Tadese, a man for all surfaces
 He once dreamt of riding the
Tour de France but ended up a road running tour de force. Zersenay
Tadese succeeded last Sunday in Birmingham where the great Haile
Gebrselassie failed and where that other legendary Ethiopian, Kenenisa
Bekele, has yet to tread.
Tadese’s victory in the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships
completed a marvellous year for Tadese. Three World Championship medals
in one year on three different surfaces is a feat performed previously
by only one athlete, Kenya’s Paul Tergat in 1999.Gebrselassie, World
Half Marathon champion in 2001 and four-time World 10,000m champion on
the track, gave up trying in cross country after four failed attempts at
an individual medal. Bekele, winner of 11 senior World Cross Country
titles and four at 10,000m, has yet to make his debut at the half
marathon distance and test himself in a world road running championship.
Prior to Sunday’s triumph, Tadese had finished third in the 2009
World Cross Country Championships, in Amman, Jordan, and runner-up over
10,000m at the 2009 World Athletics Championships, in Berlin. His
runaway win this morning, in 59:35, gave him his fourth successive world
road running title and he does not intend to stop there.
 Having become the first athlete of either sex to win four world road
running titles, Tadese was asked whether he would be seeking a fifth in
Nanning, China, next year. “I will try,” he said. He will also revisit
the marathon distance, having dropped out after 35km in his debut at the
distance, in the Flora London Marathon, last April.Tadese is confident
that he can make a success of the marathon. “When I came back to Eritrea
after the World Cross Country I was sick for one week,” he said. “I am
going to run the marathon again.”
Spotting pockets of Eritrean support out on the course, Tadese is a
national hero back home. His wedding to Merhawit Solomon in November
2008, in the capital, Asmara, was attended by 2500 guests and was
broadcast live on Eritrean Television.
Given the background of conflict in his home country, Tadese had a
relatively trouble-free childhood. One of seven children, he grew up in
a family which was neither rich nor poor and which lived some 200km from
Asmara, and was less affected by fighting.
Tadese’s first love was cycling. “I dreamed of being a cycling
professional with one of the great teams in Europe. My success at
cycling suggested to some local athletics people that I might have good
stamina and they invited me to compete in a race,” Tadese said.
(Courtesy: IAAF)
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