Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia celebrates winning the men's 10,000m final (© Getty Images)
Will we ever see the best again of Kenenisa Bekele, World and Olympic 10,000m champion, after his shock exit from the 12km race at the World Cross Country Championships in Mombasa last March?
It is a question that even the great man has asked himself time and again as he recovers from his forgettable experience in Kenya’s coastal city.
“When I watch the tapes of the race, I am caught in two minds,” he said speaking nearly two months after his impressive winning streak over the mud came to an end in the most unexpected of circumstances.
“A part of me thinks that maybe I could have run differently that day. But I did not commit a crime by dropping out. I tried all I can, but it simply was not possible for me to continue. I know it is a one-time thing. I am not a loser, but as a sportsman, I have accepted that I cannot always win either.”
Difficult recovery
Although Bekele has the humility of accepting what transpired at the Nyali Golf course on March 24, his road back ‘to the Kenenisa of old’ has not been easy.
“My performance has come under a lot of scrutiny,” he says referring to the massive media attention that followed the Ethiopian team’s below-par performance in Mombasa. “But it really does not help anyone to dwell on the same issue again and again. What has happened has happened. I know that I cannot go back and change the way things happened. What I can do is learn from the experience.”
Limited racing
If Bekele’s plans for the rest of the season go accordingly, then he expects to have a limited racing programme of selected races all geared towards a World 10,000m title defence at the 11th IAAF World Championships in Osaka, Japan (25 August – 2 September 2007).
“I am training very well and returning back to normal condition,” he says “I do not want to run as much as I did last year.”
In 2006, Bekele paid dearly for a crowded racing programme in the outdoor season that constituted of thirteen races. Although he won a small share of the IAAF Golden League Jackpot (USD 83,333) and a first ever African 5000m title, he also lost four times in Oslo, London (Crystal Palace), Athens, and Shanghai.
“That will not happen this year,” he says. “I will run maybe three or four races before Osaka. I also plan to attempt my own World 5000m record.”
Two-mile debut in Hengelo
Bekele opened his outdoor track campaign with a victory over Two Miles at the IAAF World Athletics Tour meeting in Hengelo on 26 May. Yet his was a slow run victory in which his famous sprint was put into good use with 275m to go. His result 8:13.51 was also someway below his personal best for this seldom run distance, of 8:05.12, which he ran indoors in 2006.
Only 10,000m in Osaka
But Bekele’s main focus of the season will be Osaka, where he hopes to complete a hat-trick of world championship titles over the 10000m. “I am not thinking of doubling this year,” he says. “It would be too much to double.”
A third World title will see him move closer to mentor Haile Gebrselassie’s record of four successive 10,000m wins between 1993 and 1999. “I am not thinking a lot about that at the moment,” he says. “It would be an honour to emulate Haile in that regard, but my priority now is to recover from Mombassa.”
Following Haile’s investment in construction projects
While he again wishes away comparisons with ‘the Emperor’ on the track, Bekele looks to be following in the footsteps of the former two-time Olympic 10,000m champion by investing in construction projects.
Bekele is fast-building an impressive collection in the Ethiopian real-state bonanza. He is currently constructing a four-storey multi-purpose building in Assela (Gebrselassie’s birth city and 220kms southeast of Addis Ababa) and Adama (capital of the Oromiya region that includes his birth town Bekoji), while he is also a share holder in a soon-to-be-operation college in Addis Ababa.
In addition to general purpose buildings, Bekele also owns three houses and has received a large plot of land to construct a fourth.
Charitable giving
But is everything that the young man earns reinvested back into his businesses?
“No, I do give a lot away to helping people,” he reiterates. “For instances, I donated ETB 70,000 (USD 7800) to help flood victims last year. I also attend lots of charity events for Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs).”
Lots of hobbies
When he is not training, competing, or operating his business from one of Addis Ababa’s high-rise buildings, Bekele says he uses much of his spare time educating himself.
“I love reading books, especially biographies,” he says. “My favourite is David Beckham’s biography My Life. I also love reading books of management and leadership.
If he can squeeze it into his daily routine, Bekele also watched movies and listening to music. “I love Mr. Bean, but my favourite movie is the Last King of Scotland,” he says. “Of the musicians, I admire Teddy Afro (Ethiopian singer, whose hit song ‘history is made’ focuses on Bekele’s Olympic 10,000m victory and contains the lyrics Kenenisa Anbessa or Kenenisa lion), not because he sang a song about me. I admire his creativity.”
And when he gets the rare opportunity, Bekele admits that he can also show his moves on the dance floor. “I am not a particularly good dancer, but when I am invited to ceremonies and get the chance, I do not shy away.”
Elshadai Negash for the IAAF
