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Ethiopians turn mental strength into gold
"Hunger for success from the athletes and lots of hard training will make them always aspire to be top athletes. For many, it's a way out of poverty. They live at high altitude and lead simple lifestyle, simple aspirations," he said. "Ethiopians have great heroes and role models. There is relative peace and stability in the country (compared to the 1970s and 1980s)," said Nerurkar. "In the recent African junior championships (in Tunisia), an Ethiopian won a silver in the 100 metres so there is some interest in the sprints, but nothing like what it is in the longer distances. This is unlikely to change," said Nerurkar. Hermens said the influence of two-time Olympic and four-time world 10,000 metres champion Haile Gebrselassie on the younger Ethiopian generation was huge. "They all want to be like Haile, hence the big number of athletes running 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres. In Kenya, many young athletes want to run steeplechase and marathon like their earlier heroes, like Moses Kiptanui and Paul Tergat," he said. Gebrselassie, who retired from the track after finishing fifth in the 10,000 metres in Athens and has turned his attention to marathons, has influenced a brigade of talented athletes including Bekele and African champion Sihine Sileshi. "They always want to win and win. Bekele will remain a champion for 10 years. He would like to go on and on like Gebrselassie did," said Hermens.
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