Defending champ Tadesse bids to live up to hype

LAST year even Zersenay Tadesse himself appeared shocked when he stood on the podium to accept the gold medal at the world cross-country championships in Mombasa.

Now a superstar in his Eritrean homeland, he was even more astonished when he arrived here in Edinburgh in defence of his title and found himself dwarfed by his own image towering on a poster 12 metres above his head.

“It surprised me. It is very nice,” he admitted but one could sense he knew only too well that this magnificent figure emerging from between the flags of many nations could work against him and, have no doubt, it will.

Kenenisa Bekele is the world and Olympic champion over 10,000m but his treasury includes 18 gold medals from world cross-country championships — 11 of them individual golds.

Last year, along the Kenyan seaside town of Mombasa, he lost the title he had defended for so long in the tamest possible way — he dropped out of the race without a fight and that was a bitter pill for him to swallow.

Hardly surprising, then, that his agent, Jos Hermens, will take him to see that towering image of Tadesse later today — Bekele only arrived in Edinburgh late last night.

Team-wise, Kenya won 18 titles between 1986 and 2003, before Ethiopia took control with back-to-back victories in 2004 and 2005 but now Kenya are back and going for three in a row.

What chance, one would have to ask, does somebody like Ireland’s Alistair Cragg have? As a kid back in South Africa he says he was used to being chased by African runners so he is not overawed by their presence.

He is something of an enigma. He can break a record one day and drop out the next but if he is in the mood he can mix it with any opposition. Maybe this will be his day and if it is, then a top 10 placing is a possibility. However, if he found the conditions in Belfast difficult a few weeks ago he will not like the slippery slopes of Arthurs Seat.

Fionnuala Britton, who finished 14th in Mombasa last year, will relish the course which will suit lightly-built gliders. If she makes the top 10, it will be another sensational performance.

With Lornah Kiplagat not defending her title, Tirunesh Dibaba will, like Bekele in the men’s race, have plenty of motivation. At 22 she has already won two world cross-country championship titles and four world championship gold medals on the track.

She retained her 10,000m title in Osaka last year despite chronic abdominal problems which forced her to miss the remainder of the season and could only watch as her status as Ethiopia’s golden girl went to Meseret Defar, who has carried here record breaking form into 2008 and has strong claims on the title.