Brussels, BelgiumBenita Johnson’s victory in the women’s long race at the 32nd IAAF World Cross Country Championships here was in many respects unprecedented. Australia’s first medal of any description at this event was described in some reports as possibly the biggest shock in the century-long history of international cross-country races.
And yet Johnson actually represents a firm link back to the very beginnings of organised cross-country running, for she is a member of the club that started the whole sport.
Thames Hare &amp; Hounds lays claim to being the world’s oldest cross-country club by virtue of its having staged a race over Wimbledon Common, in south-west London, on December 7, 1867. “Hare and hounds” events, “paper-chases” and cross-country steeplechases, where one or two runners would set off in advance of the field as the “hares”, scattering a trail of paper for the “hounds” to follow in a contest of wits as well as stamina, were popular in many English public schools in the early 19th Century - there is an account of the annual race at Rugby School in Tom Brown’s Schooldays.
Such runs and other organised sports were regarded by Rugby’s famous headmaster, Dr Thomas Arnold, as an essential diversion for the boys’ less constructive energies, but they indirectly contributed to the development of much of what we recognise today as sport, since Baron Pierre de Coubertin ascribed his inspiration for the founding of the modern Olympic Games to a visit to a school sports day at Rugby in 1886.
The rigorous, character-building runs popular at schools more than a century ago also became acknowledged by some of the better organised rowing clubs as an essential part of their conditioning training for their races on the River Thames.
137 year event history
Thames Hare &amp; Hounds’ first race 137 years ago was in fact staged by Thames Rowing Club, which to this day organises an annual race for rowing clubs in Richmond Park. Thames’s first run prove so popular, though, that a running club was established exclusively for the purpose.
It is around Richmond Park where Johnson and her training group regularly train when they are based in London. As they churn out the miles alongside the royal herd of deer in one of King Henry VIII’s favourite hunting grounds, Johnson and her friends are running in the footsteps of a rich sporting history.
The beautiful setting has remained popular with runners with good cause. And Thames Hare &amp; Hounds have been ever presents.
But much has changed to cross-country, and Thames Hare &amp; Hounds, in the intervening years.
The “Rules and Bye-Laws of The Thames Hare &amp; Hounds Club”, from c. 1874, offer some idea of the strict and somewhat class-bound attitudes of the times. The club’s purpose, according to it rules, “shall be the promotion of Paperchasing in and near London”. Not unusually for a sports club of that time, the club’s headquarters were to be a pub, the King’s Head at Roehampton; in some respects, this is something that has not altered too much, since Thames Hare &amp; Hounds, together with Ranelagh Harriers, continue to have changing facilities at a pub, the Dysart Arms, across the road from the park.
Rigorous club rules
With an annual subscription of five shillings - the equivalent in today’s money of 25p, but at the time an amount which would have been worth about five times the average weekly wage.
But then, Thames Hare &amp; Hounds was not a club that opened its membership to just anyone. “No one who is not over eighteen years of age, or who is not a gentleman by position and education, shall be eligible for election.” And further, “No Member shall compete at any Tradesmen's Meeting under pain of expulsion at the next or any subsequent Club Meeting. Members are particularly requested not to run at any sports as to the management of which there is the least doubt; and it is suggested that, in case of doubt, they should communicate with the Secretary of this Club”.
Short and long club distances races
As well as establishing the sport, Thames Hare &amp; Hounds also appear to have set the precedent for the structure of the IAAF’s World Championships. According to the club’s early, Victorian rules, “The Rules for the two Challenge Cups shall be as follows: (1)The Short Distance Cup shall be run for in May and October, over the four miles and five furlongs course from Roehampton to Beverley Bridge, and then along the brook, over the Rounds, to the left of Wimbledon Mill, and the right of the Iron Houses, to the Well House. (2.) The Long Distance Cup shall be run for in January and July, over the eight miles and one furlong course, from Roehampton to the right of the Iron Houses, and the right of the Mill to the Rounds, through Fishponds Copse, up Combe Wood, down Malden Lane to the Chapel, and then to the left, up Cottenham Park, to Christ Church, and back over Wimbledon Common, to the right of the Mill, to the King's Head”.
So, some things have changed at TH&amp;H - such as permitting women, including Benita Johnson, to join, although this is a relatively recent development. Yet Johnson is not even Thames’s first woman world champion: one of her training partners and clubmates, Sonia O’Sullivan, of Ireland, beat her to that accolade in 1998.
But other things, such as the close association with pubs and beer, have not. “I am in the team for the 4km race on Sunday,” Australia’s new world champion said after her victory on Saturday afternoon, “but I think I might celebrate a little, and maybe try some of those famous Belgian beers.”

Benita Johnson’s victory in the women’s long race at the 32nd IAAF World Cross Country Championships here was in many respects unprecedented. Australia’s first medal of any description at this event was described in some reports as possibly the biggest shock in the century-long history of international cross-country races.

