Gebrselassie 
going for Bristol Gold 
Steven Downes for 
the IAAF 
6 October 2001 
– Bristol, England - Haile Gebrselassie 
laughed this morning when asked how 
seriously he took the comments of 
another former world champion - 
Morocco’s Khalid Skah - over whether or 
not he would manage to win a medal in 
Sunday’s IAAF World Half-marathon 
Championships, being staged around this 
historic port city.
“I 
don’t know why he said that,” 
Gebrselassie said. “We’ll see what 
happens tomorrow when we meet in the 
race. I am not the only one he will have 
to race against tomorrow,” suggesting 
that he would be using tactics along 
with his Ethiopian team mates Tesfaye 
Jifar, twice a bronze medallist in this 
event, and Tesfaye Tola, the Olympic 
marathon bronze medallist in 2000.
“How 
fit am I for this race?” Gebrselassie, 
28, who has dominated world distance 
running for almost a decade, responded 
enigmatically to one question. “The 
answer will come tomorrow.”

Gebrselassie seemed buoyed with 
confidence after running his debut 
half-marathon at altitude in Addis Ababa 
last month, covering the 13 miles in 
63min 15sec (“It was 63 minutes,” he 
said, “because they added 300 metres on 
at the end of the course”), and winning 
an international 10km road race in 
Prague last weekend.

Gebrselassie said he had recovered from 
the virus that affected his racing at 
the Edmonton World Championships in 
August, where he finished only third in 
the 10,000 metres, ending a winning 
streak at the distance that stretched 
back to 1992.
“What 
happened to me in Edmonton was very 
bad,” he said. “I’ve never had that sort 
of problem before.

“Edmonton was not my last 10,000m on the 
track. I have to do something more 
before I finish.”
That 
“something more” could include a return 
to the IAAF World Cross-country in the 
spring, an event he has not raced since 
1996, and a first outing over the 
classic 26.2 miles (42.2km) of the 
marathon road race.
“It 
will be either London or Rotterdam,” he 
said, adding that a formal announcement 
would be made at the end of this month.
“I want 
to find a course that is good for a 
beginner marathon runner,” Gebrselassie 
said.

Haile Gebrselassie laughed this morning when asked how seriously he took the comments of another former world champion - Morocco’s Khalid Skah - over whether or not he would manage to win a medal in Sunday’s IAAF World Half-marathon Championships, being staged around this historic port city.

Gebrselassie going for Bristol Gold

Home 
ground gives Radcliffe great hopes for 
title defence 
Steven Downes for 
the IAAF 


5 October 2001 - 
Bristol - When defending champion and 
local heroine Paula Radcliffe lines up 
here for the 10th IAAF World 
Half-marathon Championship here on 
Sunday, she will at least have one less 
thing to worry about: EPO testing.

Radcliffe is hardly a 
controversial character, but at the IAAF 
World Championships in Edmonton in 
August the runner courted the headlines 
by leading a public protest to call for 
stricter testing controls for 
erythropoietin, or EPO, a blood-boosting 
drug believed to be in widespread use in 
endurance sports, including running.

The World 
HalfMarathon in Bristol represents a 
breakthrough, since it is the first 
sporting event staged in Britain to have 
such blood testing. The move has come as 
a result of co-operation between host 
federation UK Athletics, UK Sport, the 
IAAF and Swedish drug testing management 
specialists.

“I’m really glad that 
agreement has been reached for this to 
take place in Bristol,” Radcliffe said. 
“It shows the IAAF and athletics in the 
UK are serious about their fight against 
doping.”

With that matter put 
to the back of her mind, Radcliffe will 
be able to concentrate on the 13.1 miles 
of tarmac that lies between her and a 
second world half-marathon title.

Radcliffe had long 
been branded a perpetual bridesmaid for 
her exploits at 10,000 metres on the 
track - she won world silver in 1999 - 
and at cross-country, where before this 
year she had collected three place 
medals.&nbsp; But never the gold.

But she credits her 
victory at Veracruz last year, at the 
previous World Half-marathon, her first 
victory at global level since she won 
the junior title at the 1992 World 
Cross-country - as importantly helping 
to rebuild her self-belief.

“I am definitely more 
confident this year,” said Radcliffe. 
“Winning the World Half-marathon really 
helped.”

Buoyed with that 
confidence, Radcliffe finally nailed the 
“bridesmaid” tag in the glutinous mud of 
Ostend in March, when she surged past 
Ethiopian rival Gete Wami to win her 
first senior World Cross-country title.&nbsp; 
She has been in record-breaking form 
ever since, although the Edmonton World 
Championships saw her beaten by three 
Ethiopians into fourth place at 10,000m. 
Nevertheless, last month Radcliffe broke 
her own British 5,000m record on the 
track and then, less than 48 hours 
later, went out to equal Liz McColgan’s 
world best for a 5km road race, leading 
home 20,000 women in just 14min 57sec.

Then, on September 30 
in her last competitive work-out before 
Bristol, Radcliffe knocked 22sec off the 
course record over nearly 4km in a 
regional club road relay event. The 
achievement was made more significant 
since the previous record-holder was 
none other than Ireland’s double 
European champion, Sonia O’Sullivan.

Moving up in distance 
to the 21 kilometres of the 
half-marathon - with half an eye on her 
debut at the full marathon in London 
next April - holds no fears for 
Radcliffe, 28, a European languages 
graduate from Loughborough University 
and occasional translator for the IAAF 
magazine.&nbsp; “My strength has always been 
my stamina,” she says.&nbsp; Radcliffe’s 
European half-marathon record, 67min 
07sec was set in last autumn’s Great 
North Run, already ranks her fifth on 
the world all-time list. But she has 
scientific evidence to suggest that she 
is capable of going quicker still.

Physiological tests 
on Radcliffe after she returned from a 
high altitude training trip just before 
winning the World Cross title suggested 
that while she was in good shape for 
running an eight-kilometre cross-country 
race, she was in even better form for 
the one-hour-plus of hard effort 
demanded by the half-marathon.

“I’ve never tested 
anyone with readings as good as Paula’s 
and I’ve never seen any published 
anywhere that compare,” according to 
Andy Jones, an exercise physiologist who 
works as a consultant to UK Athletics.

Jones’s analysis work 
looks at three areas - running economy, 
lactate thresh old (which measures how 
quickly a runner tires), and VO2 max, 
the runner’s oxygen capacity.

“Paula is 
outstanding. She hardly produces any 
lactate, she has a very high VO2 and is 
the most economic runner I have 
measured,” Jones said.

Jones believes that 
Radcliffe has yet to find her best 
event. “The longer it goes, the greater 
the margin she has over others because 
she is not using great energy,” he says.

Radcliffe also has 
the support and encouragement of her 
biggest idol, former world champion and 
world record-holder Ingrid Kristiansen. 
“She was one of the greatest distance 
runners of all time,” said Radcliffe. 
“She won the world titles on all 
surfaces and at that point she was the 
best distance runner in the world.

