Eritrea’s long-distance runner Zersenay Tadese was such an innocent at his maiden international competition that he missed the starting pistol.
“I thought it would be like home, when the flag goes down. I didn’t know I had to start when a gun went off,” the country’s best-known athlete said, chuckling at memories of the 2002 world cross country championship in Dublin.
Zersenay was also handicapped by over-size shoes for that first big race, yet still managed a respectable 30th.
PHOTO: REUTERS
He went on to take gold in the same competition five years later and has won the love of a nation, letting Eritrea hold its head high next to more illustrious east African running powers Kenya and Ethiopia.
His greatest moment was bringing home Eritrea’s first Olympic medal — a bronze in the 10,000m at Athens 2004.
“To see my country’s flag rise, that was amazing. Yes, I have come a long way,” said Zersenay, who has also won the IAAF world half-marathon championship three times.
No wonder heads turn wherever he goes in Eritrea — Africa’s youngest nation and one of its smallest, with just 4 million people. Children clap and shout greetings as Zersenay trains on the hilltops outside the capital Asmara.
“His popularity in Eritrea is believed to be more than that of David Beckham in Britain,” one local magazine wrote adoringly.
Like many of Africa’s great runners, Zersenay’s roots are rural and humble. He tended livestock as a barefoot boy in the village of Adi Bana in southern Eritrea.
“For about two years, I would run from my house to school every morning. Coming home, I would normally walk, though sometimes too I would run the full 14km back,” the 27-year-old recalls.
“Many of us runners come from these backgrounds. It is basically the lifestyle. If you say to yourself you can do something, you have the strength and will to do it,” he said.
“My goal in the future is to break the world record for the half-marathon,” he said. “You need luck on the day though.”
He plans to run the marathon at the 2012 London Olympics after finishing fifth in the 10,000m in Beijing last year.
Whether he brings home more triumphs or not, Zersenay is delighted to have put Eritrea on the map and helped boost a fledgling athletics movement.
“Kenya and Ethiopia have been racing for 60 or 70 years, but us only since 2004,” he said. “Back then, we were four or five. Now there are 300 to 500 people you see every morning jogging and training. That is massive progress.”
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