A family affair and Somalia’s double bet in Rio 2016
By Karim Abdul
New stars will be born, new world records set and broken; news outlets will splash their headlines with enticing worlds to give credit to their heroes and heroines while others will see their dreams shattered.
Somalia will make headlines if what promises to be a record breaking event for Genzebe Dibaba is anything to go by. The difference could be in coach Jama Aden from Somalia winning a Gold in absentia courtesy of Genzebe Dibaba.
As the curtains are drawn to pave way for the 2016 summer games in Rio, six hours behind East Africa Daylight Time, all eyes will be fixed on Gold rich East African Nations harvest. By extension Courtesy of border sharing Ethiopia and Somalia the home of Mohamed Da’ud Mohameed and Maryan Nuh Musse who hail from the City located at the costal Banaadir region along the Indian Ocean.
Somalia’s tact, Ethiopia’s glory
As Rio Olympics officially kick off at midnight Saturday, one of the most promising assets to hail from Ethiopia shall be without a coach. The 25-year old Dibaba from Ethiopia whose success can be traced back to Coach Jama Aden from Somalia will be hitting the tracks without a coach on sight.
Jama Aden was arrested on June 20th 2016 in Barcelona as part of an investigation into drug trafficking at a hotel in the Catalonian town of Sabadell occupied by a group of athletes coached by Aden, sources close to the investigation revealed.
However, the current world indoor and outdoor record holder for 1500m and 3000m reigning world champion is not deterred by the ongoing investigation in Barcelona. She promises to bring home her crown when she joins on stage the world’s best athletes to compete at the highest level for individual and national pride.
Decorated athlete
Aden, who ran for Somalia in the 1980s, has been contracted in the past by the British federation as an “unofficial facilitator” for training camps in Ethiopia, including at least one attended by double Olympic champion Mo Farah in the past.
Aden competed in the 1984 summer games in Los Angeles among the seven players who represented Somalia in that year and also 1988 Seoul.
Gensebe Dibaba set a meeting record of 14:28:88 over 5000m and later one year her stunning world record of 3:50:07 in 1500m.
Genzebe Dibaba Keneni was born in Feb 1991. She is the sister to three times Olympic Champion Tirunesh Dibaba and Olympic silver medalist Ejegayehu Dibaba and cousin to former Olympic champion Derartu Tulu. Her older sister Tirunesh won 19 major titles including five in summer Olympics and her brother Dejene is also an athlete.
Just in February 2016 Genzebe competed in Stockholm Globen Galan meeting. Her time in the indoor was 4 minutes and 13.31 seconds, breaking Doina Melinte’s 26-year-old world record of 4:17.14 set in 1990.
Three Sisters Olympic Dream Courtesy of High Altitude Training in Kenya
The Estonia ‘Trio to Rio’, Leila, Liina and Lily Luik as have been popularly christened in recent past will make history in the summer games at Rio 2016.
Not that there has not been other triplets to compete in the summer games but this is the first time we’ll see identical triplets compete. At some point Rio will go personal-it will be a contest of the best twin or as luck would have it, each of the three gifting their parents a global trophy.
What puts this an icing in the cake is the fact that they have been training in the high altitude areas in Kenya. Stealing away the magic that has seen Kenyan athletes noted as the Olympic signature team in long distance races? Your guess could be as good as mine.
East Africans will watch in pride to see their efforts bare fruits.
The writer is Goobjoog TV Senior Producer