Johnson’s victory is rooted in cross country history

Before the Ethiopian team came to Brussels for the 32nd World Cross Country Championships, there was an air of optimism that this could well be the country’s best ever performance at the event. Apart from the individual titles, of which four went to the East Africans last year, Head team coach Dr. Woldemeskel Kostre and his strong team of 32 runners were embarking on team success, an attack on Kenya’s stronghold. 
It did not take a genius to figure out that these championships would be a battle between the two East African powers of long distance running,&nbsp; but despite assembling one of their strongest teams ever, the Kenyans had no answer to their neighbours’ dramatic domination.
“We really wanted to beat the Kenyans,” says Maeregu Zewdie, bronze medallist in the men’s 4km. “Even though Kenenisa [Bekele] won the long course title in the last two years, the Kenyans took the team titles. We have succeeded now and it feels great.”
The Ethiopians grabbed all three team titles on offer yesterday&nbsp; and had it not been for a determined and overpowering display of brilliance from Australian Benita Johnson, who surprisingly took the women’s 8km title, the Ethiopians would have made it a perfect nine out of nine on the individual medal standings. 
Running and winning for the country has always been a major motivator for the Ethiopians. Starting from great Abebe Bikila- two-time Olympic Marathon champion in Rome’60 and Tokyo’64- all the way to Haile Gebrselassie and now to Kenenisa Bekele, their main going into the race is proving themselves as worthy Ethiopians and seeing the nation’s tri-colors at the highest point in the centre of the three medal flagpoles.
“I came here to hear my national anthem,” said junior winner Melkamu. “Now that it happened, I know that I have accomplished my mission.” 
The secret to Ethiopian success, as they will not tire of telling you, is the culmination of hours of training each day and the “Help of God”. “The training was more difficult than the race today,” reaffirmed Melkamu. “But most of all, God wanted this to happen.” 
And even on the rare occasion yesterday that an Ethiopian felt unhappy about their performance in the championships, they always consoled themselves in the team victory. “I came here saying that I will get what God has written for me in his script,” said Werkinesh Kidane, who went into the women’s 8km race as a strong favorite. “Third place is not all that bad because I am really happy about our team victory.” 
On the individual front, Brussels is also proving to be a very successful hunting ground for the Ethiopians. Kenenisa Bekele again made the mud and terrains of cross country running seem all too easy picking up his third senior 4km title and is now well on course for his third double on Sunday. “From the beginning of the race I knew that the other competitors had targeted me with different systems,” said Bekele. “We thought they would come up with new tactics, but they were not so strong as we expected.” 
The frightening news for their rivals is that, apart from 32-year old Derartu Tulu, the majority of the current squad are 23 years of age or younger and have the potential to dominate for years to come. While Kenya has not found an able replacement for Tergat and Ngugi, two powerhouses of cross country, the Ethiopians believe that they are the nation to beat in the years they come. “Now, no country can deny us the team titles,” says a confident Kidane. “We train together and we win together. And it is difficult to beat such kind of a team.”&nbsp;

Before the Ethiopian team came to Brussels for the 32nd World Cross Country Championships, there was an air of optimism that this could well be the country’s best ever performance at the event.

Winning for the country- Ethiopians take over the show in Brussels 

Meselech Melkamu sounded an ominous warning after winning the World Junior Cross Country title yesterday.
The 18-year-old led Ethiopia to a comprehensive victory in Brussels but believes her country will become even more formidable in future. In fact, she claims the Ethiopians had high hopes of taking the first six places.
She says: “The Ethiopian team trains very hard together so we always have high expectations. I believe we will go on to enjoy even greater success in future and become a better team than we already are.”
Melkamu, the fourth of six children, is the daughter of a former international marathoner – Melkamu Haile Yesus – who was not keen on her to follow him into the sport but having seen her success he has now relented.
She only began running four years ago and after a few local cross country wins she was soon trying to force her way into the national team. She finished 11th in the Ethiopian Trials just a year after she starting running and when she followed up with some good form on the track later that year she was welcomed into the Ethiopian Electric Light and Power Authority’s athletic club and quit school to concentrate on athletics.
It meant leaving her family home in Debre Markos to make the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, some 360km away, her new base but she has benefited from training with the team. She came close to making the 2002 World Cross Country Championships, finishing eighth in the trials, and then a year later she proved a surprising winner – beating Tirunesh Dibaba who went on to not only take gold in Lausanne but also the Paris World Championships 5000m.
While Dibaba took gold in Lausanne last year, Melkamu had to settle for fourth but she arrived in Brussels very determined to make up for that with a medal, and she was favourite for gold after a succession of consistent displays over the past six months.
She won the East African Junior cross country title earlier this year and arrived in Brussels as the one everyone had to beat, but she had no intention of letting them. Her kick for home but powerful, albeit not particularly graceful, her arms pumping furiously and giving the impression she was working harder than she actually was.
Now Melkamu, who lists Derartu Tulu and Haile Gebrsealssie as her athletics heroes, plans to follow in Dibaba’s footsteps by also taking her talents on to the world’s senior stage and making a name for herself.
She says: “Of course, everyone dreams of making it to the Olympics and I am no different, but there are many very talented athletes in Ethiopia so all I can do is try to get the qualifying time and see what happens. I like to run the 1500m, and if I don’t make it to the Olympics in Athens then hopefully I can do so in four years time.”
&nbsp;

Meselech Melkamu sounded an ominous warning after winning the World Junior Cross Country title yesterday.

