The triumphant Ethiopian athletics squad was accorded a hero’s welcome yesterday when they returned home to a special ceremony held at the Addis Ababa Stadium. The squad collected nine medals at the 10^th IAAF World Championships in Helsinki, and put Ethiopia third in the medals table behind the United States of America and Russia.          

Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
United States	14	8	3	25
Russia	7	8	5	20
Ethiopia	3	4	2	9
Cuba	2	4	2	6
Belarus	2	2	1	5
France	2	1	4	7
Sweden	2	0	1	3
Bahrain	2	0	0	2
Jamaica	1	5	2	8
Kenya	1	2	4	7

The 10th IAAF World Championships August 2005 Helsinki Medals Table

Youth, Sports and Culture Minister Ambassador Teshome Toga, who spoke at the ceremony, said that it had been a pleasure for all Ethiopians to watch the national tricolour hoisted and the national anthem played so frequently in Helsinki. He also expressed his delight that athletics was the symbol of the indomitable Ethiopia achieving victory.

A statement from the Ministry of Information expressed the pride felt by the Ethiopian government and people at the remarkable victory of the athletes that put the country third out of the 190 countries that participated in the Championship.

However, both Ethiopia’s gold medalists will not be resting on their laurels. Tirunesh Dibaba, who became the first athlete to clinch the 5,000 and 10,000 metres at a World Championships, is planning a world record attempt at the Norwich Union Grand Prix in Sheffield on 21 August, seeking to chase Elvan Abeylegesse’s mark of 14 minutes 24.68 seconds in the 5,000 metres.

Kenenisa Bekele, who retained his 10,000 metres world title at Helsinki, is also aiming to break his 10,000 metres record at the Brussels Golden League meeting on 26 August.

Tirunesh lies fifth in the all-time list for the women's 5,000m. She clocked her best time of 14:30.88 when she finished second behind Abeylegesse at Norway's IAAF Golden League meeting in Bergen in summer of last year.

Of her historic double victory, Tirunesh said

"More and more people keep telling me 'you are the first to have done this in the distance races,' and it makes me even happier.”

ENDS