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On the brink of history, can Ethiopians sweep the marathon?Published by
Ethiopian national team marathon coach Zelalem Desta said today that his team is ready to sweep the medals in the men's and women's marathon this weekend at the 12th IAAF World Championships in Berlin, Germany. In an exclusive interview with www.ethioberlin2009.com, Zelalem said, "This is the best marathon team we have had since the Sydney Olympics. Even in Sydney, we did not have a strong women's team then than we did now. We are expecting to get medals here." The team's chances will be helped by the absence of some key challengers. In the men's race, Olympic champion Samuel Wanjiru and world leader Duncan Kibet, both of Kenya, decided to give the world championships a miss to run big city marathons. World record holder Paula Radcliffe (GBR), Germany's top marathon runner Irina Mikitenko, and Kenya's Boston marathon champion Salina Kosgei will all not take part in the women's race due to injury. "I know that there are some key athletes not competing, but it does not matter," said Zelalem. "Our athletes have trained very well and we hope that they will do something special." "His explosive start is a problem that we have addressed repeatedly in training," said Zelalem. "We will tell him to take it easy at the beginning and we will continue to tell him until race day." Barren run Read the full article at: www.ethioberlin2009.com
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