Melkamu convinces father that running is for her

Benita Johnson won Australia’s first ever medal at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships here at Parc Van Laeken, and then declared that her stirring performance to take the women’s long race title helped to show distance runners from around the world that the Africans are not unbeatable.
“I just didn’t want to hear the Ethiopian anthem again,” the 24-year-old from Queensland said. “I was determined to make the organisers search through their tapes to find 'Advance Australia Fair'.”
Johnson produced a performance of rugged courage, forcing the pace in the final two-kilometre lap of the 8km race to break away from her last remaining challengers, Ethiopia’s defending champion Werknesh Kidane and her team mate, Ejegayehu Dibaba, to come home around 70 metres clear in 27:17, with Dibaba taking the silver medal in 27:29, five seconds clear of the fading Kidane.
Third team title of the day
Ethiopia took their third team medal of the day, with Kenya claiming silver ahead of an exultant team from Britain, who just 48 hours before the championships had lost their team captain, and seemingly any hope of a medal, when two-time champion Paula Radcliffe withdrew with a hamstring injury.
“Paula has shown us the way to beat the Africans,” Johnson said. “It is really important that people from the rest of the world believe hat they can beat the Africans.
“The Africans all train really hard, and we just have to train just as hard. Anyone can win the race if they have it up here,” Johnson said, tapping her finger on the side of her head.
Coached by Nick Bideau, the partner of former champion Sonia O’Sullivan, Johnson’s gold medal is the culmination of three years of solid progression against the world’s best distance runners at the World Cross. Last autumn, the Australian won bronze at the IAAF Half-marathon World Championship, but it has been at cross-country that Johnson has shown her greatest consistency.
“I’ve had sixth, fourth and fifth place finishes,” she said. “Last year, I was about 20 metres from my first world medal… Losing there was huge motivation for me here.”
Determined run to defeat Kidane
And Johnson’s determination was written all over her face as a leading group of a dozen women set off in the midst of a gale-force rainstorm around the former royal gardens.
Prominent in the leading group with Dibaba, Kidane and Johnson were Kenya’s Alice Timbilili, Lorna Kiplagat, running for the Netherlands, Canada’s Emilie Mondor and Britain’s Kathy Butler.
After heavy overnight rain and the day’s two previous races, the course was becoming increasingly sticky in a number of places, a factor which Kidane found discomforting, but which Johnson relished. “I grew up in Mackay, and did&nbsp; lot of my training as a kid on the beach and on sand hills,” she said. “You learn how to run well when the going’s not so good.”
With the halfway mark passed in 13:47, Kidane was working hard at the front. “I felt I had to take the lead because the pace was not fast and I needed to break up the field,” last year’s World silver medallist at 10,000m explained.
But with the leading group down to four with a lap to run, the decisive move was Johnson’s as the leaders started their long uphill slog away from the grandstands. “I felt with the steep hill going into the last lap that the two Ethiopians girls were starting to tire,” Johnson said.
“I was tired too, but I thought I had to give it a go. I was hurting real bad, but I really wanted that medal.”
Gold is a good place to start
By the time Johnson had crested the rise at the far side of the course, the gap to Kidane was 10 metres and growing.
“It was really tough. It was a good cross-country course, really heavy with some hard hills, a true test of who is the fittest distance runner on the day.”
Johnson came into the race straight from the Australian Olympic track trials in Melbourne, where she won the 10,000m, and clearly is at the top of her form.
“Our country’s never won a medal at the World Cross before,” she said, “and I reckon gold is a good place to start.”

Benita Johnson won Australia’s first ever medal at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships here at Parc Van Laeken, and then declared that her stirring performance to take the women’s long race title helped to show distance runners from around the world that the Africans are not unbeatable.

Johnson drowns out Ethiopian anthem - Women's Long Course race

Brussels, BelgiumKenenisa Bekele today strolled in unparalleled fashion to what, barring accident or injury, will be the first half of a certain golden double at this weekend’s 32nd IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Brussels, Belgium.
A stroll on the park
If it is hard to find words to describe what was another effortless assault by the 21 year-old Ethiopian on the world’s understanding of what great distance running is about. Just imagine then what Bekele's adversaries must have been thinking as they were left as also-rans with only six minutes gone in this afternoon's&nbsp;men's 4km Short Course race.
It was at&nbsp;that&nbsp;early moment in the race when the World 10,000m champion first took the lead, and with&nbsp;his move the race for gold was&nbsp;ended, and Bekele’s effortless sight seeing tour of the Parc Van Laeken course had begun.
Brussels' Royal Park welcomed the King of Distance running, and nothing the weather&nbsp;could throw at him in terms of rain or blustery wind conditions could deter his amble through its undulating scenery.
Redefined the sport If Bekele’s previous double wins in Dublin (2002)&nbsp;and Lausanne (2003) were extraordinary physical feats, unique in the history of the Championships, then today’s performance redefined the entire sport of cross country running.
It is never easy to compare different eras in any sport but Bekele is without doubt the greatest cross country runner of modern times. Today he matched John Ngugi and Paul Tergat who each took&nbsp;five wins in their careers but he did so in a style that neither of those Kenyan masters could ever have conceived of matching in their day.
A decisive single move
The race was a very simple affair. Belgium’s Ridouane Es-Saadi (eventually finished 24th) had given some brief hope to home supporters with a run at the head of the&nbsp;field in the opening stages of this two lap race (2km each). 
As the first lap progressed Eliud Kibet Kirui was also in-check with the lead (at end of first lap&nbsp; - 5:45), and it was easy to imagine that some elaborate Kenyan team plan had made it’s first play. But we and the Kenyans were deluding ourselves, as just a few metres back was Bekele, shadowing&nbsp;these two leaders. When&nbsp;Bekele's move into the lead came, as he&nbsp;had slipped moments before&nbsp;around one of the course’s many muddy bends, it was initially assumed he merely wanted to clear himself of danger incase&nbsp;someone fell. Yet&nbsp;within a few moments it was clear that the change of pace was going to be sustained. Within two minutes of his lead being established Bekele had a 15 metres margin over his compatriot Gebre Gebremariam, who had quickly cut through the chasing field. Last year's Long course bronze medallist was in turn another 40 metres ahead of two Qataris, Abdullah Ahmad Hassan and World Steeplechase champion Saif Saaeed Shaheen.
The race in one move had begun and ended. As Bekele took the finishing tape in 11:31 he was five seconds clear of Gebremariam, with a late finishing Maregu Zewdie (11:42) completing an Ethiopian individual medal sweep.
Team victory too
Dejene Birhanu who finished in eleventh (11:56) completed the Ethiopian score of 17 points, which took them to their first men’s senior team gold (long race) since 1985.
Next came Hassan (4th 11:44) and Shaheen (5th, also 11:44), and packing well Sultan Khamis Zaman finished in 8th (11:44) as the third Qatari home. Abdul Abdel Al-Ameeri (22nd, 12:03) completed their scoring squad, and with it the desert kingdom picked up the team silver (39pts), it’s first ever World Cross Country medal of any sort.
Kenya who had held an unbroken stranglehold on this team title since&nbsp;the event became part of the programme in 1998, something which had given comfort to their beleaguered cross country reputation during these last few years of Bekele brilliance, fell back to third place (52 points). After early leader Eliud Kibet Kirui (6th 11:45), came Isaac Kiprono in seventh on the same time. The Kenyan scoring quartet was completed by Abraham Chebii (19th 11:59) and in 20th position Kiplimo Muneria (12:00).
Kenyans were weaker than expected
Bekele who today had&nbsp;unveiled a new blue print for distance running’s future, summed up the situation perfectly –
“The Kenyans were not as strong as we (Ethiopians) had expected. We thought they would come up with new tactics…with different systems.” They didn’t!
“The course was less muddy but the weather was colder than when I ran here two years before (in the annual Brussels xc international). I am so pleased that we were also able to win all three medals.”
Tomorrow, I‘m going to run and just do my best, I feel fine, my body feels fine.” 
With those words it seems there is little hope for Kenya or the rest of the Athletics world for an upset result in the men’s long race tomorrow.
What can we do about it?
John Kibowen (32nd), the Kenyan who won this race in 1998 and 2000, summed up the despair –
“I couldn’t respond to the attack of the Ethiopians. They were in very good shape. There was no tactical plan in the Kenyan team. You just have to run as hard as you can , that’s all. We cannot be satisfied with the team results, but what can you do about it? IAAF

