World Championships in Athletics Berlin

TheWorld of sport is eagerly awaiting the forthcoming World Athletics Championships. The 12^th IAAF World Championships in Athletics, Berlin will be held in Berlin (15–23 August 2009) . Since the 1^st Championships were held in 1983, in Helsinki, this will be the biggest Athletics event to take place. 2101Athletes from 202 countries will be competing in the Olympic Stadium of Berlin. The spectacular athletics event will be broadcasted in over 190 countries.

The enthusiasm for Athletics in Germany is still unbroken. It has always been great with the German fans. We all remember the electrifying atmosphere at the 1993 Stuttgart Championships. Probably the best athletics event to-date. Berlin could only make it better!

If we look into the last three Championships;

• In 2003, in PARIS, the 9^th Athletics Championships were attended by 1679 athletes from 198 countries

• In 2005, in HELSINKI, by 1688 athletes from 191 countries

• In 2007, in OSAKA, by 1800 athletes from 197 countries

From Ethiopia perspective, top stars to watch:

• Tirunesh Dibaba (ETH) 5.000m + 10.000m

• Kenenisa Bekele (ETH) 5.000m + 10.000m

• Dire Tune (ETH) Marathon

The first two outstanding Athletes dominated their corresponding disciplines like no other distance runners before, except, the great Haile Gebrselassie.

The Queen of long-distance, Tirunesh made history last year at the Beijing Olympics, by becoming the first ever female runner to win over both the 5k and 10k runnings. As a 17-year old Athlete, she already was the darling of the Parisian spectators, during the 2003 Championships. Her great cousin, Derartu Tulu, was the first ever African woman to win an Olympic Medal. She became Olympic Champion in Barcelona 1992 and Sydney 2000.

The King of long-distance, the 27-year old star from Ethiopia, Kenenisa Bekele, is as bright as other Ethiopian long-distance legends like Abebe Bikila, Miruts Yifter or Haile Gebrselassie.

Can you imagine, since 2003, Kenenisa has never been defeated in the 10k distance. He still holds the records for both 5k and 10k. Like Tirunsh, he was also able to win the 5k and 10k distance at the Beijing Olympics. Despite having a foot injury last November, I don’t see anyone who could beat him in Berlin. Besides, he is still in contention to grab the 1million Dollar Jackpot at the Golden-League competitions.

And when asked what she expects in Berlin, Tune does not think even twice. “I think it will be one, two three for Ethiopia,” she says. “That is how confident I am about our chances.”

I am also confident that our Athletes they will show a lot better performance in Berlin, than in troublesome and humid Osaka. Besides, Haile Gebrselassie broke his two Marathon World records in Berlin.

Good luck to all the Athletes!

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