“I am also moving 
into my late 20s, which is the peak time 
for middle-distance runners because you 
get stronger as you get older. I have 
come here in the best shape I can be.”

Radcliffe still 
hankers after emulating Kristiansen, by 
having success on track, country and on 
the roads. “I think a complete distance 
runner should be able to win on all 
surfaces and I’d like to prove I can do 
that. Everyone says I can’t win on the 
track but I think it’s just a matter of 
time.”

In Bristol, 
Radcliffe’s most serious rivals will, as 
ever, come from Africa:

Elana Meyer, South 
Africa’s 1994 World Half-marathon 
champion, Kenya’s Susan Chepkemei, 
silver medallist behind Radcliffe in 
Veracruz a year ago, and Berhane Adere, 
one of the Briton’s Ethiopian conquerors 
over 10,000m in Edmonton.

But on home soil, one 
thing about Radcliffe’s performance on 
Sunday is certain: she will give her 
all.

When defending champion and local heroine Paula Radcliffe lines up here for the 10th IAAF World Half-marathon Championship here on Sunday, she will at least have one less thing to worry about: EPO testing.

Home ground gives Radcliffe title defence a boost

Memory 
of Bikila dogs Gebrselassie’s 
move to marathon 
Steven Downes for 
the IAAF 
4 October 2001 – It does not matter how 
fast he runs, whenever he is racing, 
Haile Gebrselassie can always hear from 
just over his shoulder the pat, pat, pat 
of bare feet padding along the Via Appia. 
No matter how hard he tries, 
Gebrselassie cannot outrun his sporting 
destiny.

Gebrselassie, arguably 
the greatest distance runner in history, 
is in Britain next weekend to take the 
next step towards fulfilling that 
destiny, by racing in the IAAF World 
Half-Marathon Championships being staged 
in Bristol on Sunday. His appearance in 
the 13.1-mile event for the first time 
is a natural step towards his ultimate 
goal, the marathon itself.

Ever since Abebe Bikila 
ran barefoot to Africa’s first Olympic 
gold at the 1960 Games, with the cobbles 
of the Appian Way illuminated by burning 
torches as he passed some of Rome’s 
ancient monuments, all his Ethiopian 
successors have been steered towards the 
26-mile 385-yard classic event. For 
strife-torn and famine-ridden Ethiopia, 
one of the world’s poorest nations, the 
value of marathon gold is priceless.

Gebrselassie was born in 
1973, the year that Bikila, crippled 
after a motor accident, died. When he 
went to school, young Haile will have 
seen posters of Bikila on his classroom 
walls. When he visited the capital, 
Gebrselassie will have been shown the 
statue of Bikila outside the national 
stadium, or visited the runner’s grave.

Everything Gebrselassie 
has achieved in a fantastic career, with 
his 15 track world records, four world 
titles at 10,000m and two Olympic golds, 
has had to measure their greatness 
against Bikila’s two Olympic marathon 
titles.

Now, at 28, Gebrselassie 
appears to have reached the point in his 
career where he is ready to put himself 
to the ultimate athletic test. But even 
he is wary of stepping up to the 
marathon, and stepping out of Bikila’s 
shadow.

“Three thousand metres, 
5,000, 10,000 metres - there is not so 
much difference,” he says, defying the 
current athletics wisdom that suggests 
that only specialisation in one event is 
possible in the competitive 21st 
century. “But 10,000 to the marathon, 
that is a big difference, and sometimes 
it has been difficult for some 
athletes.”

In a decade-long career 
since winning a world junior title in 
1992, Gebrselassie’s achievements on the 
track have been astonishing - 
effectively seeing off the dual 
challenges of his Kenyan rivals, Daniel 
Komen and Paul Tergat, both great 
champions in their own right, and 
including stepping down in distance to 
take on the middle distance runners and 
winning the 1,500 and 3,000 metres world 
indoor double, a feat unlikely ever to 
be repeated.

But his caution about the 
marathon is well placed. After winning 
his second Olympic 10,000m gold in 
Sydney, Gebrselassie had been expected 
to make his marathon debut this year, 
but an operation a year ago on a 
troublesome Achilles tendon postponed 
that, and contributed to his losing his 
10,000m world championship in Edmonton - 
a title he had held since 1993.

A week ago, Gebrselassie 
showed he is on a road to recovery, 
winning an international 10km event in 
Prague, a promising warm-up for next 
Sunday’s jaunt around the docks and 
streets of Bristol.

Even at 5ft 4in, 
Gebrselassie stands out in a running 
crowd, with his ramrod straight back and 
barrel chest containing a phenomenal 
combination of heart and lungs, and his 
constant smile. But his deceptively long 
stride may be less well suited to road 
running. His attempts to win the world 
cross-country title were curtailed when 
the team running tactics of the Kenyans, 
supporting Tergat to his record five 
titles, often jockeyed and jostled the 
lone Ethiopian out of his stride. 
Gebrselassie hasn’t been back to the mud 
and hills since.

“A distance runner who 
runs on his toes like a sprinter, 
bouncing like a rubber ball kilometre 
after kilometre, it’s incredible,” 
Gebrselassie’s manager, Dutchman Jos 
Hermens, says. “Watch him in slow motion 
and it’s like watching Carl Lewis.”

But the strains of such a 
stride over 26 miles - or even a 13-mile 
half-marathon - on rock-hard roads may 
aggravate the injuries which in the past 
have persuaded Gebrselassie to abandon 
his romantic notion of trying to emulate 
another Ethiopian running hero, Miruts 
Yifter, by trying to win the 
5,000-10,000 track double. Modern, fast 
tracks have battered Gebrselassie’s legs 
and blistered his feet into submission.

THE seventh son of a 
shepherd, born into the thinnest of 
mountain air some 10,000 feet above sea 
level in Arssi, a three-hour bumpy drive 
south from Addis Ababa, the young Haile 
would run the three miles to school and 
back each day, despite complaints from 
his father that he was neglecting his 
studies.

“My father was against 
sport. It was really that he did not 
know sport,” Gebrselassie says, 
recalling the time in 1980, when he used 
his father’s radio to listen to the 
exploits of Yifter at the Moscow 
Olympics, and the scolding he received 
for such wasteful use of his father’s 
precious batteries. “He knows about 
sport now though,” Gebrselassie says, 
beaming a trademark smile.

Like all the best 
Ethiopian runners, a legend has grown up 
around Gebrselassie from that time, 
suggesting that to avoid a scolding from 
his father, he would carry his 
schoolbooks under his arm on the run, 
creating his trademark running style, 
with a crooked left arm.

One of his older 
brothers, Takye, was a runner, and made 
a gift of a pair of training shoes to 
Haile when he was 14. “But I threw them 
away,” he says, “they were too heavy. I 
preferred to run barefoot.” This from a 
man who, in 1995, would sign a five-year 
deal with a sports shoe manufacturer to 
promote their product that was worth 
$2.5 million.