Kenenisa Bekele today strolled in unparalleled fashion to what, barring accident or injury, will be the first half of a certain golden double at this weekend’s 32nd IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Brussels, Belgium.

The World has no answer to Bekele - Men's Short course race

&nbsp;For the first time in the history of the junior women’s race, Kenya failed to provide an individual medallist as fierce rivals Ethiopia produced a clean sweep at the 32nd IAAF World Cross Country Championships.
Meselech Melkamu lived up to her pre-race favourite billing and with Aziza Aliyu and Mestawet Tadesse following her home, there was a comprehensive victory for the Ethiopian team. Kenya have provided all three medallists on three occasions but they never looked likely to do so at the Park Van Laeken in the Belgian capital.
In wet and very windy conditions, the Ethiopians dampened Kenyan spirits further with an excellent team display that showed patience and then clinical execution. The race was over almost immediately that the Ethiopian trio kicked for home and the Kenyans must now be asking themselves just what they can do prevent their African rivals becoming a permanently unstoppable force.
Tanzania's Makula makes a show
The championships got underway with this three-lap 6km event and the the Kenyans were soon sprinting to the front with Nelly Jepkurui and Everline Kimeie prominent, but Tanzanian Farida Makula then became a focal part of the race.
Her country has never taken a medal, individual or team, in the race and that was a record she wanted to end as the 16-year-old surged to the front and opened a gap on her African rivals, who were closely packed in the race for valuable points.
Makula completed the first of three circuits in 6:45 but her left shoe came flying off as she set off on the second lap and her lead looked certain to go as she went very wide to avoid the muddiest sections around a bend soon afterwards.
Close Kenyan and Ethiopian packing
Close packing meant Kenya were slightly ahead of Ethiopia in the team battle at this point but as the lap continued the Ethiopians began to figure more prominently. Makula was still trying to set the pace at the front but gone was the substantial lead as four Ethiopians and two Kenyans surrounded her, while Hitomi Miyai was chasing for Japan, who have a fine record of team medals in this race.
Others were working their way back into contention as the lead pack increased to nine and then 11 as the pace slowed with a 7:13 second circuit with Asian junior cross country champion Guiyang Bao another trying to prevent total African domination.
Melkamu shows her intent early on
Melkamu, fourth last year, briefly showed in front after 4.5km but the pack remained closely bunched, perhaps too closely as Ethiopian Yenealem Ayano pushed Jebichi Yator out of the way, which brought strong words from the Kenyan.
With one lap to go, Ethiopia had taken over the lead in the team stakes but it remained close until the final circuit saw the green vests stamping their authority on proceedings. Kenyan junior champion Chemutai Rionotukei was giving her all to prevent a cleansweep for the Ethiopians but she had little support by now.
With less than a kilometre to go, the Ethiopian trio of Melkamu, Aliyu and Tadesse kicked away and the race was over as a team contest. It also appeared over as far as the individual champion was concerned for although Aliyu was on the shoulder of Melkamu the favourite looked in control.
Ethiopian team perfection
With around 300m to go, Melkamu found another gear and she soon moved away from her team-mates as she went on to win by five seconds (20:48). Aliyu took silver (20:53) with Tadesse getting the bronze (20:56),&nbsp;as Workitu Ayana moved her way up to fourth (20:59) as Ethiopia took team gold with the minimum 10-point score.
Only Kenya, in 1993, have ever produced a ‘Perfect 10’ in the race when Gladys Ondeyo, Pamela Chepchmuba and Sally Barsosio took the individual medals. Barsosio went on to take the senior World 10,000m title four years later, so you knows, will Melkamu be on the podium in Beijing at the 2008 Olympics Games?
Although looking strong, Melkamu admitted: “It was a very tough and demanding race. Although the course was easier and less hilly than Lausanne last year my rivals made it a very difficult race to win. We tried to shake off the other countries from the start but we were unable to because they ran so well.
“I was still feeling strong and I was concerned the other athletes were still pushing so that is why I decided to make a burst and I am very happy it paid off with a gold medal.”
Runner-up Aliyu, who was 12th last year, found the mud and cold air difficult to handle but still gave a fine performance with Tadesse three seconds adrift.
Despite a perfect score, it was not the biggest winning team margin in the event as when Barsosio led Kenya to victory in 1994 they had the first three plus the fifth placer and their 11-point tally was 35 better than the Ethiopians.
Senior dominance to come?
But now Ethiopia are the force in the age group with five team wins in seven years during which time their individual tally has been three gold, two silver and three bronze.
Two of those gold medallists, Dibaba and Kidane, today later made the podium in the senior 8km, so Melkamu has high hopes of following in their foosteps.
Ethiopia and Kenya have shared the top two team places in 10 of the last 11 years but Japan also maintained their excellent record as they took bronze once more. Only three times in the history of the event have they failed to get a team medal and Miyai was well supported by world youth 3000m bronze medallist Yuko Nohara in another fine display by the Asians.
The USA, featuring twins Amanda and Kathleen Trotter, were fourth as the Russians led the European challenge in fifth.
Last year’s bronze medallists Morocco failed to figure highly, with world youth 3000m champion Siham Hilali struggling in the mud as she admitted her spikes were too short.

