Following their sweep of all four individual gold medals at the 2008 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh, the Ethiopian Cross Country team came straight from the winning podium to visit students, staff and local school children at Leeds Metropolitan University. The team took part in training sessions with local school students as well as advising the University's cross country and athletic teams.
Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele, Tirunesh Dibaba, Ibrahim Jeilan and Genzebe Dibaba all took gold at the championships, the first team to do so since the Kenyans in 1994. Accompanying the 36-strong team were renowned coaches Dr Woldemeskel Kostre, who has trained many Ethiopian athletes including Halie Gebrselassie, and Yifter ‘the Shifter’ Miruts, who himself took two golds at the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
Leeds Met’s links with Ethiopia have strengthened since Haile Gebrselassie visited the University in 2006 when he spoke about the importance of education in the development of the country and the ways in which running can help to unite people. Delegates from Leeds Met have since taken part in the Great Ethiopian Run and Leeds Met Africa provides a framework for extending the contribution of Leeds Met students and staff to the advancement of economic prosperity and social development in Africa.