By Dave Ungrady | Universal Sports

Marathon world record holder Haile Gebreselassie has never competed in the Boston Marathon, the most revered of all 26.2 mile races. But he says he plans in the near future to run the worlds longest running consecutive marathon, which takes place for the 113th time on Monday. He also hopes to add the New York City and Chicago Marathons to his list of conquests, and dreams of someday winning a Marathon Majors title.

In the meantime, the 36-year old Ethiopian will concentrate on running marathons such as Berlin, London and Dubai because he feels his world-record setting days are not over.

“Yes, I would like to run Boston because it’s one of the biggest marathons in the world,” he said by phone from Addis Abba, his hometown in Ethiopia. “And New York is such a wonderful city, the atmosphere is just perfect. I will do them sooner or later. But first I’d like to set more records.”

That means running more marathons now that feature world record friendly courses and do not require travel to the United States.

“It is very difficult, because of the time zone changes and the jet lag,” he says.

Gebreselassie has run only three road races in the United States. He set a world record in the half marathon (58.55) in Phoenix, Az. in 2006. Samuel Wanjiru broke the record in 2007 (58:33).

Gebrselassie ran the first 10 miles of the Detroit Free Press/Flagstar Marathon in October 2007 in a promotional appearance that coincided with attending a fundraising dinner to support the Ethiopian North American Health Professionals Association. He also won the New York City Half Marathon in 2007.

For now, Gebrselassie prefers easier courses and more manageable travel conditions on the eastern side of the Atlantic Ocean, including in London, Berlin, Dubai and Amsterdam. He has set his world records at the last two Berlin Marathons, running 2:03:59 in September 2008 and calls Berlin’s course flat and good.

“When you talk about marathons, you need a special place, one you know very easily,” he says. “It is a place where you need to know the difficult parts and the easiest parts. I studied the course in Berlin.”

Gerbrselassie won Olympic gold medals in the 10,000m at the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games and won the event four times at the world championships. He did not start running marathons until 2002. In his first 26.2 race, he finished third in London.

Gebrselassie has won six of the nine marathons he has officially entered. He credits his success to smart training and a youthful spirit. He covers up to 150 miles per week but does no track speed work, choosing instead to work on speed on a stationary bicycle.

He also spends much time developing a life away from running. He has built two schools in Ethiopia of 2,000 students at each location from kindergarten to ninth grade.

“Two-thousand students at a school in American is big,” he says. “But not in Ethiopia. “The school is not a business for me. It is for satisfaction. One of my dreams is somebody from one of my schools some day becoming president of Ethiopia. You never know.”

He also is building a hotel in Addis Ababa that he hopes will earn a five star rating and will ideally be operated by the Hilton or Sheraton hotel companies.

“I still have time for my running,” says Gebrselassie, who has three daughters and a son with wife Alem. “What can I do? I cannot just stop some things what I am doing. I have to handle everything. I am happy.”

The major marathons in the United States—New York, Chicago and Boston–have all shown interest in Gebrselassie, with New York the most persistent, according to his agent, Jos Hermens.

They will all have to be patient for marathon’s king to make a much awaited, and seemingly inevitable, debut appearance in a full U.S. marathon, even if it’s in his 40s.

“I never think about when I stop running,” he says. “Let it come by itself. If you are old mentally you are old physically. I feel I’m still young. Age is just a number.”

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — News sources in Addis Ababa are reporting that legendary Ethiopian singer {www:Tilahun Gessesse} has passed away at midnight last night.

Tilahun, 69, had been receiving medical treatment in the U.S. for several months and returned to Ethiopia a few days ago to celebrate Easter (Fasika) with family and friends.

He was admitted to a hospital after complaining about heart problem.

Brief biography of Tilahun Gessesse

Tilahun Gessesse is a legendary Ethiopian singer whose singing career spans 5 dacades. He was born on September 29, 1940, in Addis Ababa and died on April 19, 2009.

Gessesse was born to Woizero Gete Gurmu, who was Oromo, and Ato Gessesse Negusse, who was Amhara. When he was fourteen years old, he was taken by his grandfather to Waliso where he began attending Ras Gobena Elementary School.

