Dejene Berhanu wins the Great North Run (© Getty Images)
Addis Ababa, EthiopiaFor someone who comes from an agrarian background and was raised in ‘picture-perfect landscapes’ of green forested surroundings, Dejene Berhanu, 5th at the Olympic 5000m, amazes many when he confirms quite comfortably that he does not like cross country running. “I used to hate running in the mud,” he says. “But after last weekend (Saturday 15 January), I am beginning to think that it will become my discipline.”
Berhanu travelled to the Scottish capital Edinburgh swearing that he would not ‘step on the mud’ again unless he gets an encouraging result. “It was do-or-die for me,” he says. “It has the first time that I ran a cross country race outside Ethiopia in a meeting arranged by my manager (Mark Whetmore) and I wanted to know whether I was really good at the distance or not.”
But after the outcome of the race in which he finished second behind Kenya’s World 5000m champion Eliud Kipchoge, Berhanu now has the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in St. Etienne/St.Galmier firmly fixed in his sights. “I am now aiming for at least a medal in France,” says Berhanu who was 11th in the short race at the 2004 World Cross in Brussels. “My hatred for cross country has reduced by 50% and by the time of the world cross country championships, I hope to like it.”
Sub-13 minutes in Rome and Olympic fifth place
Berhanu’s reason for optimism is fully justified. His second place finish in Edinburgh cross country comes at the back of a fine year in 2004 where he managed to qualify for his first Olympics and finish fifth in the 5000m final. “I was very happy,” he says. “There is no disgrace in finishing behind Hicham (El Guerrouj), Kenenisa (Bekele), Kipchoge, and Gebre (Gebregziabher Gebremariam).”
The 24-year old qualified for the Ethiopian Olympic after finishing third at the IAAF Golden League Meeting in Rome where he clocked 12:54, the fifth fastest Ethiopian time for the distance.
Great North Run victory
But his finest moment came in September where he ran the fourth fastest Half Marathon in history (59:37) to win the Great North Run in Newcastle, England. “After Athens, I told no one [coaches and fellow Athletes] that I would run a Half Marathon race,” he says. “I knew they would tell me to be cautious and that moving to the higher distance will burn off my speed on the track. I wanted to run without any worries or hesitations and on the roads in Newcastle, I felt very relaxed and very much at home.”
But grappling with the likes of previous champion Hendrick Ramaala in Tyneside, Berhanu will be forgiven for thinking that he was once again ten years old back in his home village of Chere, 60km outside the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. There, he used to run along the road that leads from his mother’s house to Chere Comprehensive school where attended his elementary studies. With no trees or houses on either side of the road, Berhanu and friends used to compete against each in order to escape the scorching sun.
Regarding his early athletics life, that was as good as it got. “I did not run for my school,” he recalls. “I was concentrating more on my education and came to Addis Ababa when I was in grade 10 to finish the rest of my high school.”
“I used to hate it”
But when he came to the capital, Berhanu was drawn to running for health by a group of junior runners from his new neighbourhood. “They used to come home every morning and wake me up from sleep,” he recalls. “I used to hate it, but slowly I started running and then joined the Rental Houses Sports Club in 1998.”
Even though he started liking running, Berhanu never gave up his studies and continued to study hard to try and fulfill his childhood ambition of becoming a doctor. “I dreamed of becoming a medical doctor and helping patients,” he says.
Ethiopian championships in the morning…. Ethiopian matriculation in the afternoon
Under the tutelage of the Rental Houses Sports Club, Berhanu’s progress was phenomenal. In March 1998, he finished second in the 10,000m at the Addis Ababa Municipal Clubs track championships.
Two months later, he finished second over the same distance at the Ethiopian Championships behind Girma Tola and then without taking a breath took a taxi directly to the Nefas Silk Senior Comprehensive Secondary School 6km across town to sit for his Ethiopian Schools Leaving Certificate Examination (ESLCE).
“When I got there, the others had been ten minutes into their examination,” he recalls. “I sat and completed the exam with my body still covered in sweat. Half of the time, my memories were on the exam and the other half regretting that I had missed the medal awarding ceremony.”
Berhanu scored a B in the exam, but his cumulative GPA of 2.0 was not enough to get him to a University. “I was not upset,” he says. “I did what I had to do since I wanted to keep my options open.”
Although his hopes of joining a higher educational institution and then later medical school were quashed, Berhanu, nonetheless, continued with his running. “Now it became my life. If I was not going to become a very good doctor, why not try and become a talented distance runner.”
Fortunately, Berhanu’s showing at the Ethiopian Championships earned him a call-up to the Ethiopian Marathon relay team that was to take part in a race in Tripoli, Libya in December 1999. “I went there as a reserve and did not run, but I was happy because it was my first trip outside Ethiopia.”
Berhanu then put a string of impressive domestic performances under his belt including a second place finish behind Assefa Mezgebu in the 10,000m at the 20th Ethiopian National track Championships in May 2000, and again at the African Championships in Algiers, Algeria.
Career-threatening injury in 2002/03
But the tall and slender runner’s rise to prominence was halted when he suffered a knee fracture which forced him to miss the entire 2002 track and road seasons. “It was terrible,” he sadly recalls. “I could not walk straight and although the doctors told me to undergo the operation overseas, I had to do it here in Addis Ababa because I had little money.”
It took him six months to fully recover, but in time for the Ethiopian trails for the 2003 World Cross country championships in Lausanne, Switzerland where he finished third behind Sileshi Sihine and Gebregziabher Gebremariam to book his place in the Ethiopian team. “I was happy because I booked my place in the Ethiopian team, but I overworked myself in training and finished 20th (12km Senior Men’s race) in Lausanne.”
A year that begun with optimism, however, ended in disappointment. In July, he failed to book his place in the Ethiopian team for the World Championships in Paris, but became determined more than ever to make it to the very top. “I missed nearly one year with injury and my return did not come soon enough for Paris,” he says. “But I kept my unhappiness to myself and worked very hard in training.”
“Sometimes,” he says. “That was exactly my problem. I overdo my training and when I go into competition, I have already finished what I can give. My main reason for success now and in 2004 has been finding the right kind of balance between training and competition.”
2005 targets- World Cross, Half Marathon, and Helsinki
Like other distance runners, Berhanu’s main targets this year are winning medals both in St. Etienne/St.Galmier and then in Helsinki. “But between those, I want to run half Marathon race again,” he says. “I felt very happy in Newcastle last year and I want to experience the same happiness.”
Beyond Helsinki, however, Berhanu wants to move up to the Marathon. “I have always wanted to run the Marathon,” he says. “I know that I have the endurance. The Marathon is the true Ethiopian athletics discipline and if I excel in that, I will be remembered for generations.”
Until that happens, however, Berhanu hopes to make his final track and cross country year a memorable one. “I have set my eyes on mainly the Cross this winter,” he says. “Then a little bit of indoor and maybe the Lisbon Half Marathon. But I want to end the year with medals. This will not be a year that I end without at least one.”
Elshadai Negash for the IAAF