Gebrselassie was 16 
before he visited Addis Ababa and 
encountered electricity and telephones 
for the first time. There, he ran his 
first proper race - inevitably, the 
marathon. It took him a modest 2hr 
52min, and he finished only 99th. 
“I thought my running career was over 
when I saw my finishing position,” he 
recalls. “But once the stiffness was 
gone from my legs, I decided to 
continue.”

The running world has 
been revelling in his achievements ever 
since. His vanquished rivals - Tergat, 
with two Olympic and two world 
championship silvers won a half-stride 
behind Gebrselassie, and Komen - have 
been ruing the little Ethiopian’s change 
in fortunes, too. Komen’s career seems 
to be over, crushed by the repeated 
disappointments of defeat, while after 
taking second billing in the 10,000m in 
Sydney in one of the greatest distance 
races ever seen, Tergat has moved on to 
the roads.

Gebrselassie revelled in 
their on-track rivalry. “Without them it 
would have been very difficult,” he 
says. “When they break my records, it 
pushes me to improve myself, to try 
harder.”

Gebrselassie may yet 
resume his rivalry with Tergat. The 
Kenyan, winner of the London Marathon 
last April and holder of the world best 
for the half-marathon at 59min 17sec, 
will be missing from Sunday’s race in 
Bristol, preferring instead to race the 
Chicago Marathon.

But Tergat is expected to 
return to London to race next spring, 
and that may be where he and 
Gebrselassie renew their acquaintance. 
“I may be involved in the organisation 
of the Rotterdam Marathon,” says 
Gebrselassie’s manager, Hermens, “but 
Haile is my client, and I have to make 
sure he gets the best deals.” Such a 
deal is likely to include hefty 
incentives for a world best.&nbsp; “I have no 
doubt he could run the marathon in 2hr 
5min,” Hermens says.

First, though, comes 
Bristol next Sunday, and the chance for 
Gebrselassie to add to his haul of world 
titles. For Haile Gebrselassie, an 
athlete with an acute sense of running 
history, he already knows that, however 
fast he runs, it will never be quick 
enough to outrun the ghost of Bikila at 
his shoulder.

It does not matter how fast he runs, whenever he is racing, Haile Gebrselassie can always hear from just over his shoulder the pat, pat, pat of bare feet padding along the Via Appia. No matter how hard he tries, Gebrselassie cannot outrun his sporting destiny.

Memory of Bikila dogs Gebrselassie’s move to marathon

The Japanese World 
Half Marathon team 
K. Ken 
Nakamura for the IAAF 
4 October 2001 
- The Japanese women’s half marathon 
team has done well in the World Half 
Marathon Championships. For the last two 
years, the team finished second, while 
Mizuki Noguchi finished second in 1999 
and fourth in 2000 respectively.&nbsp; 

The Japanese team for 
the World Half Marathon Championships in 
Bristol consists of: Mizuki Noguchi, 
Yasuyo Iwamoto, Hiromi Watanabe, and 
Takako Kotorida for women, and Takayuki 
Matsumiya, Takashi Ota, Takeshi Hamano, 
Yuki Mori, and Kazuo Ietani for men.&nbsp; 
Sakiyo Kan who was originally selected 
for the team has withdrawn citing lack 
of form.
Once again the best 
Japanese on the team is Mizuki Noguchi, 
who has a half marathon best of 1:08:30, 
which was recorded at the 1999 Nagoya 
half marathon.&nbsp;This year, Noguchi won 
the Japanese corporate team half 
marathon championships with 1:08:45 in 
March, as well as the East Asian Games’ 
half marathon in May before finishing a 
close second to Lidia Simon at the 
Sapporo Half marathon with 1:09:51 in 
July.&nbsp; Noguchi was planning to make her 
marathon debut this year but had to 
change her plan because of an 
injury.&nbsp;She ran the 10,000m at the 
national championships in June;&nbsp; 
surprisingly Noguchi finished third with 
a new personal best of 31:51.13.Thus she 
was selected for the World Championships 
in Edmonton, where she finished 
thirteenth in 32:19.94.&nbsp;&nbsp; She has 
expressed her desire to excel both on 
the track as well as on the road.
The Japanese half 
marathon team usually includes some up 
and coming runners, and this year is no 
exception.&nbsp; This year’s new find may be 
Yasuyo Iwamoto.&nbsp; Although she was a 
mediocre runner at best in high school, 
Iwamoto improved in college to finish 
sixth at the 10,000m with 34:24.97 in 
the 1998 Inter-Collegiate championships 
when she was a junior at Chukyo 
University.&nbsp; Her breakthrough came only 
in the last few months. First, Iwamoto 
was selected for the World Half Marathon 
team after finishing fifth with 1:11:36 
at the Sapporo half marathon in July, 
then last weekend, at the Japanese 
corporate team track and field 
championships in Kanazawa, Iwamoto made 
dramatic improvement at the 10,000m.&nbsp; 
She won the “B” race in 31:50.97.&nbsp; It 
was a huge improvement in her personal 
best, which stood at 33:11.12 from the 
district corporate team track &amp; field 
championships back in May.&nbsp; After the 
race Iwamoto told Tatsuo Terada, “My 
training has gone really well in the 
summer.&nbsp; I could manage 3:05 to 3:10 for 
the 1000m.&nbsp; I was peaking for the World 
Half Marathon Championships, so my goal 
today was to run 32:30.”&nbsp; Her goal 
include competing at the World Cross 
Country Championships.&nbsp; 
Noguchi is not the 
only runner with experience at the World 
Half Marathon Championships.&nbsp; In 1998, 
Takako Kotorida won the Japanese 
corporate team half marathon 
championships in Yamaguchi with 1:11:52; 
she outkicked Aki Fujikawa and Yukiko 
Okamoto in the last 200m, and thus was 
selected for the 1998 World Half 
Marathon Championships.&nbsp; Kotorida 
finished 45th.&nbsp; Last year 
Kotorida improved her half marathon best 
to 1:10:29 in Yamaguchi, but only 
finished twelfth in the race.&nbsp; After two 
years of mediocre performances, Kotorida 
regained fine form this year.&nbsp; In March, 
she finished third in the Japanese 
corporate team half marathon 
championships with 1:09:04, a new 
personal best, thus clinching a spot on 
the World Half Marathon Championships 
team.&nbsp;&nbsp; But that was just the 
beginning.&nbsp; In the Hyogo Relays in Kobe 
in April, Kotorida recorded a huge 
personal best, 31:41.32, at the 10,000m 
when she outkicked both Yoshiko Fujinaga, 
World Cross Country bronze medallist 
(1999 in a junior division) and Yoko 
Shibui, a 2:23 marathon runner who was 
fourth in Edmonton.&nbsp;&nbsp; In May Kotorida 
finished second to Noguchi in the East 
Asian Games’ half marathon.&nbsp; 
For the men’s side, 
the best runner on the team may be Yuki 
Mori.&nbsp; On March 11 in Yamaguchi, at the 
29th Japanese corporate half 
marathon championships, 22 years old 
Mori won the kickers race against Kazuo 
Ietani with 1:01:27, thus winning a spot 
on the World Half Marathon Championships 
team.&nbsp; This was a major breakthrough for 
Mori who was a mediocre runner at best 
until a few years ago.&nbsp; He joined the 
track team in his junior high school, 
perhaps because of the influence of his 
father who competed in the national high 
school ekiden championships in his 
youth.&nbsp; However, in his three years in 
high school, Mori’s career was plagued 
with injuries.&nbsp; He was seriously 
considering quitting sports after high 
school graduation.&nbsp; However, knowing 
that Yuki was not quite ready to quit 
track, his father recommended to him to 
join the corporate track team.&nbsp; With a 
5000m personal best of 15:30, top track 
teams would not recruit him.&nbsp; Tsugio 
Sadakata, the coach of Kamatsu 
Electronics track team, took a gamble 
and recruited Mori to the team.&nbsp; Even 
after joining Komatsu in 1997, Mori’s 
career continued to be plagued with 
injuries, until it was finally 
diagnosed&nbsp; that his knee pain was more 
of a psychological problem than a 
physical one.&nbsp; With knee pain behind 
him, Mori showed steady improvement.&nbsp; In 
1999, Mori won the Karatsu 10 miles road 
race in 46.48.&nbsp;&nbsp; In 2000, Mori has 
improved his 10000m personal best to 
28.25.25 at the national championships.&nbsp;