For the first time in the history of the junior women’s race, Kenya failed to provide an individual medallist as fierce rivals Ethiopia produced a clean sweep at the 32nd IAAF World Cross Country Championships

Melkamu leads Ethiopian sweep of medals - Junior Women's race 

Brussels, BelgiumEthiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele and Derartu Tulu, and Australia’s Benita Johnson were the athletes at the centre of attention at this afternoon’s IAAF Press Conference held ahead of this weekend’s 32nd IAAF World Cross Country Championships, Brussels, Belgium (20/21 March 2004).
Proceedings in the Salon Memling of the Hotel Le Plaza Brussels, were opened by IAAF President Lamine Diack, who was accompanied by IAAF General Secretary Istvan Gyulai, and the co-Presidents of the Belgium Federation Philippe Housiaux and Eddy De Vogelaer.
Strong references were made concerning the historical love affair that Belgium has had with cross country.
“As long ago as 1923, Belgium first participated in, and then three years later in Brussels hosted the ‘International Championships’ which were the forerunner of the IAAF World Cross Country Championships,” commented Lamine Diack.
“The world’s Athletics family should always remember that Belgium came to our help in 2001 by rescuing the championships when the foot and mouth epidemic forced Dublin to cancel the event.”
“In cold, wet and windy conditions the coastal town of Ostend provided the perfect venue for a traditional ‘mud and guts’ event, out of which first sprung the man already considered as one of the greatest cross country running exponents in history, Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele, who won the junior men’s title and the senior short course silver medal,” the IAAF President reminded the assembled media representatives.
Bekele goes for the double again
Since those 2001 Championships, the World 10,000m champion has pulled off a remarkable set of two double (short and long course) victories in the 2002 and 2003 Championships, and the 21 year-old was pleased to confirm he was going again for double gold in Brussels.
“Yes, it is definite that I will do both. It was my decision and I had no hesitation at all,” said Bekele.
“The decision was taken two weeks ago and was made for three reasons. I have been training so hard and I wanted to test myself and my fitness. Also I have not over-raced this winter, and finally the Ethiopian Federation said ‘yes’ without which nothing would have happened. I am very happy they accepted.”
“Yes, running the World Record indoors for 5000m (20 Feb) has given me extra confidence and a big boost. I am very happy to have run like that indoors.”
You will face Kenya’s Kipchoge, Kibowen, Chebii, Kamathi, Limo, Qatar’s Shaheen, not to mention your own compatriots Sihine and Gebremariam in Brussels. Will this be the hardest weekend of your running career so far?
“Yes, this is a very impressive group of athletes and I have trained specifically to counter them… but I want to stress that my team mates and I have tried to be ready not just for the Kenyans but for all the runners who are here.&nbsp; It will very tough for sure. “
QUOTES FROM DERARTU TULU (ETH) – Reigning Olympic 10,000m champion and former three-time World Cross champion. “I am really pleased to be back in Belgium, because I have a lot of fond memories of running cross country here, I think I was here for the first time in 1991.”
”I do remember that in the last Olympic year, I was able to win both the cross country title and the 10,000m Olympic title and this year I have decided to skip the marathon and run the 10,000m at the Games in Athens. I have been working on my speed for this, which is why the cross country fits in with my plans.”
”I don’t think you can claim that any single race is harder than another and I certainly take nothing for granted. I think the key thing is to deal with the pressure since that is really the only thing that changes for each event. I was an Olympic gold medallist in 1992 so I know how to cope with pressure now.” 
QUOTES FROM BENITA JOHNSON (AUS) – 2003 World Half Marathon bronze medallist. “I was very disappointed last year when I was in third place in the final straight but faded to fifth. But I have a lot of extra strength now and I am very confident that I can get a medal this weekend. I have entered both races but will see how I fell after tomorrow’s long course race. I have one main goal for the rest of the season and that is the Olympic 10,000m in Athens. But after that, I’d love to run a marathon somewhere, maybe in London because I have a base there.” &nbsp; “It’s great to be back in Europe because Australia is a nice place for a holiday but not for world class athletics at the moment! There is no alternative but to come over here and mix with the very best.”
”I am proud to be here this weekend and to feel that I can really compete. I think I have gone up to a new level since winning a bronze medal at the last World Half Marathon Championships behind Paula Radcliffe and Berhane Adere.&nbsp; I have much more confidence in myself now.”
IAAF

Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele and Derartu Tulu, and Australia’s Benita Johnson were the athletes at the centre of attention at this afternoon’s IAAF Press Conference held ahead of this weekend’s 32nd IAAF World Cross Country Championships, Brussels, Belgium (20/21 March 2004).

