish opener
CNN International, GA - Dec 19, 2004

MADRID, Spain -- Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele, winner for the last three years of both the short and long events at the World Cross Country Championship, opened his winter campaign with a victory at the prestigious Venta de Banos race in Spain on Sunday.

Bekele, the Olympic 10,000 meter champion, came home in 30 minutes 25 seconds, 18 seconds ahead of Spain's reigning European 10,000m champion Chema Martinez.

Bekele broke away from his local rival with just under two kilometers to go.

The all-conquering Bekele, 22, confirmed his intention to only contest the longer race over approximately 12km at the 2005 World Cross Country Championships in St Galmier, France, next March.

"Next year, I'm leaving the short race to my younger brother Tariku," said Bekele ...

Kenenisa Bekele to open his cross country campaign in Venta de Banos
IAAF, Monaco - December 17, 2004

Kenenisa Bekele, the World and Olympic 10,000m champion has confirmed his entry for the 25th Cross Internacional de Venta de Baños (Spain) which will take place this Sunday 19 December.

Flying from his native Ethiopia, Bekele will make his first competitive appearance this winter season. The three-time double World Cross Country champion will arrive in Madrid on Saturday and travel to Venta de Baños (140 miles away) by car.

“We celebrate our silver jubilee this year and there is nothing better than Kenenisa Bekele’s participation to commemorate it,” said a very proud Miguel Alfambra, the race organiser, yesterday ...

Athletics: Kenenisa Bekele to headline Reebok Boston Indoor Games
RunnersWeb, Canada - Dec 8, 2004

BOSTON, Massachusetts (Dec. 8) – World-record holder Kenenisa Bekele, the 2004 Olympic gold medalist at 10,000 meters, will compete at the 2005 Reebok Boston Indoor Games on Jan. 29, organizers announced today. It will be the first race ever in the United States for the phenomenal Ethiopian, who in 2004 rewrote the record books.

“If anyone will ever challenge Haile Gebrselassie to the title of greatest distance runner in history, it’s Kenenisa Bekele,” said Mark Wetmore, meet director and president of Global Athletics & Marketing, Inc., in making the announcement. “To get Bekele here, in his prime, just a year after Gebrselassie says a lot about the respect athletes have for both the event and the Boston fans.”

Bekele agrees. “I am very excited to be coming to Boston for my first competition in your country,” he said. “Haile told me what great fans you have.”

Bekele chooses capital run over Seville
The Scotsman, UK - Nov 29, 2004

KENENISA Bekele will join fellow-World Cross Country champion Benita Johnson in next year’s Great Edinburgh International Cross Country.
The presence of Ethiopia’s Olympic 10,000 metres gold medallist is another coup for the United Kingdom’s top international cross country meeting on 15 January in Holyrood Park.
Event organisers revealed it has taken long negotiations to attract Bekele to appear at the Scottish event rather than compete in Seville the following day.
"Bekele won there last January and the Spanish were very eager for him to return to their meeting," said spokesman David Hart. "But we’ve always had a great relationship with Kenenisa and three years ago he scored the first of his two consecutive Great North International victories" ...

Bekele and Isinbayeva named year's best athletes
ABC Online, Australia - September 20, 2004

Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele and Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva were named Athletes of the Year for 2004 at the IAAF Grand Prix finals in Monaco on Sunday.
The duo, both 22, succeeded last year's winners, Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco and South Africa's Hestrie Cloete.
Bekele had an astonishing season, winning the Olympic Games 10,000 metres and suffering his only defeat in the final of the 5,000m in Athens where he lost to El Guerrouj ...

Bekele's triumph powered by faith
Independent Online, South Africa - August 25, 2004

Addis Ababa - Olympic 10 000 metres champion Kenenisa Bekele's father had initially opposed his son's athletics career but relented when he saw it was driven by religious faith.
"I prevented him from doing his training," Bekele's father, Byecha, said in an interview with The Reporter newspaper.
"I wanted him to do something practical with his education and grow up to be a civil servant.
"I told him to concentrate on his education rather than become overwhelmed by this nonsense he calls athletics ...

Ethiopia's Defar wins women's 5,000m gold
People's Daily Online, China - August 24, 2004

Ethiopia's Meseret Defar won the women's 5,000 meters gold medal at the Olympic Games in Athens on August 23.

The 20-year-old, women's 3,000m winner in this year's world indoor championships in Budapest, clocked 14 minutes 45.65 seconds for the gold.

Kenya's Isabella Ochichi, who finished 6th in the event at last year's world championships in Paris, took the silver in 14:48.19.

Another Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba, who became the youngest ever individual senior world champion in Paris at 18, won the bronze in 14:51.83 ...

In Pictures:

Bekele no longer the king-in-waiting
IAfrica South African News, South Africa - Aug 21, 2004

Newly crowed Olympic 10 000 metres champion Kenenisa Bekele is the latest distance running sensation from Ethiopia and could prove to be the greatest ever.

Bekele's astonishing injection of pace as he approached the last lap bell in Friday's race drew gasps from the crowd in the stunning Olympic Stadium and carried him to a last lap worthy of a race one third of the distance.