Takayuki Matsumiya 
along with his twin brother Yuko 
Matsumiya runs for Konica track team, 
whose most illustrious member is a 
two-time Olympic marathon medallist, 
Eric Wainaina.&nbsp; The Matsumiya brothers 
were graduates of Hanawa 
high school in Akita prefecture, which 
is known among track fans in Japan for 
its famous alumni.&nbsp; Junko Asari, the 
1993 World Marathon champion, and Ken-ichi 
Takahashi, the national half marathon 
record holder are graduates of Hanawa.&nbsp; 
Between the twins, Takayuki seems to be 
ahead of his brother at the moment.&nbsp; 
Last Novermber, Takayuki improved his 
10,000m personal best to 28:02.80, while 
his twin brother Yuko ran 28:03.43.&nbsp; 
Also in 2000, Takayuki won the Ome 30Km 
road race in 1:31:18, while Yuko was 
third in 1:31:49.&nbsp;&nbsp; The twins made their 
marathon debut in February in Nobeoka.&nbsp; 
They ran together during the early part 
of the race, until Yuko faded after 
27Km.&nbsp; Unfortunately although Takayuki 
led until 37.5Km, he too faded in the 
final miles and finished only sixth with 
2:18:48.&nbsp; In July, Takayuki finished 
sixth in the Sapporo half marathon and 
was selected for the World Half Marathon 
team.&nbsp;&nbsp; 
After racing in the US 
and Canada during June and July of 2000, 
Kazuo Ietani was a different runner.&nbsp; He 
set a personal best of 13:55.78 in 
Montreal.&nbsp; After returning to Japan, he 
improved his 10,000m personal best to 
28:18.10 at the national championships 
in October, and was second in the Kosa 
10 miles with 46.49 in December.&nbsp; In 
2001, Ietani made an auspicious marathon 
debut at the Tokyo marathon where he 
finished sixth in 2:12:37.&nbsp; A month 
later he finished a close second to Yuki 
Mori in Yamaguchi with 1:01:30.&nbsp; The 
latter effort won him a spot on the 
World Half Marathon Championships team.&nbsp; 
In May, under the pressure to perform on 
the home soil, Ietani won the East Asian 
Games’ half marathon.This year, in 
Heusden, Ietani improved his 5000m best 
to 13:49.68, thus showed that he runs 
well in abroad, as well as under 
pressure.

K. Ken Nakamura takes a look at the Japanese Team for Bristol 2001.

The Japanese team for the World Half Marathon Championships

Paula Radcliffe Star 
of 10th IAAF World Half 
Marathon Championships - Biggest Rivals 
From Africa And Japan 


IAAF Release 

3 October 2001 
– Monte Carlo– Two hundred and fifty two 
athletes – 166 men and 86 women – will 
compete on Sunday in Bristol 
(GBR), 
on the occasion of the 10th IAAF World 
Half Marathon Championships. The course 
through the streets of this attractive 
port city will comprise two laps of a 
10.55km circuit, with the men’s 
race starting at 9.30 am and the women’s 
at 10.45 (10.30 and 11.45 am CET). Both 
individual and team titles are awarded 
at this Championships and 61 countries 
will participate, although not all will 
compete for the team competition, which 
is awarded on the basis of the 
cumulative times of the best three 
athletes from each country.


The IAAF will 
distribute a total of $245,000 dollars 
in prize money (USD), with the two 
individual winners each receiving 
$30,000. Second through sixth placed 
athletes will receive, respectively, 
$15,000; $10,000; $7,000; $5,000 and 
$3,000. The two winning teams will each 
receive $15,000 with the second to sixth 
placers receiving $12,000; $9,000; 
$7,500; $6,000 and $3,000.


The superstar of this 
tenth edition will without a doubt be 
Ethiopia’s Haile Gebrselassie: the world 
record holder and Olympic champion over 
10,000 metres appears the most likely 
successor to Paul Tergat, the winner of 
this Championships in Palermo in 1999 
and in Veracruz last year. Tergat is 
also the owner of the world best for the 
event with his time of 59:06 in Lisbon 
in 2000.


In the women’s race, 
the favourite has to be Great Britain’s 
Paula Radcliffe who won with a time of 
1:09:07, the first world title of her 
career in Veracruz 2000, after a 
succession of many silver and bronze 
medals but never before gold.


At 28 years of age, 
Radcliffe continues to divide her time 
between cross country – she is the 
reigning World Champion for the long 
course cross – the track – she came 4th 
in the World Championships 10,000m in 
Edmonton – and road running, 
demonstrating a rare combination of 
talent, passion and professional 
discipline.


In Bristol, 
Radcliffe’s most dangerous adversaries 
will once again come from Africa: Elana 
Meyer, the South African who has one of 
the best times for this distance 
(1:06:44 in 1999 in Tokyo); Susan 
Chepkemei (KEN) who came second in 
Veracruz last year in 1:09:40 and who 
clocked 1:08:40 in South Shields two 
weeks ago; Berhane Adere, the 
28-year-old Ethiopian, who won silver in 
the 10,000m in Edmonton and Joyce 
Chepchumba (KEN), training partner of 
Tegla Loroupe and bronze medallist in 
the marathon in Edmonton, who has a 
personal best of 1:08:18 for the half 
marathon.


