Ethiopia in World Athletics

It is well-known that Ethiopians have a strong foothold in distance races in the international arena. The country has produced the best runners in Olympic, World Championship, World Cross country races and other international events. The training environment has its own demographic and biological merits, as well as an elevation of 2000 meters above sea level, which benefits endurance athletes. The purpose of this paper is to explore the way in which Ethiopia dominates in the long distance context.

Among Ehthiopian Olympians are Abebe Bikila, Mamo Wolde, Derartu Tulu, Fatuma Roba, Haile Gebre Selassie, Kenenisa Bekele, Muruts Yifter are Tirunesh Dibaba. In Ethiopia, long distance was introduced in the year 1946. Since the 1990s, the world has witnessed the rise of North and East African runners in long distance events.

Kenyan and Ethiopian athletes, in particular, have since remained dominant in these events. Many factors have been proposed to explain the extraordinary success of the Kenyan and Ethiopian distance runners, such as predetermined physiology, genetics, nutritional aspects, strong morphological factors, well balanced psychological set up, scattered talents and, most importantly, an urge to boost their economic background.