As Bekele sprinted over the line in an Olympic record time of 27 minutes 05.10 seconds, he was halfway to emulating the achievement of the 5000/10 000 metres double of the great Marius Yifter and signalled the end of the remarkable career of Haile Gebrselassie.

The man who won the 10 000 metres at the last Olympics trailed in fifth, carrying an Achilles tendon injury that wiped out any semblance of hope the old master had to challenging his young protege ...

A Quick Look Ahead at Friday's Olympics
Monterey County Herald, CA - August 20, 2004

Long-Running Rivalry
TIME - August 8, 2004

The traditional clash between Ethiopia and Kenya in distance running is also a contest between competing visions of sport

Kenenisa Bekele discovered running late. Growing up in the hills around Bekoji, in Ethiopia's central highlands, the skinny teenager preferred math and science to sports. If he studied hard, he thought, he could become a teacher or an engineer. The alternative — herding cattle and tending to his family's small patch of land — was daunting. "The world was moving on," he says. "I felt like I wanted to make a difference" ...

SPORTS NEWS

Kenya Broadcasting Corporation - July 21, 2004

World most talked about distance runner Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia will be going for a double in next month's Athens Olympic games in Greece.

The world record breaking Bekele who will be making his first appearance at the Olympics will be running in both the 5000 and 10,000 metres events with the intentions of bagging two gold medals.

Bekele wants to emulate compatriot Miruts Yifter who won two gold medals at both distances at the 1980 Olympics ...

Bekele to double in Athens? This time there is no prevarication - Interview - IAAF - July 21, 2004

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - Kenenisa Bekele’s 2004 year of World record success seems like a dream to the 22 year-old a dream and he simply does not want to wake up.

Four years ago, a young Bekele was only in his second year of serious running and watched from a television set in Addis Ababa Haile Gebrselassie dramatically snatching victory from Kenyan Paul Tergat in the final strides of the Olympic men's 10,000m final in Sydney. "I still find it amazing that Haile [Gebrselassie] beat Tergat in Sydney," he recalls. 

The Olympic dream began 

Amidst the euphoria and nationalistic fervour that Haile’s "skin-of-the-teeth" win engendered amongst Ethiopians the world over, Bekele secretly wished that he would one day get the chance to represent his country at the Olympics ...

Bekele, another Gebreselassie in the making?
SABC News, South Africa - July 6, 2004

The Athens Olympics gets under way in just over a month, and one of the big stars set to emerge is a young Ethiopian known as Kenenisa Bekele (22). Last month, he broke two world records in the space of a week, both of them belonging to his idol, Haile Gebrselassie.

When he was young, Bekele watched his idol on TV, winning races all over the world. A few years later Gebreselassie was his translator, friend, and training partner. Now they're also competitors.

Things have changed a little, now it's Bekele who leads. Gebreselassie is widely accepted as one of the greatest long distance runners ever. But Bekele now expects to beat him every time they race.

In Holland last month, Bekele broke the first world record, in the 5 000m, running the last six laps on his own. A week later in the Czech Republic, he took two seconds off the 10 000m world record, and it's that event he plans to run in Athens. It could be an Ethiopian one-two, because that's also the event Gebreselassie is running ...

Bekele misses Swiss meet
Fox Sports, Australia - July 6, 2004

WORLD 5000 and 10,000 metre record holder Kenenisa Bekele has pulled out of tomorrow's (AEST) IAAF Super Grand Prix meeting here with an Achilles tendon injury.

Meeting spokesman Pierre Andre Pasche said Bekele's coach, Jos Hermens, had informed them of the last minute withdrawal from the event, where he was due to compete in the 5000m race.

"If Bekele is not coming, it's because the injury is serious," said Pasche.

The 21 year-old is due to run the 10,000m at the Olympic Games in Athens next month ...

International Association of Athletics Federations
Sports Features Communications, FL - July 2, 2004

Athletics: Radcliffe Loses And Then Regains Top Spot In ARRS
RunnersWeb, Canada - Jul 1, 2004

Interview: Kenenisa Bekele
Guardian, UK - June 20, 2004

Kenenisa Bekele, the 22-year-old Ethiopian runner who is set to emerge as the glittering star of the track at the Olympic Games in Athens, hides his face in his hands. The laughter takes hold of him. He rocks gently back and forth, unsure whether he is more embarrassed or exhilarated to be asked if his mentor, the legendary Haile Gebrselassie, has recovered from having two of his world records smashed in the space of eight days.

"I don't know how he is really feeling," Bekele eventually says as he shyly lowers his hands. "He will look happy because we are friends. But we are also competitors, so I do not know what he thinks inside. It is OK. He is a great man" ...

International Association of Athletics Federations
Sports Features Communications (press release), FL - Jun 15, 2004

AK boss ridicules athletes
East African Standard, Kenya - June 14, 2004

Athletics Kenya (AK) chairman Isaiah Kiplagat has threatened to ban agents, who have turned some of Kenya’s top runners into pace setters for their rivals.

Kiplagat said he was dismayed that some of the top runners were being used as pace setters in Grand Prix meetings for Ethiopians to break records.

