Ethiopia lifts ban on 35 athletes for London Olympics

By The Africa Report

in: Sports

Ethiopia has lifted an Olympics ban imposed on 35 athletes following a training row at the weekend.

The ban was lifted after the Ethiopian Athletics Federation and the athletes began negotiations to reverse the decision, which could have resulted in the Horn of Africa country missing its top athletes at the London Olympics later this year.

The federation imposed sanctions on the sportspersons after accusing them of not participating in a national training programme that had been called by authorities ahead of the summer games.

Among the banned athletes were Olympic men's 5,000 and 10,000 metres champion Kenenisa Bekele and Turinesh Dibaba who is the Olympic women's champion over the same distances.

The ban had sparked a huge outrage across the country, with questions being raised on who would replace the banned athletes and if they had what it took to win medals.

In light of the debate authorities and the athletes agreed to commence negotiations.

It was reported that the athletes apologised to the federation and agreed to work together in the future.

Over 200 athletes were selected for a national training programme and figure will later be pruned for final selection ahead of the London Olympics.

Bekele, 29, had not raced on the track since 2009 because of injury.

However, he was back to his best at the Brussels Diamond league, setting a year's best for the 10,000.

Ethiopia is famed for its long distance runners.