There is no event more revered in Ethiopia than the marathon. It was via the marathon that Ethiopia first announced itself to the world as an athletic power. With Abebe Bikila winning two Olympic gold in 1960 and 1964, followed by Mamo Wolde in Mexico City in 1968, Ethiopians came to consider the marathon as their special event. So when Gezahegne Abera took the top step on the podium at the Olympic Marathon in Seoul 2000, the Ethiopian nation was once again in their rightful position. But Gezahegne wasn’t satisfied with just repeating history. With his powerful last kilometer kick he next took World Championship gold in the marathon in Edmonton, Canada in 2001, becoming the first man in history to hold both the Olympic and World Championship titles at the same time.
Married to world-class marathoner Elfenesh Alemu, Gezahegne’s personality is one of the most infectious in the distance running world. In 2003, Gezahegne and Elfenesh were married in the national stadium in Addis Ababa, the only venue capable of accommodating their 25,000 guests and friends. The train on Elfenesh’s gown stretched 600 feet, the longest such wedding gown in history.
Though slowed in recent years by chronic Achilles tendon injuries, Gezahegne remains one of the most charismatic and sought after athletes of his generation, and a worthy inheritor of the Abebe Bikila and Mamo Wolde legacy.