When Kenenisa Bekele arrives in Edinburgh this week, he won’t be able to get away from Zersenay Tadesse. An advertising banner for the World Cross Country Championships 74 yards wide and 19 yards high has been hanging in the city center since mid March. Right in the middle of this giant banner is a 13-yard meter high figure of Tadesse, the runner from Eritrea who will be the defending champion in Scotland. This picture has bad memories for Bekele.
A year ago at the World Cross Country Championships in Mombasa, Kenya, Bekele experienced one of the worst moments of his career. In 27 previous international cross country races, the Ethiopian star had been undefeated. Most tellingly, he had won the 4K and 12K titles at the World Cross Country Championships five times each, a unique achievement in athletics history. But in Kenya of all places, the land of his keenest rivals, this saga of success came to an end in tragic fashion. Just 800 meters from the finish, Bekele stepped off the course because of stomach problems, shortly after Tadesse had overtaken him for the lead. Bekele was dumbfounded.
One year later, and it’s time for a rematch. Bekele has already won the dress rehearsal for this race, in January taking a cross country race in, of all places, Edinburgh by one second over Tadesse. “The World Cross Country Championships have great significance for Ethiopians. It was a catastrophe that Bekele didn’t win last year,” said Jos Hermens, the Dutch manager of the Olympic 10,000m champion and world record holder. When Bekele dropped out, the Ethiopian team went out of contention, and the Kenyans were able to take the coveted team title.
The World Cross Country Championships and their importance in Ethiopia is why Bekele didn’t defend - or perhaps wasn’t allowed to defend? - his 3,000m title at the recent World Indoor Championships in Valencia, Spain. “Kenenisa has been training well. Everything is as it should be with regard to the World Cross Country,” said Hermens, and added, “From my point of view, he could have also run in Valencia with no problems at all – two years ago he indeed won both the indoors and the cross country. The problem is, the World Indoor Championships don’t mean much in Ethiopia. The officials have no idea of what these championships signify and can’t put them into perspective.”
“If Kenenisa trains well and is on form and injury-free as well, he can win everything,” said Hermens, who also explains that Bekele is feeling mentally more relaxed following his marriage in November 2007. In January 2005, his then fiancée collapsed and died of heart failure when they were jogging in the forest together. In March that year he managed to retain his titles at the World Cross Country Championships, but Bekele suffered the after-effects for a long time.
In this Olympic year, Bekele will probably return to the track at Hengelo on May 24. “He might just run a 5,000m there. But we’ll discuss that in Edinburgh,” said Hermens, and added, “As far as I’m concerned, Kenenisa could run both 5,000 and 10,000m in Beijing.” When Bekele will start to chase world records on the road and, in particular, the marathon best of Haile Gebrselassie remains uncertain. “Personally, I would prefer if he waited till the London Olympics of 2012,” said Hermens, who also manages Gebrselassie. “However, I can imagine that Kenenisa would run a marathon in the next two years.”
