ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — Kenenisa Bekele, who hinted that he would not attempt a double gold Beijing Olympics assault, was on Monday named in both the 5,000m and 10,000m in Ethiopia's China-bound squad.
Tirunesh Dibaba was also named in the 5,000m and 10,000m events in the women's line-up.
However, despite the planning, it is still not certain that they will feature in both events as recent history has shown.
At the 2005 world championships, Bekele won the 10,000m title before pulling out of the 5,000m; Dibaba took the same decision at the 2007 worlds in Osaka.
"Bekele wants to run the two races," the athlete's agent Jos Hermens told AFP.
"He is in very good form and it will be a challenge for him. But it's a little hard and he can change his mind after the 10,000m, because the 5,000m heats start two days after."
Bekele has attempted the gruelling double twice - at the 2003 world championships and the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
On each occasion, he won the 10,000m, but not the 5,000m, finishing third in 2003 and second in 2004, behind Morocco's Hicham el-Guerrouj.
Dibaba won the 5,000m-10,000m double at the 2005 world championships, a year after winning the bronze in the 5,000m in Athens.
In the men's 10,000m, meanwhile, double Olympic champion Haile Gebreselassie remains a doubt because of "pain between his calf and Achilles tendon", said Hermens.
"He is training a lot in the gym and on endurance. It's no problem in preparing for the marathon but on the track, for 25 laps, it's complicated.
"He wants to run the Berlin marathon on September 28 so he is not going to take any risks. For him, the marathon is the most important."
Gebreselassie has already ruled himself out of the Olympics marathon claiming the high levels of pollution and humidity in the Chinese capital made the race a dangerous proposition.
Ethiopia's best performance at the Olympics came in 2000 in Sydney where their eight-medal haul included four gold.
As well as Bekele and Dibaba, they will also be looking to Olympic silver medallist in the 10,000m Sileshi Sihine, world indoor 3000m winner Tariku Bekele, who runs in the men's 5,000m, 1500m runner Derese Mekonnen, Olympic 5,000m champion Meseret Defar and Paris marathon winner Tsegaye Kebede.
Ethiopia's 36-member athletics squad for next month's Games in Beijing.
Men
Marathon: Tsegaye Kebede, Deriba Mergia, Gashaw Melese, Gudisa Shentema.
10000m: Kenenisa Bekele, Haile Gebresellasie, Sileshi Sihine, Ibrahim Jeylan.
5000m: Kenenisa Bekele, Tariku Bekele, Ali Abdosh, Abraham Cherkos.
3000m Steeplechase: Yacob Jarso, Nahom Mesfin, Roba Gari.
1500m: Demma Daba, Mulugeta Wodimu, Mekonnen Gebremedhin, Derese Mekonnen.
Women
Marathon: Berhane Adere, Gete Wami, Dire Tune, Bewunesh Bekele.
10000m: Tirunesh Dibaba, Ejegayehu Dibaba, Mestawet Tufa, Wude Ayalew.
5000: Tirunesh Dibaba, Meseret Defar, Meselech Melkamu, Belaynesh Fekadu.
3000m Steeplechase: Mekdes Bekele, Sofia Assefa, Zemzem Ahmed.
1500m: Gelete Burka, Meskerem Assefa.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
