Zemzem Ahmed in Women's and Yacob Jarso in Men's 3000m Steeplechase Finals

Yacob Jarso finished 4th in the Men's 3000m Steeplechase Final on Monday. His time of 08:13.47 is a National Record. Yacob Jarso led a clutch of racers to cross the finish line first in the qualifying round setting a personal best of 8:16.88.

Similarly, Zemzem Ahmed finished the Women's 3000m Steeplechase Final Sunday at 7th position, clocking a National Record of 9:17.85. The Oromo Olympian Eshetu Tura was a bronze medalist at the 1980 Moscow Olympics in the 3000m Steeplechase event.

Bekele remains on course for Olympic double - AFP

Women's 5000m - Round 1
An exciting battle looms between world/Olympic champion Meseret Defar and world record holder Tirunesh Dibaba in 5km. Dibaba plans for double in 5km & 10km.

Women's 1500m - Round 1
Reigning world champion Maryam Yusuf Jamal of Bahrain will face high-calibre opposition in the Women's 1500m. Gelete Burka, who won bronze at this year's world indoors, will be Jamal's biggest threat. Jamal (previously Zenebech Tola) is an Oromo athlete who fled Ethiopia due to fear of political persecution.

Derartu Tulu - Olympic Medals: Gold at the 1992 /Barcelona/ 10km, Gold at the 2000 /Sydney/ 10km and Bronze at the 2004 /Athens/ 10km Events

A member of the Oromo ethnic group, Derartu Tulu (born March 21, 1972 in Bekoji, Arsi, Oromia) 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. In the 10,000m final at the 1992 Olympics, Elana Meyer of South Africa pulled away from the field after 6,100m and only Tulu was able to keep pace with her. Meyer tried to force Tulu to pass her, but Tulu refused. Finally, just before the start of the last lap, Tulu darted into the lead and went on to win by 30 metres. She waited for Meyer at the finish line, and then Tulu, the first black African woman to earn an Olympic medal, and Meyer, a white South African, set off hand in hand for a victory lap that symbolized hope for a new Africa. Tulu returned to the Olympic in 1996, but finished a disappointing fourth. However, her running career was far from over. At the 2000 Sydney Games, Tulu again entered the 10,000m. Regaining her form of eight years earlier, she took the lead at the bell signaling the final lap and sprinted ahead to a clear victory over teammate Gete Wami. Tulu became the first woman to win two gold medals in Olympic distance races. At the Athens Olympic Games in 2004, she won the bronze medal in the 10,000m (gold medallist was China's Huina Xing, silver medallist, Derartu's compatriot Ejegayehu Dibaba). Source

Her cousins Ejegayehu Dibaba, Tirunesh Dibaba and Genzebe Dibaba are all successful international long-distance runners.

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Watch videos highlighting Derartu's Olympics career - click here.

Most recent news/articles:

* A long-distance legacy stays in the Ethiopian family - The New York Times - August 15, 2008
(on the occasion of Tirunesh Dibaba's 10km victory at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games)

* Sports moms juggle duties - China Daily - August 13, 2008

* Instant Olympic classics - Tri-Valley Herald - August 5, 2008

Deresse Mekonnen Missed Out in Men's 1500m

The world indoor 1500m champion Deresse Mekonnen of Ethiopia missed out, coming in 14th fastest in the 1500 Semifinal race. Deresse hails from Sheno, Oromia.

Disappointing Women's Marathon

The reigning Boston Marathon champion, Dire Tune, could not save the day for Team Oromia in the Women's Marathon race on Sunday. She finished the race at 15th position with a time of 2:31:16, about 4 and half minutes behind the Romanian gold medalist, Constantina Tomescu. Gete Wami and Berhane Adere did not finish the marathon.
Get Athletics schedules at the Gadaa.com Global Oromo Events Calendar.

Defar - "I am back to my best and ready for Beijing" - IAAF - August 7, 2008

Has Olympic and World 5000m champion Meseret Defar lost some of her spark? Is she no longer the golden girl of Ethiopian athletics?

Those and many other questions were continuously asked of the bubbly 24-year old's performance this season after compatriot Tirunesh Dibaba sliced over three seconds off of her world 5000m mark in Oslo in June to stop the clock at 14:11.55. Such is the fickle nature of superstardom in athletics that her outstanding performances in 2007 were quickly forgotten. But to all doubts, Defar has one answer.

"Those who thought I had disappeared should watch my performance in Stockholm," she says. Read More.

Degaga ("Mamo") Wolde - Olympic Medals: Gold at the 1968 /Mexico City/ Marathon, Silver at the 1968 /Mexico City/ 10km and Bronze at the 1972 /Munich/ Marathon Events

Degaga ("Mamo") Wolde (June 12, 1932 - May 26, 2002) was an Ethiopian long distance track and road running athlete and was winner of the marathon at the 1968 Summer Olympics.

Wolde was born in Diri Jille to an Oromo family. In 1951, he moved to Addis Ababa and joined the Imperial Bodyguard. Wolde later served as a peacekeeper in Korea from 1953 to 1955.

At his first Olympic appearance in 1956, Wolde competed in the 800 m, 1,500 m and the 4x400 relay. He didn't compete in the 1960 Summer Olympics.