Nor should one 
underestimate the Japanese and Romanian 
contenders. Japan is fielding a young 
squad with good hopes of lifting the 
team title, they are led by 23-year-old 
Mizuki Noguchi, who came fourth in 
Veracruz and second in Palermo, with a 
personal best for the distance of 
1:08:30 and 24-year-old Takako Kotorida, the winner of this year’s 
Yamaguchi 
half marathon in 1:09:04. Finally, Iulia 
Olteanu, a veteran roadrunner, is a 
Romanian who has always achieved good 
results in the event: from 2nd 
in Oslo 1994 with 1:09:15 to 1:09:52 on 
11 March 2001 in Kyoto.


The IAAF web site for the 
event carries historical information on 
the World Half Marathon Championships 
and updated profiles for all of the 
athletes competing in Bristol.

166 men and 86 women – will compete on Sunday in Bristol (GBR), on the occasion of the 10th IAAF World Half Marathon Championships. The course through the streets of this attractive port city will comprise two laps of a 10.55km circuit,

Radcliffe the star of 10th IAAF World Half Marathon Championships

Robert Stefko will travel 
to his third World Half Marathon Champs
 
Alfons Juck for 
the IAAF 
3 October 2001 – Praha, Slovak Republic 
– The top Slovak distance runner, Robert 
Stefko, takes Sunday’s 
jubilee edition of the IAAF World Half 
Marathon Championships as his main goal 
for year 2001. It will be his third 
start at these championships. He 
competed at the inaugural edition in 
Tyneside – the last time he wore the 
former federal Czechoslovak vest 
(finished 37th) - and then at 
home in Košice in 1997 (29th). 
The championships in Slovakia are 
considered as the best so far of the 
past 9 editions and the only one where 
the first two athletes across the line 
went under one hour. 
Stefko 
(33 years old) started this year with an 
excellent 10th place at the 
World Cross Country Champs in Belfast. 
Then he wanted to qualify for marathon 
in Edmonton. Unfortunately influenza did 
not allow him to run in London and 
everything was lost. He tried in Prague 
Marathon one month later, but was 
finally “only” a rabbit. 
At that 
time he had already chosen Bristol as 
his next goal. But his preparations were 
not optimal. Mainly back problems 
contributed to the fact that he was not 
able to fulfill all his plans.
“I 
expect a very fast race in Bristol. I 
saw Gebreselassie on the road in Praha 
and I think in the present situation he 
is unbeatable, I even think he can break 
the world best time. This year’s 
Championships are looking as one of the 
best concerning the participation. The 
event is growing in importance and 
quality. 

“My 
position will be not easy, but I hope to 
run under 62 minutes and this should 
allow maybe a position in the top 
twenty. Next goal is the New York 
Marathon and then the cross season,” 
said Stefko. 
He 
always travels to events at the last 
possible moment. Also this time, he will 
fly only on Saturday to Bristol. He is 
living in Praha with his wife and their 
young son Sebastian (born in April, 
2000).
Stefko 
holds nearly all Slovak records and 
bests in events from the mile to the 
marathon. His best track placing was 4th 
position at the European Championships 
1994 at 10,000 m. He ran already one 
half-marathon race in 2001: 
in April he finished 4th in 
Berlin with 1:02:20. His Slovak best is 
60:29 in 2000. 
In his 
career he finished so far six marathons 
(he also ran in some as pacemaker and 
the only one he was not able to finish 
was the Olympic race last year in Sydney 
due to flu).

Progression at the Marathon
1990, 
Kosice, 5, 2:25:11 
1997, New York, 7, 2:11:11 
1998, London, 6, 2:09:53 
1998, New York, 12, 2:12:52 
1999, Kosice, 1, 2:14:10 
2000, Ohtsu, 15, 2:13:57

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

The top Slovak distance runner, Robert Stefko, takes Sunday’s jubilee edition of the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships as his main goal for year 2001.

Slovak Republic's Stefko to run in Bristol

Bob Franks for the IAAF 
1 October 2001 - The first IAAF world 
half-marathon champion will make his 
first appearance in the Championships 
since that inaugural event in 1992, when 
he lines up in Bristol on Sunday.


Although Benson Masya and Liz McColgan 
made the headlines when the 
championships were last held in Britain, 
they were beaten to the honour of first 
world half-marathon champion by Kassa 
Tadesse.


The men’s junior championship – which 
was to last just one more year - was 
held on the eve of the senior event and 
Tadesse triumphed by 10 seconds on the 
roads of Tyneside.


Some nine years later, Tadesse makes his 
international debut for the host 
country, having made Britain his home 
since that 1992 success. He arrived in 
Britain as an unknown 18-year-old from 
Addis Ababa and within hours of touching 
ground was being crowned world champion.


Tadesse hadn’t arrived until 3am on the 
day of the race, having endured a 36 
hour journey from his home in Ethiopia, 
but after just three hours sleep he got 
up for a morning training run to get the 
long journey out of his legs, then 
showed his rivals a clean pair of heels.


He chose to stay in England afterwards, 
leaving his family and 10-year-old 
sister back in Ethiopia and made Britain 
his home. He joined south London club 
Belgrave Harriers for whom he’s become a 
consistent performer, although some 
might argue guilty of over-racing – one 
day winning a nine mile road race just 
18 hours after retaining his South of 
England junior cross country title.


He made an instant impression with 
Belgrave, Britain’s top track and field 
team, and set club junior records at 
5,000 and 10,000 metres as well as 
winning the national cross country 
junior championships early in 1994.


By then, he’d already made a marathon 
debut – and a winning one at that as he 
triumphed in the Livorno Marathon in 
2:19:94. Despite running consistently on 
the track and cross country, he always 
appeared happiest on the roads and 
another national title followed in 1997 
when he won the AAA 10km title – 
following in the footsteps of former 
winners including former world marathon 
record-holder Steve Jones, ex UK 10,000m 
record-holder Eamonn Martin and 1994 
Commonwealth 5,000 metres champion Rob 
Denmark.


It’s fitting therefore that Tadesse now 
makes his first GB appearance not only 
on the roads but also in the event that 
changed his life. Much of the credit for 
that should go to Coventry-based coach 
Ian Ladbrooke, who is earning a 
reputation as one of Britain’s best 
distance coaches.


Ladbrooke now advises Tadesse, who 
spends much of his time in Coventry, and 
this year saw a long-awaited return to 
form for the 27-year-old. He’d struggled 
with a hamstring injury for much of the 
previous two years, during which time he 
decided to open an Ethiopian restaurant 
in Brixton, London, but a training spell 
in Kenya at the start of the year got 
him back on track.


Tadesse spent three months training with 
former Great North Run winner John Mutai, 
who is also coached by Ladbrooke, and 
finally began to display the form which 
had brought that world title in 1992.


His comeback race, the National Road 
Relays near Birmingham in April, didn’t 
go well as he was physically sick during 
the race due to illness, but a week 
later he ran his fastest 10km for seven 
years when finishing third in Paris in 
29:16.


He then decided to target the IAAF World 
Half-marathon Championships and had two 
spells training in Switzerland either 
side of the Great Scottish Run which 
incorporated the British trials for 
Sunday’s race.


