Posted: August 16, 2004

Athletics: Adere Blasts Ethiopian Federation

From David Monti

(c) 2004 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

By Elshadai Negash

ADDIS ABABA Ethiopia’s world 10,000m champion Berhane Adere says she is the victim of revenge by National team coach Dr. Woldemeskel Kostre after being dropped out of Ethiopia’s 10,000m Olympic team on Sunday.

In an interview she gave to RRW on Sunday, the 31-year old said that she has made a full recovery from her Achilles heel injury that was sighted as the cause of her withdrawal. “I was injured more than a month ago and I have successfully completed my treatment in Munich,” she said. “I asked them [the Federation] some time to recover from the injury, but Dr. Woldemeskel Kostre (National team coach) gave me 65 rounds in training out of revenge to make it look like I cannot handle training. He always begrudged me and this was his way for revenge. He has now even prevented me the chance to represent my country.”

Adere also added that the decision to drop her from the team was a corrupt act by National team coach Dr. Woldemeskel Kostre to include two-time Olympic 10,000m champion Derartu Tulu, a runner she says is nowhere near her class. “I have the fastest Ethiopian time (30.04) and Derartu is only the fourth fastest,” she pointed out. “Derartu cannot even beat the junior athletes and I know that she does not have fast times like or the other two runners (Werknesh Kidane and Ejigayehou Dibaba). The only time Derartu beat me in the last three years was in Edmonton and after that, I have won the world championship gold in Paris, broken two world records, won the world half marathon championship (2002), won the world indoor 3000m title (2003), the African championships, and the world cup (2002). What has Derartu done?”

The world 5000m record holder also added that she will not travel to Athens with the Olympic team as a reserve unless she is reinstated as a starter. “I will not travel to Athens as a result,” she reaffirmed. “Unless this situation is resolved, I will stay behind in Addis Ababa to prepare for the IAAF Golden League meeting in Brussels that will help me qualify for the World Athletics Final.”

Meanwhile, the head of Ethiopia’s delegation and Vice President of EAF, Mr. Nega Gebregziabher denied Adere’s claims that she will be a reserve in Athens. “We have not told anybody that they are a reserve,” he said. “All that I can say is we have four Athletes and we will only decide on the three starters 48 hours before the women’s 10,000m final.”

Gebregziabher, however, admitted that Adere had suffered a dip in form in training. “According to the report we received from the coaches, Berhane is not performing well in training,” he added. “But we will have to check on her condition until the last minute.”

Responding to claims that her exclusion was due to poor performance in training, Adere said, “After Edmonton2001, I have not trained together with the Ethiopian team although my name was there in the National team setup. I trained with my husband Leme here and that is why I have been getting all these results. How can they say that my training performance is not good? I do not even train with the team.”