Beginning in the 1960s, Wolde's focus changed from middle distance races to long distances. He placed fourth in the 10,000 m at the 1964 Summer Olympics. After Abebe Bikila had won the 1964 Olympic marathon, Wolde became the second Ethiopian to win the title in that race. Earlier in the same Olympics, Wolde had already won the silver medal in the 10,000 m. In 1972, Wolde won a third Olympic medal at the age of 40, winning bronze in the marathon. He blamed his third place showing on ill-fitting shoes forced on him by Ethiopian officials. Nonetheless, he became only the second person in Olympic history (Bikila was the first) to medal in successive Olympic marathons.

In 1993, Wolde was arrested by the Woyane government on the accusation that he was involved in a Red Terror execution. Amnesty International had seen no evidence he was involved in any human rights abuses, and appealed to the prosecutor to either charge or release him and all others in his situation. Ethiopia did neither, refusing even to say what he was suspected of. When the International Olympic Committee demanded an explanation, it was told to back off and "await the verdict of the court." In early 2002 he was convicted to six years of imprisonment, but released because he had spent nine years in detention already waiting for his trial.

Wolde died of an undisclosed illness a few months after his release. Wolde was buried at St. Joseph's Cemetery in Addis Ababa, next to Bikila, his idol, who died in 1973. He had been married twice and had three children; a son with his first wife and two children with his second wife. Source

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Most recent articles:

The Ordeal of Mamo Wolde - The Honolulu Marathon - September 27, 2006

Mamo Wolde, Olympic Marathon Champion - The New York Times - May 28, 2002

Ethiopian giants target more 10000m gold - Guardian - Aug 16, 2008

The world 10,000 and 5,000-meter world record-holder Bekele is overwhelmingly favored to take gold, although he was fiercely challenged by Sihine at the 2007 world championships.

Bekele, who took 10,000 gold in 2004 and silver in the 5,000, is also likely to attempt the double again in Beijing.

"My preparation has gone very well," he said. "But I can only decide after the 10,000. The weather may also be a factor." Read More.

Woman of the World
Running Times - Aug 14, 2008

As Tirunesh Dibaba takes the track, it's hard to reconcile her baby face and slight build with her fierce reputation. She's the marquee distance runner at the 2006 Reebok Boston Indoor Games, a track meet known for distance races, and everyone in the packed Reggie Lewis Center is expecting her to break her own world record. Yet everything about her appearance suggests that she is no more than a girl. Read More.

Abebe Bikila - Gold Medalist at the 1960 and 1964 Olympic Marathon Events

Abebe Bikila (August 7, 1932 - October 25, 1973) was a two-time Olympic marathon champion from Ethiopia.

Abebe Bikila, born in Jatoo, Ethiopia, became a national hero after winning the Olympic gold medal in the marathon at the 1960 Summer Olympics. At the Games held in Rome, Bikila ran the entire length of the marathon barefoot, setting a world record of 2hr 15min 16.2 sec.

At the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo Bikila was in a weakened condition. He had had his appendix removed six weeks before the race, which forced him to curtail his training for the marathon. Nevertheless, Bikila, this time wearing running shoes, repeated as Olympic marathon champion, again setting a world record (2hr 12min 11.2 sec).

At the 1968 Summer Olympic Games in Mexico City, Bikila was affected by the high altitude, injury, and age, and withdrew from the marathon race after 17 kilometers. In 1969, Bikila was involved in a car accident near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. He never regained his full health and died in Addis Ababa at the age of 41 from a disease he had suffered from for many months. Source

Photo Gallery:

Recent News: Triumph of the shoeless superstar - The Guardian - July 27, 2008

US and Ethiopians look early winners
Guardian - Aug 14, 2008

In the women's 10,000 metres, Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba is favoured to add an Olympic gold medal to her two world championship titles. Dibaba demonstrated her fitness by setting a world record of 14:11.15 in the 5,000 metres in Oslo in June.

In what could be a tactical race, she is likely to receive support from her older sister Ejegayehu, the 2004 silver medallist, and fellow Ethiopian Mestawat Tufa. Both could join Dibaba on the medals podium. Read More.

Defar keen not to be left in Dibaba's slipstream
AFP - Aug 9, 2008

Ethiopian star Tirunesh Dibaba tends to dominate most discussions when it comes to women's long-distance running. But Dibaba's team-mate Meseret Defar, the reigning Olympic and world champion in the 5,000 metres and triple world indoor champion in the 3,000m, comes to Beijing determined to tip the scales in her favour. Read More.

"I am exceeding my own expectations," Tsegaye Kebede
IAAF - Jul 23, 2008

Few observers who saw marathon runner Tsegaye Kebede enter the 2007 Abebe Bikila International Marathon in July last year as an unknown but emerge victorious in a new course record time would have thought that he would be carrying Ethiopia's hopes for medals at the 29th Beijing Olympics. Read More.

Tola upsets Makau in New York Half-Marathon
The Canadian Press - July 27, 2008

Tadesse Tola of Ethiopia upset Patrick Makau of Kenya in the men's NYC Half-Marathon on Sunday, and Catherine Ndereba of Kenya won the women's race to solidify her standing as a favourite in next month's Olympic marathon.

Tola won a sprint to the finish in the 21.1-kilometre race, crossing in one hour 58 seconds to edge Makau, a half-marathon specialist ... Read More.