He finished first Briton there in 64:04, 
placing second in the race behind Abner 
Chipu who runs for South Africa on 
Sunday, and was selected to make his GB 
debut. He lines up in a team including 
Mark Steinle, Matt O’Dowd, Nick Jones 
and Danny Robinson, but without Olympic 
fourth placer Jon Brown who withdrew 
recently.


The British women’s team, led by 
defending champion Paula Radcliffe, will 
also feature a former Ethiopian junior 
international. Birhan Dagne, like 
Tadesse, decided not to return home 
after representing Ethiopia in a world 
championship in Britain.


She placed fifth in the junior race at 
the 1995 world cross country 
championships in Durham and Sunday will 
be her second world half-marathon 
championships after finishing 29th 
in 1999 in 73:41. Tadesse and Dagne, 
clubmates at Belgrave, became friends 
when she first settled in England and 
are now looking forward to being GB 
team-mates this weekend.


Tadesse’s most recent race was a solid 
29:22 10km in Cheltenham four weeks ago 
and he believes he’s ready to produce 
another good performance on his GB 
debut, in front of what is expected to 
be a huge crowd.


With Radcliffe aiming to 
defend her women’s title, Bristol will 
be packed, especially with a major 
half-marathon expected to attract around 
4,000 runners taking place after the 
championship races. So Tadesse won’t be 
lacking encouragement from the 
sidelines.


It’s perhaps a good omen that 1976 
Olympic 10,000 metres bronze medallist 
Brendan Foster will be in Bristol 
commentating for the BBC, for most of 
Tadesse’s best performances have been in 
races where Foster has been involved.


His world title in 1992 came in Foster’s 
home city of Newcastle and in an event 
where “Big Bren’s” Nova International 
company were the local organisers. Four 
of Tadesse’s personal bests were also 
set in races organised by Foster’s 
company, including his half-marathon PB 
of 62:51 at the 1997 Great North Run.


Those other PBs include 47:43 for 10 
miles in the Great South Run in 
Portsmouth in 1993, 29:05 for 10km in 
the Great Caledonian Run in Edinburgh in 
1994 and a 5,000m best of 14:05.8 which 
came in the fifth race of a five-day 
six-race Tour de France-style event Nova 
organised over a series of terrains in 
Northumberland in 1997.


So having not set a PB for four years, 
Tadesse hopes the fast course and 
quality of the opposition – not to 
mention the sheer excitement of making 
his GB debut in the event that launched 
his athletics career - will now drag him 
to a new best on Sunday in the first of 
what he hopes will be many international 
appearances for his adopted country.

marathon champion will make his first appearance in the Championships since that inaugural event in 1992, when he lines up in Bristol on Sunday.

Tadesse pursues world title ten years on

Ramaala 
to add South African excitement to World 
Championships 


Bob Frank for the IAAF 
26 September 2001 - Hendrick Ramaala has 
competed in some of the most memorable 
half-marathons in history, and he should 
be able to add Bristol to that list 
after October 7.


With Haile Gebrselassie, Khalid Skah and 
Ramaala in the field, British organisers 
are hopeful the IAAF World Half-marathon 
Championships will produce the first 
sub-hour half-marathon in Britain, but 
such races are nothing new to Ramaala.


Remember, this is the man who once ran 
59:20 and still didn’t win; who also 
clocked 60:07 and only finished fourth. 
He also lost out on a £10,000 bonus once 
when he finished inside the necessary 
time target but was beaten into second.


But Ramaala does know what it’s like to 
win major half-marathons and he also has 
an excellent record in Britain with 
victories including the Great North Run, 
Belfast international cross country, AAA 
10,000m championships, Carlton London 
Run and the Swansea Bay 10km where his 
28:02 in 1999 was the fastest time in a 
British road race for 20 years and 
earned him a £16,500 car.


A week later, Ramaala looked set to win 
the IAAF World Half-marathon 
Championships in Palermo, Italy after 
leading into the final straight. Victory 
seemed to have been left on a plate for 
the 29-year-old former law student but 
perhaps he was too sporting.


Coming round the final bend, world No.1 
Paul Tergat was just beginning to make 
his move when he collided with an 
official standing on the corner. Many 
would have taken advantage and kicked 
for home while Tergat was recovering his 
composure but not Ramaala.


Partly because he lost concentration 
after the incident, but equally because 
he felt guilty about winning in such 
circumstances, Ramaala hesitated and 
Tergat was able to battle back. Tergat 
just got the verdict, both athletes 
being timed at 61:50, but Ramaala’s best 
chance of a world title had gone.


Ramaala first ran the distance in 1997, 
with the IAAF World Half-marathon 
Championships in Kosice in mind. He won 
the South African Championships in 61:42 
with a sprint finish then the Great 
North Run where he ended six years of 
Kenyan domination.


He won that race in 60:25, but his 
tactics suggested he could have run 
quicker. Having opened a lead over 
Kenyans Wilson Cheruiyot and Sammy Korir, 
he looked back with three miles to go 
and eased down to a jog, enabling the 
Kenyan pair to catch him and go to the 
front. He looked to be in trouble but 
was merely taking a breather before 
surging again to win by 15 seconds.


His confidence was boosted for Kosice 
three weeks later but he came up against 
an awesome Kenyan display. Despite 
setting a national record of 60:07 he 
was out of the medals as the Kenyan trio 
ahead of him averaged 59:58. His 
unbeaten record at the distance was 
gone, but at least he led South Africa 
to team silver.


Most years they’d have won gold with a 
performance that also saw Gert Thys 
inside 60:30, but they made up for it a 
year later and this time Ramaala did get 
an individual medal. The fast and flat 
roads of Uster, near Zurich, saw another 
accomplished display by Ramaala as he 
held off Khalid Skah’s late attack to 
take the silver medal in 60:24, behind 
Paul Koech’s 60:01.


Thys gave excellent support with 60:37 
in fifth and the South African team was 
completed by Abner Chipu who lines in 
Bristol with one British success under 
his belt already this year, having won 
the Great Scottish Run in Glasgow, which 
doubled as the British trials for the 
IAAF World Half-marathon Championships.


Ramaala’s next half-marathon was a 
notoriously hilly course in Hastings, 
England in March 1999 where a £10,000 
bonus was on offer for breaking the 
10-year-old course record of 62:10 by 
former Chicago Marathon winner Paul 
Davies-Hale.


Having won the South African 5000m and 
10,000m titles in the preceding nine 
days, Ramaala arrived in great shape but 
he cruised off the pace for too long. He 
allowed Kenya’s Sammy Otieno to get away 
and open a 25 second lead at nine miles 
which proved too much to close. Otieno 
ran the last mile in 4:18 but Ramaala 
was still closing, yet his 61:41 
clocking proved in vain as he was four 
seconds behind the winner.


Back to winning ways in Paris (60:40) 
later that year, Ramaala then won that 
car at Swansea before returning to chase 
the IAAF World Half-marathon title once 
again. Another sensational finish, and 
he’s twice come face to face with Tergat 
in amazing half-marathons since.