Bekele confirms ‘double start’ – Tulu aims at fourth title – Johnson is prepared to 'mix it with the very best’

The withdrawal of World Marathon recordholder Paula Radcliffe from the IAAF World Cross-country Championships in Brussels will make pursuit of a historic double just a little bit easier for Werknesh Kidane. 
Twice a previous winner of the long course title, the English woman is ruled out of a record-breaking twelfth GB world appearance because of a hamstring injury, though this should not present long-term problems. 
"Now it’s a case of getting back into training," said Radcliffe. “That should be shortly, as it isn’t a serious injury.” Not that she was guaranteed an easy ride, with Kidane and Lornah Kiplagat, first woman to defeat Radcliffe in more than two years, in the Brussels field. 
The 22-year-old Ethiopian, Kidane, is determined to attempt a double only previously achieved in Marrakech (1998) by Sonia O’Sullivan. Silver medallist in the 10,000m at last year’s World Championships in Paris, Kidane missed the double by just a single second last spring in Lausanne. 
Kidane goes for the double
Having won the long race, she then lost the 4000m event, out-sprinted by Edith Masai. That was her second silver behind the Kenyan prison officer who is now intent on a third successive victory, another tilt at history, for this is a feat only ever achieved by Norwegian Grete Waitz (1980), and USA’s Lynn Jennings (1992). 
Kidane has recovered from injury earlier this year, and had looked in even better form, perhaps, than Radcliffe. She won four cross-country races in Spain over the winter, before achieving a unique short and long course double at the 21st East African Cross-Country Championships a fortnight ago in Addis Ababa. 
The 22-year-old is upbeat over the possibility of another double in Belgium, but believes underfoot conditions will be against her: “Last year, the weather was great in Lausanne. From what we hear, it rains in Belgium this time of the year, which will make the course more difficult.” 
But even before Radcliffe’s withdrawal, she relished the occasion: “It makes me happy to run against many world class runners. I am looking forward to the challenge…with the help of God, I am ready to get a good result in both races.” 
Kiplagat has learned from Radcliffe's example
Kiplagat, Kenyan-born, but wearing Holland’s colours since marriage to her manager, Peter Langerhorst, had least reason to be in awe of Radcliffe after her four-second victory over 10,000 metres on the roads of Puerto Rico last month. While Radcliffe re-defined the parameters of women’s endurance running, Kiplagat was watching and learning. 
As she said when interviewed after she had terminated Radcliffe’s unbeaten individual streak which dated back more than two years, “She has run incredible times, but always I have said: ‘If Paula has done it, in a human way, in human blood, then somebody else can do it’. What she has done has never shaken me at all. I have a lot of respect for what Paula has done. She has taught us there are no limits. The question now is: ‘How many other people can do the same?’” 
Kiplagat, who operates a Rift Valley camp which has helped emancipate female Kenyan athletes, had even served a similar cruel apprenticeship to Radcliffe: leading the world 10,000m final on the Paris track only to be overhauled late on, before finishing fourth. 
Now she may prove Kidane’s biggest challenger in Saturday’s long course race, although triple former champion Derartu Tulu can’t be overlooked. Tulu will be 32 on Sunday, and had Radcliffe’s measure in three title-winning world cross runs (1995, ‘97, and 2000) as well as out-sprinting her on the final lap of the 10,000 metres for victory at both the 2000 Olympics and 2001 World Championships.
"We were counting on Paula being there," confirmed Kidane. "There would have been really stiff competition. It’s good when you have that, because it breaks up the field, you fight hard, and you come out knowing you gave it your all. But Edith Masai will be there, Derartu Tulu will be there, and so will the rest of our team." 
"I ran both races last year, figuring that even if I didn’t make it onto the podium in the 4k, I could get good results in the 8k, and I won the 8k and took second in the 4k." 
"But the top six athletes are selected from every country, so you never really know what will happen, or what is God’s plan," concluded Kidane.
Masai capable of winning a third title?
Masai is the person most capable of denying Kidane in the short race. She is the only woman to have claimed more than one title at this distance since the event was added to the programme in 1998, yet she was a late starter, already mother of a nine-year-old son when she took third at her first World Cross-Country event at the age of 33. 
This year she had hoped to be first Kenyan to attempt both races, but anticipated heavy going caused her to opt only for the short race. At 36, the odds seem stacked against the oldest female world champion, but Masai talks of becoming the female equivalent of compatriots John Ngugi and Paul Tergat, both of whom amassed five wins, and of an aggressive strategy this weekend. 
“I will attack from the start, because this is a bad course," she said. "I won on this course, known as Cross Cup, in 2002, but conditions were so bad last year that I was 18th. I know it, and that is why I have shelved my plan to run both 8km and 4km races. 
“I am feeling no pressure at all, despite being the title-holder. God says blessed are those who believe in him. I am one of those already blessed.” 
Though the senior sergeant won her country’s prison services championships in January, she was only third at her national trials. She is confident the Kenyan team will do well, but acknowledges Ethiopia: “Look at what they did during the World Championships in Paris &shy; but with Ochichi and Gakunyi in the team, not to mention the rest, we shall also do our own team work and we’ll punish them,” she vowed. 
Benita Johnson, the Australian who was leading non-African finisher 12 months ago in the short race (fifth) and never out of the first six in the past three years over this distance, is also entered for both, but seems sure to confine herself to the short event again. 
Six of the first seven from last year's short race are provisionally declared (only Merima Denboba is missing), but only Kidane from the first 10 in last year's long race are slated to return. Alice Timbilili is the sole survivor from Kenya's six-strong silver-medal long-course squad last winter, and the odds are heavily in favour of Ethiopia retaining the title with the on-form Kidane, Tulu restored, and Eyerusalem Kuma (4 long/10 short last year) in their line-up. 
There is a provisional field of 110 from 32 nations in the long race, and 112 from 35 countries in the short race. Russia, leading European nation in last spring's short race (fourth) are poorly represented, with only Olga Romanova (15th last year) declared. The USA, only non-African country to climb onto the podium (male or female) last year, when they took team bronze in the women's long course, are without silver medallist Deena Drossin and their only other top-10 finisher then, Colleen de Reuck. 
In Radcliffe’s absence, Britain hopes for much from Kathy Butler, making her 13th appearance (some of which were for Canada) at the age of 30, and Natalie Harvey, making her GB debut having formerly represented Australia. Anja Smolders lines up for Belgium for what will be a record fourteenth successive time.
On reading these previews please note that until Friday's Technical Meeting has taken place, all team line-ups retain a certain fluidity.
&nbsp;

