(Aqumada) — The Ethiopian team has been somewhat disappointing. The ‘usual suspects’, Keneinsa Bekele and Tirunesh Dibaba have won gold in their specialties. Seleshi Sihine, as usual, has taken the silver in the 10k. Although not the color we expected, Meseret Defar has also grabbed a medal. The rest of the team, however, has performed below par and there is not sign of any up and coming young talent in our traditional events [not to take anything away from the performances of Jarso and Zemzem in the steeplechase].
On the other hand, Kenenisa and Tirunesh have extended the gap between themselves and the rest of the athletes. Both these athletes have made a good case to be considered the greatest long distance runners of all time.
The biggest disappointment: Gelete Burka
There is no doubt that Gelete is one of the most talented Ethiopian runners. Not able to make the immensely talented 5k Ethiopian team, she dropped down to the 1,500 meter and even had the season best going into the Olympics. However, she was unable to make it the finals of this event after running badly in the preliminaries. Gelete is notorious for inconstancy and Beijing has once again proven that she has not matured tactically and there is no sign that she will be able to perform to the best of her abilities any time soon. Clearly, Gelete needs to a drastic change in her training and approach to races. Perhaps she needs to do the Berhane Adere [change coaches and come up with a suitable training for herself]
The greatest moment: Kenenisa’s victory in the 5k
Kenenisa’s victory in the 5k was a demonstration of power, skill, and, tactical brilliance. He has clearly learned from the past that a slow pace in the 5k is as good as handing over the Gold medal to the 1,500 specialists such as Lagat. Kenenisa did not make the same mistake he made in Athens this time. With the help of Tariku and Abraham, he set a furious pace which dropped likes of Lagat early in the race. With a lap remaining, he destroyed the only two remaining Kenyan runners by running 53 seconds last lap. This was not a race. This was a demonstration of dominance by Kenenisa.
The only remaining race for Ethiopian athletes is the Men’s marathon and after watching the condition of our athletes in the rest of the races, my expectations are extremely low.
16 thoughts on “Ethiopian Olympic team somewhat disappointing”
Yekolo,
You always cricticize others. Instead of doing so why don’t you prepare yourself to compete in these athletics competitions.
Gelete and Meseret were disappointing. Add to our 1500 meter runner and we have a disappointing outing. In the Marathon I respect out guys but he Kenyan Wanjiru is simple tooooooooooooo good.
just think of it, without kenenisa and tirunesh, ethiopia’s team is nothing. look at kenya. they are well all round, dont depend on one hero
4 Gold 1 Silver 2 Bronze, 7 Medal total, 18th in the world, 2nd in Africa, and you call that a disappointment? 18th out 205 is a rank many countries would like to have. We swept 5000 and 10000 in men and women in Olympic record time. And we achieved that with extremely talented athletes and unbelievable team work. And you call that a disappointing outing? You said there is no young athlete, What do you call a 20 year old boy who, for the first time in 28 years showed everyone that our country is a team to contend for many years. His name is Yakob Jarso, and he run a 3000 Steeplechase for first time after the great Eshetu Tura won a bronze in Moscow Olympic in 1980. If it wasn’t for lack of experience, Yakob would have won a medal. His partners Nahom Mesfin and Roba Gari showed they are the future face of our country in 3000 steeplechase. How about Zemzem Ahmed, who broke the national record in 3000 women steeplechase. She is another young women who showed the domination of Ethiopian athletes will continue with young women like her. How about Dire Tune who got 14th in women marathon. We don’t expect athletes to blossom over night, but she showed she is a promising marathoner. What do you call Tsgaye Kebede and Deriba Mergia’s achievement in marathon? Few more races under their belt, they proved they will restore our marathon tradition. Did you see the African 5000 champion Meselech Melkamu, she showed she will be the next face od middle distance running with Tirunesh and Meseret. There is no disappointment with Meseret she was injured in the race. If you see the race, it clearly showed she was clipped from behind, and according to her, she almost dropped out of the race. But as everything was on the line, she decided to give all she had and won a bronze for us. Did you see our 1500 men runners? The young men Deresee Mekonen and Mulugeta Wondemu showed our country is moving to a new area in 1500m. As we all know, 1500m is something we were know for, but now we have every reason to believe that these new guys are going to contend with Kenyans and others in 1500m. The 1500 women race was suppose to bring us a medal, and I will give you that. We all expected Gelete Burqa to win us a medal. But as any athlete she had a bad outing. She will correct that and will come back with a better performance.
