Prominent Ethiopian marathon runner
Tsegaye Kebede, 25, marathon bronze medallist at last Olympics in Beijing 2008, Worlds bronze medallist in 2009 and winner at London 2010 and Fukuoka (2009 PB 2:05:18) is omitted from the Ethiopian Olympic marathon team announced yesterday. Also missing from the list are
Gebre Gebremariam who finished 3rd at 2011 Boston with a PB of 2:04:53 (not ratified by IAAF) and running legend
Haile Gebrselassie as expected.
Leading the men's squad will be the deserving up-n-coming 21-year old
Ayele Abshero who ran the fastest marathon of the season when he clocked an astonishing World Leading time of 2:04:23 at Dubai last January in his only marathon race he has ran so far, making him the 4th fastest ever and the fastest debut in history in the record of IAAF (Boston excluded).
The other 2 spots in the men's category were taken up by
Dino Sefir, 24, who has only ran 3 marathons in his career with 2:20:30, 2:10:33 and 2:04:50 (PB) in Dubai 2012 and
Getu Feleke, 26, who finished 2nd in Rotterdam this year in 2:04:50 (PB), however the winning countryman Yemane Tsegay
, who beat him to 2nd place in Rotterdam by 2 seconds is not in the team.
The women's squad is made up of
Tiki Gelana, 25, (PB 2:18:58 [NR] Rotterdam 2012),
Asselefech Mergia (PB 2:19:31 Dubai ) and
Mare Dibaba (PB 2:19.52)
The Ethiopian Olympic marathon squad:
Men :
Ayele Abshero (2:04.23), Dino Sefer (2:04.50), Getu Feleke (2:04.50)
Reserves : Markos Geneti (2:04.54), Tadese Tola (2:05.10)
Women:
Tiki Gelana (2:18.58), Asselefech Mergia (2:19.31), Mare Dibaba (2:19.52)
Reserves: Bezunesh Bekele (2:20.30), Tirfi Tsegaye (2:21.40)