The withdrawal of world marathon record-holder Paula Radcliffe from the IAAF World Cross-country Championships in Brussels will make pursuit of a historic double just a little bit easier for Werknesh Kidane.

Senior Women's races - World Cross Country Championships - REVISED PREVIEW

“Selam everyone,
"I’m in for the World Cross Country championships. Sometime after the last World Championships, in Paris, I started having a little problem with my leg, but I ran at the World Athletics Final and ran in Japan and four days later went to the All Africa Games."
To know more about Werknesh Kidane's diary on the eve of the World Cross Country Championships <A href="http://www.iaaf.org/athletes/Athlete=115653/newsId=24587/index.html" target=_blank>click here</A>

"I’m in Brussels for the World Cross Country championships. Sometime after the last World Championships, in Paris, I started having a little problem with my leg, but I ran at the World Athletics Final and ran in Japan and four days later went to the All Africa Games."

With an injury behind her, Werknesh Kidane is ready for Brussels

Britain’s Paula Radcliffe, the World Marathon record holder and twice winner of the World Cross Country Championships long race, has withdrawn from this weekend’s Championships with an injury to her right hamstring.
In a UK Athletics press release Radcliffe said: "I am really disappointed to have to withdraw as training has gone really well and I was looking forward to racing well in Brussels."
Radcliffe who won long-course titles in 2001 and 2002 injured her right hamstring during a training session last Sunday and immediately sought medical advice.
Radcliffe lives in Loughborough and underwent treatment at the local UK Athletics high performance centre in a bid to make Saturday's eight-kilometre race.
The injury was responding well to treatment, but a major problem remained.
"I found it impossible to run uphill and in a cross country race there will always be plenty of them."
"Now it's case of getting back into training. That should be shortly, as it isn't a serious injury," concluded Radcliffe.

Britain’s Paula Radcliffe, the World Marathon record holder and twice winner of the World Cross Country Championships long race, has withdrawn from this weekend’s Championships with an injury to the right Hamstring.

Paula Radcliffe (GBR) out injured

MonteCarloThis is the traditional time of year when bank managers in Addis Ababa greet the world with a greater than usual air of optimism, as the Ethiopian team departs for this weekend’s 32nd IAAF World Cross Country Championships, Brussels, Belgium (20/21 March).
Ethiopia’s double-double World Cross Country champion Kenenisa Bekele is arguably the greatest runner in the Championships’ history. Financially he has reaped the benefit too as in the last three editions of the event - thanks to his second place short course finish in 2001, and two short and long race doubles in 2002 and 2003 - he has brought home an individual prize money haul of US$135.000.
Bekele has also taken a share of the US$76,000 team prize money that the Ethiopian senior squads also compiled for their third place (2001 short course) and four second place finishes (short/long, 2002/03) in those same races.
The annual question of ‘will he or won’t he’ double, will again remain definitely unanswered until Friday’s technical meeting. However, whatever Bekele’s racing decisions for Brussels, the usual prize money totals (seniors only) are on offer for each race:
Individuals - US$ 30,000 for 1st, US$15,000 for 2nd, US$10,000 for 3rd, graduating down to US$3000 for a sixth place finish.
Team - US$20,000 for 1st, US$16,000 for 2nd, US$12,000 for 3rd, graduating down to US$4000 for a sixth place finish.
Whether Bekele’s bank manager greets next Monday morning with a smile or not, the World 10,000m champion remains the undoubted star of these championships. However, the 21 year-old recognises that as this is an Olympic year, his opponents are desperate to dispel some of his aura of invincibility. As such, the challenge in Brussels “will be my hardest ever”, as the Kenyans in particular look for a glimmer of hope prior to Athens. 
Therefore, it is somewhat appropriate that one of the distinguished guests who will watch Bekele’s defence of his long course title on Sunday will be Belgium’s IOC President Jacques Rogge.
IAAF

Carlo – This is the traditional time of year when bank managers in Addis Ababa greet the world with a greater than usual air of optimism, as the Ethiopian team departs for this weekend’s 32nd IAAF World Cross Country Championships, Brussels, Belgium (20/21 March).

