Career in Ethiopia
Like many other children my age, I loved playing and it was not long before I started to take up sports seriously, although I did not run much at the start. I loved volleyball and I was quite good at it. I also did a lot of high jumping and competed well for my school in regional competitions. I used to travel 15kms a day to and from school from our village and it was not long before the extra distance took a toll on my body. I stopped practicing sport for three years and decided to focus on education. I just could not keep up everything. I had to practice sport, go to the classroom, and then return back home to help my family with housework in addition to studying. I could not juggle everything along. There was really nothing that made me start running. I decided myself and at first, I wanted to continue high jumping. But my school teachers advised me that I would not get anywhere high jumping and advised me to run. Initially, I competed over the 400m and 800m and had won various meets representing the Arsi zone in the Oromiya regional championships. But after coming to Addis and joining the Muger Cement club, I became an established 1500m runner. Under tutelage of coach Tolosa Kotu, 4th placer over the 10000m at the 1980 Moscow Olympics and now Ethiopian national 5000m/10000m head coach, I competed for the club for year before joining the Omedla Police sports club to continue my progress. |