As time went by, his interest in music became increasingly clear, although his grandfather urged him to concentrate on his academic studies. The Ras Gobena School Principal Mr. Shedad (who was from Sudan), encouraged Gessesse’s interest in music and urged him to go to Sudan to pursue his music career. Although Gessesse did not go to Sudan, he took Mr. Shedad’s advice very seriously. When Woizro Negatwa Kelkai, Ato Eyoel Yohanes and others artists from the Hager Fikir Theatre came to his school to perform, Gessesse took the opportunity to discuss his interest in music with Ato Eyoel. He was told to go to Addis Ababa if he wanted to pursue a career in the field.

Gessesse left school to go to Addis Ababa, a journey he began on foot without his grandfather’s consent. When his grandfather realized that Tilahun was no longer in Woliso, he informed Gessesse’s great-aunt in Tulu Bolo. After Gessesse traveled fifteen kilometers on foot, he was caught in Tulu Bolo and stayed overnight with his great-aunt Woizero Temene Bantu. The next day, he was forced to return back to his grandfather in Woliso. Since his interest in music lay deep in his heart, Gessesse chose not to stay at his grandfather’s house in Woliso. After staying only one night at his grandfather’s house, he again began his journey to Addis Ababa, this time hiding himself in the back of a loaded truck.

In Addis Ababa, Gessesse was first hired by the Hager Fikir Association, which is now known as Hager Fikir Theater. After a few years at the Hager Fikir Theater, he joined the Imperial Bodyguard Band where he became a leading star singer. During his time with the band, Gessesse ran afoul of the government after the attempted coup d’état of December 1960 by the Imperial Bodyguard. He was arrested and put in prison for a time.

Gessesse moved to the National Theater where his success continued. He was so famous that he appeared three times in front of Emperor Haile Selassie I. During a visit, the Emperor advised him not to abuse his talent.

The majority of Gessesse’s recordings are in Amharic, though he has recorded a number of songs in Oromo.

He received an Honorary Doctorate Degree from Addis Ababa University, in appreciation of his contribution to Ethiopian music. He has also received an award for his lifetime achievements from the Ethiopian Fine Art and Mass Media Prize Trust.

Sources: Wikipedia

By PAMELA ROBEL – The Olympian

IDAHO, USA — Nesradine Schumaker wears a bright orange helmet while he rides his training-wheeled bike up and down the street. He is sturdy and curious about the world around him, which has changed dramatically over the past few weeks.

One month ago, Nesradine was living in an Ethiopian orphanage, a casualty in the HIV/AIDS epidemic that is sweeping through parts of eastern and sub-Saharan Africa and leave many children as orphans

A 2005 AIDS in Ethiopia report estimated there were 368 AIDS-related deaths a day in Ethiopia, as well as 744,100 orphaned by the AIDS epidemic.

“We knew there were orphans, and we knew there were children who needed homes,” said Nesradine’s adoptive mother, Signe Schumaker.

The Schumakers have seven biological children of their own and decided they wanted to open their home to adopted children as well.

“We had been thinking about how to help other people and this seemed like a natural thing for us to do,” Rick Schumaker said. “Some of the attraction to adoption was watching other families who had adopted. The reason we decided to have kids when we got married was watching other people we knew with their children.”

Nesradine is 4 and still figuring out how to get along with his older brother, Soren, 5, and his younger sister, Helen, 3.

“The dynamic has just started to change with Nesradine and his sister, Helen. She’s used to having her own space in the afternoon, and there are things he doesn’t understand yet, like hide and seek,” Signe said. “Helen tries to play with him and he’s like, ‘Why would I want to hide?'”

Rick and Signe began the process to adopt Nesradine about a year ago, contacting an agency that facilitates adoptions in Ethiopia and other countries around the world.

Nesradine, unlike some other children, was given up by his living mother, who was abandoned by her husband when he found out she was HIV-positive.

“We didn’t know he had a mother going into this,” Rick said. “The paperwork didn’t make that clear.”

The Schumakers are among a growing number of area families adopting orphans from Ethiopia. Matt and Renae Meyer adopted two little girls almost three years ago. The girls’ mother died in childbirth.