If you’d told him before the 2000 Lisbon 
Half-marathon that he’d run a South 
African record of 59:20 he probably 
wouldn’t have believed you. If you’d 
told him he would run that time and 
still not win he’d dismiss you as being 
insane, but he had to settle for second 
as Tergat scorched round in 59:06, the 
fastest ever half-marathon over a 
certified course although not accepted 
for record purposes due to the drop in 
elevation from start to finish.


Five men broke the hour that day so 
there was understandable excitement when 
both Tergat and Ramaala returned to 
Lisbon in March of this year. Both were 
in training for the London Marathon so 
it was understandable the winning time 
was a modest (in world class terms) 
60:26, but this time Ramaala defeated 
the world’s greatest half-marathon 
runner in history.


It was close, Ramaala holding off 
Tergat’s late bid to win by one second, 
but it proved to Ramaala he can beat 
anyone at the half-marathon on his day. 
October 7 will see Tergat hoping to win 
the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon but 
Ramaala may also be smiling that day. He 
may finally become the world 
half-marathon champion and boost his 
confidence for his own marathon diary 
date in New York in November.


Whatever happens, the IAAF Half-marathon 
Championships should be special, because 
Ramaala doesn’t run in ordinary races.

Hendrick Ramaala has competed in some of the most memorable half-marathons in history, and he should be able to add Bristol to that list after October 7.

Ramaala to add South African excitement to World Championships

Skah 
aims to spoil Gebrselassie's fun 


Bob Frank for the IAAF 
26 September 2001 - Khalid Skah is 
hoping to spoil the party when Haile 
Gebrselassie lines up in next month’s 
IAAF World Half-marathon Championships 
in Bristol, England.


Gebrselassie has a cult-like following 
from his Ethiopian fan club in Britain 
and his decision to make the world 
championships on October 7 his first 
international appearance over the 
distance has understandably made the 
headlines.


Skah, however, believes he is ready to 
silence Gebrselassie’s fans by taking 
the gold medal to add to his 1994 
victory. And he won’t stop there. After 
that, he claims he will run the marathon 
in around 2:05, maybe 2:04.


There is a great similarity between 
Gebrselassie’s participation in Bristol 
and that of Skah when he won the title 
in Oslo in 1994. Skah, like Gebrselassie 
now, lined up as the reigning Olympic 
10,000 metres champion with a similar 
reputation for leaving it late and 
winning with a sprint.


Also like Gebrselassie, the world 
half-marathon championships in Oslo were 
Skah’s first serious outing at the 
distance. Skah won that day by one 
second, so he’ll be hoping the 
similarity ends there and that 
Gebrselassie’s Bristol outing isn’t as 
successful.


Skah ran his first half-marathon at the 
age of 20, clocking 62:33, but he was 
tempted to run the world championships 
seven years later because he lived in 
Oslo where the event was held, and his 
victory proved as popular as any 
Norwegian success would have been.


His fans were perhaps worried when 
German Silva of Mexico led coming into 
the Bislett Stadium, but Skah knew he 
had the race under control and his 60:27 
to 60:28 victory was perhaps not quite 
as close as it sounds.


Behind him that day were several who 
have gone on to better things: in third 
(60:54) was Ronaldo da Costa who was to 
break the world marathon record in 
Berlin four years later; in fifth 
(61:16) was Shem Kororia who went on to 
win the title in 1997; and in 11th 
(61:37) a certain Paul Tergat who is now 
the undisputed world No.1 for the 
half-marathon.


That 1994 victory was Skah’s last major 
title but at the age of 34 he believes 
there is more success to come … starting 
in Bristol. After a career of excelling 
on the track and cross country – with 
Olympic and World Cup titles over 10,000 
metres and two gold medals in the IAAF 
World Cross Country Championships – 
Skah’s future now lies on the roads.


He’s already proved himself on the 
surface, winning that world 
half-marathon title in 1994, helping 
Morocco to the IAAF world road relay 
gold medals in the same year, and he 
also took bronze at the half-marathon in 
Uster, near Zurich, in 1998. But he’s 
convinced we haven’t yet seen the best 
of him.


He therefore fears no-one in Bristol, 
and that includes Gebrselassie, who won 
the Ethiopian trials in 64:34 on his 
first outing at the distance. “Why 
should I fear Gebrselassie?” he asks. 
“I’ve beaten him in the past and I can 
beat him again. The problems in my 
private life are behind me and I want to 
show people the real Khalid Skah. 
Sometimes you have highs in your life, 
other times you have lows, but what 
motivates me now is to be one of the 
best in the world again. I am ready to 
run well in Bristol and then I’d love to 
run the London Marathon – I can run 
2:05, 2:04, no problem.”


The death of his father in 1996 played a 
big part in Skah’s athletics career 
going on the backburner but more 
recently his problems have been 
disagreements with the Moroccan 
federation. He refuses the temptation, 
however, to switch his athletics 
allegiance to Norway. “I am a Norwegian 
citizen, but I still want to run for 
Morocco,” he says, still fiercely proud 
of his country.


Indeed, being without a sponsor at 
present, he even wears his Moroccan vest 
in non-international competitions. Two 
such competitions recently have brought 
confidence-boosting victories for Skah. 
In France on September 16 he won a 10km 
race in 28:18 and then he displayed his 
trademark sprint finish in the Welsh 
city of Swansea on September 23 to win 
another 10km in 28:46.


Swansea is one of Britain’s top 10km 
road races and a £23,000 car was on 
offer if Hendrick Ramaala’s 28:02 course 
record was broken but Skah was only 
concerned about winning. He followed 
everything the leaders did throughout 
the race, first moving onto the heels of 
former Great North Run winner John Mutai 
and then 18-year-old Kenyan Julius Kibet, 
who won a 10km race in Cheltenham, 
England, in 28:36 two weeks earlier.


A first half of 14:06 suggested a fast 
time could be on but with the wind 
against them in the second half only 
Kibet was willing to lead. Inevitably, 
when it came down to the last 400m Skah 
said thanks for the ride and was away. 
His winning margin was only two seconds, 
beating Matt O’Dowd who will represent 
Britain in Bristol, but Skah didn’t look 
troubled.


Bristol will be a different race 
altogether and Skah says: “I think it 
will be fast and I’m ready to run fast, 
but the most important thing is to win 
rather than record a fast time.”

Khalid Skah is hoping to spoil the party when Haile Gebrselassie lines up in next month’s IAAF World Half-marathon Championships in Bristol, England.

Skah plans to spoil Gebrselassie's fun

Gebrselassie 
wins in Prague Grand Prix 

Alfons Juck 
for the IAAF 
23 September 2001 
- Prague, Czech Republic - Ethiopian 
legend Haile Gebrselassie showed 
excellent shape before the IAAF World 
Half Marathon Championships to be held 
in two weeks in Bristol. He won on 
Sunday in Prague in sunny weather the 10 
km road race called the Mattoni Grand 
Prix. His winning time of 28:07 was a 
new course record, bettering the 
previous record held by Antonio Pinto 
(Portugal) by 9 seconds.


