Million WOLDE

Million Wolde made a very smooth transition from the ranks as a top junior athlete to establish an impressive international athletics record at the senior level, not only on the track, but also on the road, indoors and cross-country. At aged only seventeen he competed in the 1996 World Junior Championships in Sydney, finishing 6th in the 3000m Steeplechase. At the next World Junior Championships, at Annecy, France in 1998, he won the 5000m in 13min 47.49sec. His cross-country career as a junior was no less impressive. He finished 8th in the Junior World Cross-Country Championships at Cape Town in 1996, gained second place at Turin in 1997 and at Marrackech, in 1998, he won his final junior championships over 8km in 22min 47sec. On the road, Wolde represented Ethiopia in the World Road Relay Championships at Manaus, Brazil on 19 April 1998.

Ethiopia eventually finished second to Kenya, after Wolde had established a narrow lead in the initial 5km leg. He quickly made his mark in the senior ranks, winning the bronze medal in the 3000m at the World Indoor Championships at Maebashi on 5 March 1999 and then finishing 8th in the 5000m at the World Championships in Seville later that year. At the World Cross-Country Championships, Wolde finished 4th in the senior men's short course (4 km) at Belfast in 1999 and 15th at the same distance in Vilamoura, Portugal in 2000. The highlight of his early senior career came in the 5000m at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, when he was still just twenty two. With no one prepared to set a decent pace, Wolde bided his time and then sprinted past the leaders with 200m remaining to win in 13min 35.49sec ahead of second placed Ali Saidi-Sief of Algeria and Morocco's Brahim Lahlafi (see photo above). (Ron Casey)

Men's 5000m. Final.

World Athletics Championships 2001.