Calculation time for Bekele in Brussels

MonteCarloWhen you establish a sporting reputation as quickly and as supreme as has Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele since 2001, it should come as no surprise that your rivals will focus all their attentions on knocking you back down to size. There is nothing unfair about it, it is just a reality of life. 
Bekele versus the world Therefore at this weekend’s 32nd IAAF World Cross Country Championships, Brussels, Belgium, the distance running world will be divided into two camps, Bekele and the rest of the world. 
Bekele, the reigning double short and long course champion is entered for both races in Brussels, and while the annual question of whether or not he will actually run both distances is again in the air, the more interesting topic in this Olympic year is the 21 year-old’s growing invincibility on all surfaces. 
Should the World 10,000m champion stride around Brussels’ Park Van Laken in the same confident manner as he did twelve months before at the Avenches course at Lausanne – La Broye, then the world’s best distance runners might as wellcrown Bekele with the Olympic laurels at the same time. 
One race or two for Bekele in Brussels, it really doesn’t matter. The Kenyans, Tanzanians, Moroccans and perhaps even Bekele’s illustrious Ethiopian team-mates must now be aware that another soul destroying victory in Brussels would at the very least tighten the World indoor 5000m record breakers’ psychological grip over the Olympic Games with just five months to go before Athens.
Unless injury intervenes - and Bekele has been prone to Achilles problems in the past - Brussels is perhaps the last redoubt for the rest of the world as it tries to repel his Olympic assault.
So to Bekele’s challengers…
In the short race, of his team-mates, last year’s long course bronze medallist Gebre Gebremariam is the only other athlete of the Ethiopia squad also attempting to double in Brussels. The Junior champion of 2002 has had a great winter taking the long course win at last month’s East African Championships, to go on top of earlier European circuit wins in San Sebastian and Valladolid.
Kipchoge is Kenya's biggest gun
Yet it is the impressive Kenyan arsenal that Bekele must fear the most. In the short race, there is Abraham Chebii who out-sprinted him over 5000m at last summer’s Rome Golden League, and Kenya can also count on twice World short course champion (1998 &amp; 2000) John Kibowen.
However, the biggest gun that Ethiopia’s East African neighbours can bring to the field is World 5000m champion Eliud Kipchoge who will run the Long race in Brussels. Like Chebii, Kipchoge holds the rare distinction of having out-sprinted Bekele, though its true the Ethiopian had already run and won the World 10,000m when the now 19 year-old beat him in Paris last summer over 5000m.
Pedigree is everything in distance running and Kipchoge comes to Brussels as the reigning World Junior champion - a title that Bekele won in 2001 - and recently romped home in the Kenyan trials. However, if Kipchoge shows even a glimpse of weakness then his challenge for gold in Brussels will be as unsuccessful as when he was beaten by Ethiopia’s Sileshi Sihine (Newcastle 3 Jan) and Isaac Songok (Rift Valley&nbsp; 31 Jan) earlier this winter.
Sihine could be outside bet&nbsp;to&nbsp;create an&nbsp;upset
Songok runs the short race this weekend and so will pose no ‘home’ threat to Kipchoge’s ambitions, however, Sihine is entered for the long race and perhaps could give both Bekele and Kipchoge something to think about. As well as his Newcastle win over Kipchoge and former five-time champion Paul Tergat (who is not running in Brussels), Sihine also was a solid winner at the end of last year in Venta de Banos (Spain). If there is an outside bet for gold in Brussels, then the World 10,000m bronze medallist could be the long course stalker.
Returning again to the Kenyan challenge, there are also the 2001 World 5000m and 10,000m track champions to consider, respectively Richard Limo and Charles Kamathi, and Commonwealth 10,000m winner Wilberforce Talel, all of whom will race the long distance in Brussels.
Shaheen - lacking cross credentials?
Former Kenyan (Stephen Cherono) Saif Saaeed Shaheen of Qatar, the World 3000m Steeplechase champion heads a strong national squad in the short race. However, his cross country credentials this winter are largely missing, as though he recently won the World Military title in Lebanon, he was burnt out of the running in the Nairobi IAAF permit race (which also doubled as the Kenyan Trials race) by the combination of Kipchoge’s brilliance and team tactics of his former compatriots.
Uganda’s Boniface Kiprop is another of the many variables. The junior silver medallist behind Kipchoge last year, will again compete in the junior race but is also entered for the men’s senior short race. 
Can we look elsewhere in the world for medal potential in either the men’s short or long course races? The stark answer is probably not, though never discount Tanzania’s Fabiano Joseph, the World Half Marathon silver medallist, Spain’s 2002 European steeplechase and 10,000m champions respectively Antonio Jimenez (short) and Jose Manuel Martinez (long), or Morocco’s Abderrahim Goumri who finished in the top 15 of both races in Lausanne last year.
The two team titles will of course be decided between Kenya and Ethiopia once more, with possibly the Tanzanians, or Moroccans, or the French or the Spanish teams in the running for the bronze. As with the individual battle the Qatari’s could also be in with a shout.
- On reading these previews please note that until Friday's Technical Meeting has taken place, all team line-ups retain a certain fluidity. 
IAAF

When you establish a sporting reputation as quickly and as supreme as has Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele since 2001, it should come as no surprise that your rivals will focus all their attentions on knocking you back down to size. There is nothing unfair about it, it is just a reality of life.

WORLD ATHLETICS CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

Elated Ethiopians welcome back World Cross Country team

Sydney's child becomes World Cross winner

Bekele’s triple double leads Ethiopia to break Kenyan team hold - Men's Long Course race

Ageless Masai salvages some Kenyan pride - Women's Short Course race

Tadesse continues Ethiopian parade - Junior men's race