ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — Ethiopian track heavyweight Kenenisa Bekele on Saturday married 22-year-old Dannawit Gebregziabher, an up-and-coming actress in Ethiopia’s fledgling film industry.
Five hundred wellwishers, including fellow Ethiopian track star Haile Gebresellasie, joined the 10,000m world champion and world record holder and his bride at a plush ceremony in the Sheraton hotel.
Tragedy struck Bekele in January 2005 when his then fiancee Alem Techale, a world champion runner, died while they were out training together in the hills near the tiny trading post of Asela. An autopsy blamed a heart defect.
Bekele, 25, told local media that he would not compete in any more athletics meetings this year because of his marriage but would be ready for 2008 World Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh next March.