Flat course plays into our hands - Tolosa
Ethiopian athletes upon arrival at Entebbe International Airport yesterday. PHOTO BY ISMAIL KEZAALA
What you need to know:
- The Ethiopian team boosts stars such as Letesenbet Gidey, Hagos Gebrhiwet and Genzebe Dibaba among others arrived in the country yesterday.
ENTEBBE.
Ethiopia coach Kotu Tolosa is confident his team will relish the largely flat terrain at Kololo Independence Ground during Sunday’s IAAF World Cross-country Championships.
The contingent of 44 arrived at Entebbe Airport at 12.15pm aboard Ethiopia Airways, clad in yellow tracksuits, with Olympic 1500m silver medalist Genzebe Dibaba as the star attraction.
We had earlier been told legendary athlete Haile Gebreselassie would head the delegation but the Ethiopians, now residing at Hotel Africana, did not know about this.
“We have trained for over a month so we cannot have any excuses,” Tolosa told Daily Monitor.
The coach, who said he had seen the course on a map sent to them months ago, was particularly not impressed with the afternoon heat at the Airport.
He was however, happy to learn that it can get wet at times here. “Our biggest concern is the weather because Ethiopia has been cool for some time now.
“We know our biggest challengers will be Kenya and maybe Uganda for the home advantage,” the pretty confident coach said.
Sensational Dibaba is here
He is perhaps right to speak with verve as Ethiopia trio Letesenbet Gidey, Dera Dida and Etagegn Woldu in that order had a medal sweep in the junior women’s 6km race at the 2015 edition in Guiyang, China. Gidey is back to defend her title.
Meanwhile, Dibaba, who confessed she is not very fluent in English, is looking at rolling back the years. A younger sister to Tirunesh, Dibaba won gold in the junior races of the 2008 and 2009 editions of the World Cross-country in Edinburgh, United Kingdom and Amman, Jordan respectively.
“The team is okay but I have not been running cross-country for some years,” the reigning 1500m world record holder said.
Dibaba will take part in the mixed relay event, pursuing an eighth medal at these championships after having won four gold, two silver and a bronze to add to the famous Dibaba family phenomenal collection.
Kuwait, two other African nations Algeria and Morocco also arrived at 1.50pm, exactly an hour after the Ethiopians had left Entebbe.