He said it was disheartening to see top runners pacing Ethiopians to set records at a time when the country was preparing for Olympics ...

Sprinting on fast track to oblivion
Guardian, UK - June 14, 2004

Athletics: Bekele ready to shred the record books
Independent, UK - Jun 12, 2004

Two world records in two weeks - and the scary thing is how much more is to come.

Kenenisa Bekele is planning to take it easy today. "I will just be doing one training run," he said. "It will not be a long run, just for one hour in the morning." It does happen to be Bekele's birthday today, and the Ethiopian runner has broken two world records in the past two weeks.

In Ostrava in the Czech Republic last Tuesday night, he ran 10,000m in 26min 20.31sec, breaking Haile Gebrselassie's six-year-old time by 2.44sec. He covered the second half of the race in 13min 05.89sec, which was faster than the world record for 5,000m at the time he was born, 13 June 1982 ...

NO RECORD BID BY BEKELE
sportinglife.com, UK - Jun 10, 2004

Double world record-holder Kenenisa Bekele has not yet committed himself to setting another over 3,000 metres later this month in the Norwich Union Super Grand Prix.

"We will have to see what happens," said the 21-year-old Ethiopian star who in the past 11 days has rewritten records over 5,000m and 10,000m.

Bekele was today in Gateshead eagerly inspecting the international track where he races on June 27 and might, given his undoubted versatility, attack Daniel Komen's mark on that date ...

Kenya’s plot on Bekele
East African Standard, Kenya - Jun 11, 2004

Kenya has a new crop of athletes capable of rewriting the record books in the forthcoming Athens Olympic Games, Athletics Kenya (AK) secretary general, David Okeyo, has said.

The longserving track official said this yesterday while allaying fears that the latest onslaught by Ethiopians (particularly long distance runner Kenenisa Bekele who recently set two world records in a spell of eight days), on the international scene was a threat to Kenya’s long distance runners ...

Athletics: Bekele 26:20.31 WR, Upset Win For Webb In Ostrava
RunnersWeb, Canada - Jun 8, 2004

OSTRAVA, CZECH REPUBLIC -- For the second time in as many weeks, Kenenisa Bekele shattered yet another distance record while Alan Webb’s breakthrough season continued with an upset win in the 1500 to highlight the distance portion of the Golden Spike Super Grand Prix in Ostrava.

Just eight days after his sterling 12:37.35 world record in Hengelo, Bekele eclipsed another of Haile Gebrselassie’s six-year-old global standards, clocking 26:20.31 in the 10,000 meters, more than two seconds faster than the previous mark ...

Bekele breaks world record again
The Star, Malaysia - Jun 9, 2004

HAMBURG: Kenenisa Bekele fulfilled the prediction of fellow-Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie just ahead of his 22nd birthday when he stole the 10,000m world record from his mentor as well. 

Little more than a week after capturing the 5,000m mark in Hengelo with a stunning solo run to finish in a time of 12:37.35, Bekele struck again in Ostrava on Tuesday to add the 10,000m mark in 26:20.31 ...

Bekele blitz shows what might be missing
The Age, Australia - Jun 9, 2004

Kenenisa Bekele reminded the world of what will be missing if he stands by his decision not to do the distance double in Athens when he broke the world record for 10,000 metres on Tuesday night in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

Bekele, who turns 22 on Saturday, ran solo after 10 of the 25 laps to record 26 minutes 20.31 seconds - just over two seconds under the mark previously held by Haile Gebrselassie since 1998.

For the first time since June 1998, Gebrselassie holds neither the 5000 nor the 10,000 metres world records ...

BRILLIANT BEKELE IS TOP OF THE WORLD
sportinglife.com, UK - Jun 8, 2004

Kenenisa Bekele claimed his second world record in just over a week following an awesome victory in the 10,000metres at the IAAF Super Grand Prix meeting in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

The brilliant 21-year-old Ethiopian raced home in 26 minutes 20.31seconds to comfortably break the former mark of 26min 22.75sec set by his countryman and training partner Haile Gebrselassie six years ago ...

Bekele sets world mark in 5,000m
East African Standard, Kenya - Jun 1, 2004

Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele set a new world record for the 5,000m to send a warning to Kenyans ahead of the August Olympic Games in Athens.

The 21-year-old world 10,000m champion, clocked 12 minutes, 37.35 seconds in IAAF Grand Prix meeting in Hengelo, Netherlands, adding this prize to the indoor mark he set in Birmingham earlier this year ...

Bekele sets world 5000m record
The West Australian, Australia - Jun 1, 2004

Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia set a world record in the 5000 meters, finishing in 12 minutes, 37.35 seconds at the FBK Games on Monday.

The previous record, held for six years by countryman Haile Gebrselassie, was 12:39.36 set in Helsinki in 1998. Gebrselassie, who didn't race the 5000 on Monday, took second in the 10,000.

Looking relaxed throughout, the 21-year-old Bekele passed the pacesetters and took the lead in the fifth minute. Countryman Mulegeta Wondimu ran behind Bekele for two more minutes, before Bekele began opening up a huge lead. He continued accelerating through the finish ...