Ethiopia, Africa

I had a four hour layover in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. The more I have read about Ethiopia, the more I would really like to return for a visit. Flying in, it is very green and beautiful comparted to Tanzania.

At the airport I purchased a silver metal Christian cross, about a foot long, (will take a picture to post.) This is a very important part of Ethiopian culture and I didn't realize that until after I bought it, a cool treasure.

Interestingly, one of my best resources on my travels have been the complimentary in-flight magazine in the pouches of the seats on the plane. It tells of the history of each place, ideas of what to do and see, accommodations and other current events.

This year is Ethiopia's Millennium, 2007, not 2000! Ethiopia is now the only country to adhere officially to the anciant Julian calendar, which until 1582, was used by the entire Christian world. This calendar, introduced by Juluis Caesar in 45 BC, consists of 12 months of equal duration, plus a 13th month of five days(six days in a leap year). Most of the Christian world began changing over to the Gregorian Calendar some 400 years ago during the time of Pope Gregory XIII after whom it is named.

The Gregorian Calendar, a modified version of the Julian Calendar is now widely accepted asn an international standard for measuring time and for civil use. It came into being in 1582 bc of a percieved need to regulate Christian festivals, most importantly Easter, due to the shifting equinox over the centuries caused by accumulated inaccuracies in the Julian calendar, was slipping away from its springtime position in summer. The Julian calendar is 7 years and 8 months behind the Gregorian version. It is simply a matter of choice. The New Year's falls on September 11th, this will be a year long party of festivals and celebrations.

If I were to plan my trip differently, I would have liked to go and explore Ethiopia, it is much more modernized than I had expected.

REMEMBER ANY ETHIOPIAN RUNNERS??--my background of running track and interest in this sport is why I am writing about these individuals, I found it very interesting....

Here's some history from my complimentary in-flight magazine that will help when you are watching next year's Olympics in Beijing....

FRAME OF REFERENCE: A REGULATED HIGH SCHOOL TRACK IS 400M FOR 1 LAP. 1 MILE IS FOUR LAPS.....1600M

ABEBE BIKILA--regarded as the pioneer of Ethiopian distance running, set an example for today's generation of young runners and is the first Olympic gold medallist and the only man to have won back-to-back Olympic marathon gold medals. His story is a combination of strength and determination. Joined the Imperial Bodyguard when he was 20. 1960, won the Olympic marathon in Rome when he was 28. A few hours before his race, he tried on several different pairs of shoes that were provided by the organizers, but failed to find any that fit him, so he ran the entire race barefoot!! He was coached by a swedish man as well. He set a new world record for marathon w/ a time of 2h 15m 16.2s.....This blew the belief out of the water that Africans were never going to excel at global sports. He won 3 more marathons, Greece, Japan, Czech. Placed 5th in Boston marathon in 1964, which is the first marathon he competed in but didn't win, then won the Addis Ababa marathon in Ethiopia. 1964 Olympics he set another world record of 2h 12m 11s....JUST TO EMPHASIZE....... WOLRD RECORD.....FASTEST PERSON IN THE WORLD!!!!! 1968, suffered a horrific car accident in Mexico City at the Olympics....left him paralyzed from the waist-down....2 years later he competed and won the 25m cross country sledge challenge in Norway. At the age of 41, he died in Ethiopia from a hemorrhage, a complication related to the accident 4 years earlier. 65,000 people attended his funeral and it is a national day of mourning for the Ethiopian hero.

MAMO WOLDE--one of the most VERSATILE runners, can run the 400m to the marathon. Also started running in the Royal Imperial Bodyguard, was a UN peacekeeper in Korea in 1953-1955........1968 he took part in the 10,000m and the marathon at the same Olympics, this is unheard of, escpecially w/ only 1 day of rest inbetween. He won the gold in the marathon and took the siver in the 10,000m.
1972 at the ripe old age of 40, he won the bronze in the Munich Games.
His championships range over a 24 year career, died of liver cancer in 2002.

MIRUTS YIFTER--"the shifter" worked in factories and drove carriages, distance running in the Ehiopian Air Force. 1972, bronze medal in the 10,000m in Munich, failed to appear in the 5000m. His trainers took him to warm up for that race, but came back to retrieve him too late for the race, it had already started. Upon his return to Ethiopia, he was thrown in jail by the Ethiopian government, bc they accused him of deliberately failing to compete. He was in jail for about a year and his passion for running continued. 1976 he had trained and flew to Montreal for the Olympic games, this was the year Ethiopia joined the African boycott of the Games and he wasn't able to compete. At 40 yrs old, he was to compete in 1980 in Moscow telling reporters to count on his enthusiasm, not his age! His strategy was to work on the 300m, his ideal mark to make his move. not too late, not too early, he listened to the movements of his opponents until five laps remained and then decided his course of action, before the bell sounded for the last lap, he would make his move and it would be too late for his opponents. Now lives and works in Canada as an athletic coach and future aspiriations of coaching for Ethiopian runners.

DERARTU TULU--hello woman, hear you roar! running was considered taboo, mother told her that women stay home and help w/ the household. Somehow she got to school and began distance running. She competed in Barcelona 1992 Olympics and didn't realize what the Olympics were, she thought it was just "another race", won the 10,000m....her coaches didn't realize how good she was until she won that race, this really opened the door for women's running in Ethiopia. She will make her final race appearance in Beijing next year, keep your eye on her!!

HAILE GEBRSELASSIE--Greatest of them all!! Greatest distance runner of all time, 2 Olympic, 4 World Championships titles for the 10,000m and broken 22 WORLD RECORDS!!!Has competed in 6 World Championships One fast dude. As a kid he would run 10kms to school and this formed his unique running posture, still looks like a kid carrying his school books w/ a crooked left arm. Also runs on the balls of his feet which is mostly done by sprinters, not distance runners. 1992, after setting 3 world records, tried to win 2 gold medals in a single meeting but the track at the stadium didn't suit his style of running and endured blisters. He is also an inspiration in Ethiopian society, successful businessman in Addis Ababa, founded the Great Ethiopian Run, which is now the largest African road race w/ 30,000 participants, participates in charity functions, and a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Development just to name a few.

Remarkable people....