In the 
second half of the race which was staged 
in the magnificent old part of the Czech 
capital he was able clearly to pull away 
from all the other runners. 
Some of 
the Kenyans tried to stay with him, but 
no chance. Even his dangerous kick in 
the last 200 metres was this time not 
needed. 
“It was 
not an easy race, the course was tough 
with some parts run on cobblestones. But 
the atmosphere was excellent and I have 
now the feeling I'm in very good shape. 
My next race will be in Bristol and then 
I have one more road race. Next year I 
want to try the marathon, but I'm still 
not decided whether it will be London or 
Rotterdam. 
&quot;But I 
will not stop running on the track. 
Mainly I'm thinking I can still better 
my 10,000m world record,” he said after 
the race.
Results: 
10 km - Men: 1. Gebrselassie, ETH 28:07 
- course record, 2. Munyao, KEN 28:31, 
3. Nizigama, BUR 28:34, 4. Vanko, SVK 
28:56, 5. Benzine,ALG 29:03, 6. Mugi, 
KEN 29:13, 7. Osman,CRO 29:26, 8. 
Faschingbauer, CZE 29:28
5 km - 
Women: 1. Rakonczai, HUN 15:58, 2. M. 
Okayo, KEN 15:59

Ethiopian legend Haile Gebrselassie showed excellent shape before the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships to be held in two weeks in Bristol. He won on Sunday in Prague in sunny weather the 10 km road race called the Mattoni Grand Prix

Haile Gabrselassie wins Prague 10km road race

Gebrselassie 
chooses Bristol for International Half Marathon Debut 
UK Athletics 
19 September 2001 - The current World record holder for 5000m (12:39.36) and 
10,000m (26:22.75) and multiple World and Olympic Champion, Ethiopian Haile 
Gebrselassie, has indicated for some time that he would like a new challenge.&nbsp; 
The Ethiopian Athletic Federation has confirmed that this new challenge will 
begin in the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships on the streets of Bristol on 
Sunday 7 October.&nbsp; No doubt Gebrselassie’s renowned fan club will be there to 
cheer him on as they were in Birmingham in 1999 when he set the current World 
indoor record for 5000m of 12:50.38.
Gebrselassie may well use the IAAF World Half 
Marathon as a starting point to his transition to the marathon, following in the 
footsteps of his great rival, Kenyan Paul Tergat.&nbsp; Tergat hoped he would be the 
first man ever to break the one hour barrier for the half marathon in the UK at 
last weekend’s Great North Run.&nbsp; After falling half a minute short of this 
target, the way has been left open for Gebrselassie to put Bristol on the map by 
not only chasing victory but achieving that sub 60 minute clocking on the city’s 
flat course.&nbsp; Tergat will follow his recent Great North Run victory with the 
Chicago marathon next month.
Despite concentrating most of his efforts on the track and being relatively inexperienced at longer distances, Gebrselassie was 
able to win this year’s Ethiopian Championship and Trials at the Half Marathon.&nbsp; 
The world will be watching as he makes his international debut over this longer 
distance in Bristol and seeks to add a title at a new distance to his 
illustrious list of career highlights.&nbsp; 
Haile Gebrselassie: career highlights

1993&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 1st 10,000m, 2nd 5000m&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
World Championships

1995&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 1st 10,000m&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
World Championships

1996&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 1st 10,000m&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
Olympics

1997&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 1st 3000m&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; World Indoor 
Championships

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 1st 10,000m&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; World Championships

1999&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 1st 1500m, 1st 3000m&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
World Indoor Championships

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 1st 10,000m&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; World Championships

2000&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 1st 10,000m&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
Olympics

2001&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 3rd 10,000m&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
World Championships

&nbsp;
Further information on the IAAF World Half 
Marathon Championships is available on 

www.ukathletics.org

Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie is to make his debut over the half marathon at the World Half Marathon Championships in Bristol according to reports from the Ethiopian Federation

Gebrselassie to make Half Marathon Debut in Bristol World Championships

Duncan Mackay for the IAAF 
August 29 2001 - London - Annie Emmerson achieved an unprecedented feat when she 
was named alongside Paula Radcliffe in Britain’s team for the International 
Association of Athletics Federations World Half-Marathon Championships in 
Bristol on October 7. It is the third different sport inside four months for 
which the 31-year-old been chosen to represent Britain in a world championship 
event.
Having already competed in the world triathlon 
championships in Edmonton last month, Emmerson is due to compete in the world 
championships duathlon, a combination of running and cycling, in Rimini on 
September 16 before turning her attention to Bristol.
It completes a remarkable transformation for 
Emmerson, who only took up exercise nine years ago after kicking a 20-a-day 
cigarette habit. The multi-talented sportswoman from Surrey in southern England 
is ranked among Europe’s top triathletes but is also an accomplished runner 
having won the Bath half-marathon earlier this year in 73min 1sec.
For Radcliffe, defending the title she won in 
Veracruz, Mexico, last October is the final leg of a world championship treble 
she has targeted during 2001. The first one was completed successfully when she 
won the World Cross Country gold medal in Ostend in March but the second proved 
to be a disappointment as she finished fourth in the World Championships 10,000 
metres in Edmonton this month.
Radcliffe is taking this event very seriously and 
has turned down potential five-figure paydays at the Goodwill Games in Brisbane, 
the Grand Prix Final in Melbourne and the Great North Run in Newcastle to 
concentrate on training for the 21.098 km race.
She will run in the 5000m at the Golden League 
meeting in Berlin on Friday before leaving for a spell of altitude training at 
Font Romeu in France to prepare for Bristol. Joining Radcliffe in the team will 
be her Bedford clubmate Liz Yelling,&nbsp; Salford’s Beth Allott and Belgrave’s 
Birhan Dagne.
The men’s team is led by Sheffield’s Jon Brown, 
fourth in the Olympic marathon last year, and Mark Steinle, the first British 
finisher in this year’s London Marathon. They are joined in the team by 
Swindon’s Matt O’Dowd, Tipton’s Nick Jones and Belgrave’s Kassa Tadesse.
Kassa won the world junior half marathon title 
nine years ago in Gateshead, the last time the event was held in Britain, in an 
Ethiopian vest before seeking political asylum in the country. He has now is a 
British citizen but cannot be sure of his place until the IAAF formally approves 
his selection. They are currently awaiting confirmation from the Ethiopian 
federation.

Annie Emmerson achieved an unprecedented feat when she was named alongside Paula Radcliffe in Britain’s team for the International Association of Athletics Federations World Half-Marathon Championships in Bristol on October 7.

WORLD ATHLETICS HALF MARATHON CHAMPIONSHIPS

World half-marathon title could encourage Gebrselassie to take on Tergat’s twin challenge

Radcliffe retains world half-marathon title and goes close to world best

Gebrselassie lives up to half marathon challenge

Gebrselassie going for Bristol Gold

Politics overshadows the sport