June 2013 - Black Sports The Magazine

the top ten in the all-time marathon
lists and made him the second fastest
Ethiopian after world record holder
Haile Gebrselassie. Representing
Ethiopia at the 2009 World
Championships in Athletics, Wordofa
repeated the feat he had achieved a
year earlier at the Olympics, overtaking
Deriba Merga and taking the Bronze
Medal as the fastest Ethiopian finisher
in the World Championship marathon.
He improved his best at the end of that
year, winning the Fukuoka International
Marathon for a second time. He
finished the race in 2:05:18, a new
course record and again setting the
fastest time ever recorded for the
marathon in Japan.
At the 2010 London Marathon, he set
his sights on beating the defending
champion Samuel Wanjiru. Wanjiru
dropped out at 20 km, however.
Wordofa fended off a challenge from
Abel Kirui at the 30 km mark. The
pacemakers were not quick through
the early stages, and Wordofa had
enough energy to sprint for the line.
But, his time of 2:05:19 was nine
seconds short of the record and a
second away from Kebede’s best. The
2010 Chicago Marathon in October
provided a much closer battle with
Wanjiru. Wordofa closely followed the
pacemakers and repeatedly surged
ahead of the field. Wanjiru managed
to make up ground each time and,
running in increasingly high
temperatures, Wordofa was overtaken
by him in the last 400 meters. He
finished in second place with a time of
2:06:43. This result also left him behind
Wanjiru in the race for the World
Marathon Majors jackpot. But, he was
generally positive about the defeat, “I
am happy. This is not the end. I will run
again.”
He attempted to defend his title in the
2011 London Marathon, but could not
keep up with the leaders’ pace at the
30 km mark, and had to settle for fifth
place with a time of 2:07:47. He was
not selected for the Ethiopian Olympic
marathon team. At the Great
Manchester Run in May, he was runnerup
to Haile Gebrselassie, but ran a
personal best of 27:56 minutes.
He entered the 2012 Chicago
Marathon, and went one better than his
2010 performance to win the race. He
gradually pulled ahead of the pack in
the second half of the race and
managed a course record time of
2:04:38 (also a personal best).
Tsegaye Kebede Wordofa
26 BSTM June 2013