In conclusion, Kenenisa, Tirunesh, Seleshi, Meseret and Tsgaye won us 7 medals. They are the motivating factors for the next generation of great runners. Yakob, Nahom, Roba, Zemzem, Mekedes, Gelete, Meselech, Dire, Deriba showed us the future of Ethiopian track and field is good hands. If you really want a proof, all you have to do is to wait two more years, the 2009 World track and field championships is right around the corner. Then you will see “the usual suspects” with many more young athletes winning every medal there is to win.
Here is what I have to tell you, wanting more medal is one thing, but belittling one of the greatest performance in this year’s Olympic is criminal.
Ermias
Team Ethiopia won a total of 7 medals; 4 gold medals, 1 silver and 2 bronze, finishing 18th in the world and 2nd in Africa. In Athletics, Ethiopia finished 5th in the world after United States, Russia, Jamaica and Kenya. It was only short of the record in Sydney by 1 bronze medal when Ethiopia won a record 4 gold medals, 1 Silver and 3 bronze medals in 2000 in Sydney. So, what do you want??
Overall, this was the second best olympics for Ethiopia & we should all be very proud of our athletes & thank them for giving us so much pleasure & satisfaction. Yes, there were a few disappointing performances & we can improve at next year’s World Championships if we work on them. It looks like we need a slightly different training regime for 1,500m & possibly also for 3,000m SC. I hope the Federation will look into this seriously. Otherwise, well done our heroes & heroines!!
All the athletes have done their best in Beijing and they deserve applause for that. The most important thing that we can say is that Ethiopia needs to be able to substitute the current runners in the future.
All the time we are participating in long distance running. This is a weakness. We need to think about participating in different sports so that we can bring more than 7 medals.
Thank you for listening.
yes i am also disapointed.
Well done to all medalists there will be other rounds.
who ever is criticizing, they need to prepare themselves for the 2012 london olympics. One tradition we have is criticizing others who made an effort while sitting with our fat ass.
the atlets who didn’t make it to the medals should be encouraged not criticized. it looks easy for many but this is the world level competetion and it is hard to be number one or it takes a lot to be number one.
For the fat ass lazy Ethios i would just simply ask them to be the best in their respective fields. atleast that is how they can understand the situation. winning is being the best. so if you are a lawyer, accountant, doctor, nurse, engineer, sales, parkeology, archeology etc…just try to be the best (KoKob Serategna)
Everything is relative. Given this, the above opinion is on the mark. The problem with the Ethiopian Athletics is, it depended a great on two people only: Qenenisa and Trunesh Dibabaa, there were not many upcoming young athlets though there were very few.
For a nation of 80 million and given the Kenyan result, this was not good enough. The Kenyans won twice as much and this is the core message of the article. Still Ethiopia is one of the best and needs to compare with Kenyans.
I want to thank Ethiopian Review for bringing this issue to the front.
As a Kenyan, I have the greatest respect for our rivalries in Ethiopians and other Northern Africans athletes who have always given Kenyan competition in the middle distance and distance races. Kenyans have just about given up being able to defeat Kenenisa, we don’t have anyone with his packaging in endurance and speed and that is a shame. At least during Gebresellasie’s reign, there was Tergat who ended with a string of silver medals, he never did beat the great Ethiopian in major championship. Having said that, with 14 medals including five Gold, this was Kenya’s finest Olympics since 1988, which was unexpected given the political strife the athletes and the nation endured in January after the elections and the murder of one prominent runner. Kenyans approach is a little different from Ethiopia’s. Even if we abdicate 5 and 10k gold medals to Ethiopia, and make a respectable showing there, Kenya has the pedigree and history of medal ling in 400, 800, 1,500, 3,000SP, 1,600 relays and now marathon. Kenya was also represented in swimming, Boxing and Taequando. Kenya should learn from Ethiopia how to have better control of training for major championships, but that may never happen given the more relaxed approach to our sport governance.