Kilkidan Meyer, 5, and her sister, Melat Meyer, 3, bicker and play chess with rules only they understand while their parents describe the process that expanded their seven-child brood to nine.

“We were pretty happy with six kids, then our oldest daughter tore something out of the newspaper about adoption, and we started to pursue it,” Renae said. “The process took about one year. The Ethiopian adoption was straightforward and easy. We moved to Moscow, and I found out I was pregnant again, so our family jumped from eight to 12.”

The Meyers, who initially decided to have four children while living abroad in Brazil and Indonesia, changed their minds and added two more biological children to their family before adopting.

They saw the need for homes for orphaned children during their travels.

The “something” the Meyers’ oldest daughter tore out of the newspaper happened to be a news story about orphaned girls in China. It inspired the Meyers to begin trying to adopt a girl from an Asian country.

“We met the age and financial requirements, but we never thought we’d have too many kids to adopt (from Asia),” Matt said. “Then I thought maybe it was an indication that we shouldn’t adopt, but Renae said, ‘No, we’re doing this.'”

The Meyers began the adoption process in 2005 and were e-mailed an adoption proposal in January 2006 asking if they wanted sibling girls.

“Girls are more sought-after so we didn’t think any would be available,” Renae said. “Our family is boy-heavy and we thought girls would even it out.”

Lisa and Russell Qualls are among other families in the area with children adopted from Ethiopia. They have adopted four children from the African country.

“For us, we had some very good friends from upstate New York who called us on Valentine’s Day three years ago to say they were adopting two little boys from Ethiopia, and we knew there was a crisis, but we didn’t know the magnitude,” Lisa said. “We started investigating it and thought it was something we could do.”

The Qualls’ oldest child is Beza, 10, who was adopted in August 2008. There is also Kalkidan, 7, Ebenezer, 3, and Wogyau, 2.

“We didn’t plan to adopt more, but when we were at the orphanage, we met an 8-year-old little girl, and while we were at the orphanage she stayed beside us and helped us take care of the baby,” Lisa said.

Lisa said she and her husband tried to get other families they know to adopt Beza but could not find a family for her.

“Finally, last January, I was just talking to Russ and said I thought the reason we couldn’t find her a family was because she is part of our family,” Lisa said. “It’s been delightful to watch her become part of the family.

“To watch her learn what it’s like to have a mother, a family. It’s just incredible to watch this happen in her life. Adopting an older child has been a remarkable experience.”

The Quallses have gotten so much from their experiences that they’ve helped inspire other families to do the same.

That was the case with the Schumakers.

“I was thinking maybe this is something we’ll do in a couple of years, but Lisa (Qualls) gets so excited about it and she showed us some pictures,” Signe said. “Once you see a photo of a child, it’s done.”

By Roman Mica | Examiner.com

With the Boston marathon just around the corner, I thought you might appreciate a few tips on how to run your fastest marathon ever.

So I asked somebody who should know.

As you may be aware 36-year-old Ethopian superstar Haile Gebrselassie recently broke his own world record when running the Berlin Marathon. His time of 2:03:59 was 27 seconds quicker than his previous best.

So it comes as no surprise that Gebrselassie knows a thing or two about running the 26.2 miles fast—very fast.

And yes, I didn’t actually have a sit down chat with Gebrselassie to ask him how he does it. But I did track down this video of him giving advice just before the up coming London marathon (which he has run three times) to a British reported—which is almost as good I think.

SANA’A, Yeman (Saba News) – Interior Ministry of Yemen has reported that about 247 Ethiopians, including 24 women and children, entered the Yemeni territories illegally last month.

Nearly 190 Ethiopians have arrived to the coasts of Abyan and Taiz governorates through sea coming from the African Horn, according to statistics issued by the Ministry.

The rest of them have been arrested on land by the security authorities in governorates of Mahweet, Marib, Aden, Taiz and Hodeidah, in addition to four persons have been held at the Haradh border outlet trying to sneak to the country via the Saudi borders, the Ministry said.

All arrested Ethiopians have referred to the immigration authorities to be deported to their homeland, as Yemen, hosts over 750,000 Somalis as refugees, can not afford another issue of Ethiopian immigration into its lands.