Posted: January 19, 2006

Athletics: Dibaba tops Ethiopian athletes’ prize money rich list

World 5000m/10000m double champion Tirunesh Dibaba is on the top of the Ethiopian athletes’ rich list for the Ethiopian calendar year 1997 (September 2004 to August 2005), according to an Ethiopian athletics prize money survey conducted by Endurance Magazine, Ethiopia’s only bi-lingual sports monthly.

“Dibaba’s prize money earnings topped that of Kenenisa Bekele because of her double victories in the world cross country championships in St. Etienne/ St. Galmier, France and the world championships in Helsinki,” says Elshadai Negash, managing director of Endurance.

According to the survey, Dibaba’s earnings from prize money exceeded ETB 2.53 million (USD 287,500) which makes her one of the richest 19-year olds in Ethiopia. Double world 10,000m champion Kenenisa Bekele is well placed in the list in second place despite a difficult period where he suffered the tragic loss of his fiancée Alem Techale who tragically died while on the training run on the outskirts of Addis Ababa.

The major surprise in the prize money survey is Ethiopian marathon runner Haylu Negussie’s position in sixth place. The 26-year old took part in only two competitive meets during the period, but one of them, the Boston Marathon in April 2005, earned him a lump sum of USD 100,000.

Meanwhile, results from the survey indicate that the athletes who take part in many races do not necessarily earn more from those who compete in fewer meetings. This trend is visibly seen in the case of Werknesh Kidane. The world cross country short course silver medallist took part in more races than any other athlete in the Endurance top ten, but she could only place tenth in the list.

On the other hand, Sileshi Sihine run only seven races in an injury-plagued year, but his earnings total puts him in fourth place.

NB: The survey was carried out based only prize money awarded to athletes. It does not include any earnings from kit endorsements or appearance money.

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