Perhaps the most stirring moment for me was watching Tsegaye Kebede Wordofa accept his bronze medal during the closing ceremonies in a packed stadium. The humbleness, joy and humanity that emanated from the look on his face at receiving that bronze medal brought together everything that is great about the Olympic tradition of sport and what may remain good about mankind. He exhibited such respect and awe at his being there that I get goosebumps just thinking of that night and can only hope that his grace and style will serve as an example to the more flamboyant celebrators. He did his training and workouts just as any other athlete did over the past four years—-behind the scenes, without the fanfare—and all to achieve his dream.
It is fitting that he received his medal in prime time; in front of all the athletes, coaches, organizers, performers and fans there and around the world. That alone made the closing ceremonies one for the ages and leaves me anticipating the next Olympic games. To be able to say that watching him made me feel a part of his dream would be an honor. To be able to say that I have renewed hope in all of mankind may be a stretch. To be able to properly say Tsegaye Kebede Wordofa and recall his triumph for others will be my mission.
Watching Kenenisa and Tirunesh finish the last lap of the race is a memory to hold for the ages. They left the other contenders way back and they made them look like amateurs. Mind you, this is the gathering of the world’s best athletes. Every Ethiopian and the whole of Africa owe our athletes a debt of gratitude for the effort and success they have achieved and the positive image they keep giving us. They really showed the world what they are really made of. If there is something that really turns me off in these Olympic events, it is the show off that is exhibited by most of the other winners and how they gloat over the other athletes. You will never see that in the African athletes and thanks a million for that. The tasteless behavior never rubbed on our athletes. All the other Ethiopian athletes that have not medaled should also get a standing ovation for the wonderful effort they gave us. They were not just competing for their own self interest but the weight of the whole nation was upon them and surely they did not disappoint us in any way.
Having said that, I see that Elias is right in pointing to the lack of progress in what would have been. Ethiopia has the most medals in all Olympic history in Africa after Kenya and South Africa. And we got most of the medals in the last sixteen years or so. But we can also see that Kenya has advanced the most in Beijing and its athletes were competing in most aspect of track and field. No doubt they have a better organization than our Ethiopian counterparts. I heard that some of our talented athletes are also going to other countries because of problems they have with the Federation. Elvan of Turkey who got two silver medals and Mariam Jemal who runs the 1500 for Bahrain are two world class athletes we have lost to other countries. There is no doubt that the Athletics Federation needs to do a lot to maintain our dominance in track and field and prepare the ground to compete in the other fields as well. No one can argue that we have a fertile pool of good athletes in track and field and I believe the same can be said in other areas if we dig deeper. We should not just be satisfied with the present level of achievement and expect to get the same results the next time around. A nation that has exhibited the most progress in terms of getting the most gold medals is China. The whole world was able to see what a fine athletes China brought to the world. During a diving competition, not only the audience but even some of the contenders were amazed with the skills of the Chinese divers. And no doubt, this was a result of much sacrifice on the part of the athletes and the organization as well.
Although we have major and fundamental problems of governance that brought us a lot of misery, war and famine which I believe is reflected to an extent in our results at the Olympics, a heartfelt thank you is in order for our athletes who for a moment made us forget our problems and made us proud as an Ethiopian.
I dont agree with you man
how many countries took part in the Olympic and how many of them are in the medal list?. With such meager resource, their performance was superb, i salute them.
kenya is still best no doubt.am sure in mybe 3 or 4 years coming they will produse men who can beat kenenisa.