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Ethiopian athlete dies at his prime
David Monti (LUR) Ethiopian distance runner Dejene Berhanu, who was
reported dead at the age of 29 last Sunday by his management firm, took his own life. Two independent sources contacted by Race Results Weekly who had knowledge of the situation, one in the United States and one in Ethiopia, confirmed the news. Neither source wished to be identified given the sensitivity of the situation.
“It is true that Dejene Berhanu died on Sunday from suicide and was buried on Monday,” said the Ethiopian source. “The cause of death is suicide. These are the facts I know at the moment.”
Berhanu first became known in 2000 when he took the silver medal at 10,000m at the African Championships in Algiers. He would eventually improve to make the 2004 Ethiopian Olympic team and finish fifth at the 5000m. He also won the Great North Run Half-Marathon later that year. He had lifetime bests of 12:54.15 for 5000m, 27:12.22 for 10,000m, 59:37 for the half-marathon and 2:08:46 for the marathon.
A versatile athlete, Berhanu also ran on the U.S. road circuit, competing in the TD Bank Beach to Beacon 10-K in Cape Elizabeth, Me., three times, including a 14th place finish at this year’s race on August 7. According to a report in the Portland Press Herald, it was in Cape Elizabeth where Berhanu met an ophthalmologist, Dr. Jeff Berman. Berman diagnosed Berhanu with a droopy eyelid, and arranged for doctors in Maine to correct it through surgery after the 2009 edition of the Beach to Beacon.
“We’re crushed,” Dr. Berman told the Press Herald earlier this week after hearing the news. “It’s like a member of our family died. What a tragedy.”
Berhanu left behind a wife and a three year-old daughter.
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A brief biography of Dejene Berhanu
Other than covering long distances to and from school, Dejene Berhanu did not run while growing up near the town of Addis Alem in Ethiopia’s fertile western highlands. He was inspired to take up the sport after his family moved to the outskirts of Addis Ababa in 1996 and he watched a 1997 rebroadcast of Haile Gebrselassie’s victory in the Atlanta Olympic 10,000m. Dejene clocked himself running 10 km along a road, and his time of about 35 minutes encouraged him to join neighborhood runners in training.
He won his first race, over 10,000m, later that year and was recruited into the Rental Housing Authority (KIBEAD) athletic club, but he finished poorly (115th) in his first big competition, the 1998 National Junior Cross Country Championships. He worked his way up to top 40 and top 20 finishes over the next couple of years, performing much better at track than cross country, and earning entry into the higher tier Corrections or Prison Police (Maremya) club, to which Derartu Tulu and Fatuma Roba belong.
His breakthrough came in 2000, when he won the National Junior Cross Country, though he did not compete in the World Championships in Portugal. He also won the club championships 10,000m, and joined 1999 World Championships 10,000m bronze medalist Assefa Mezgebu in attacking the 10-year-old national high-altitude record for 10,000 (28:54.55) at the national track championships. Dejene finished two seconds behind Assefa’s 28:46.53, but six seconds under the old record. His international debut came the same year with three races in Germany and the Netherlands in June, followed by a silver medal at 10,000m (28:41.11) in the African Championships in Algiers.
He won the 12 km at the National Cross Country Championships in 2001 but failed to finish at the World Championships in Ostend and was bothered by injuries for much of the rest of the year. In 2002 he concentrated on US road races, recording six top-6 finishes, including a big PB of 27:38 for 10km in Pittsburgh. But he returned to Ethiopia for the national track championship, winning at 5000m and placing 2nd at 10,000. He then placed 5th in the African Championships 10,000m (28:46.21) in Tunis.
In 2003 he finished 3rd over 12 km at the cross country nationals and 20th at the World Championships in Lausanne. After a big win over 5 km at Carlsbad near San Diego (PB 13:19), he returned to Ethiopia for the national track championships, taking 3rd in the 10,000, but he failed to record a qualifying mark in time for the Paris World Championships and had to content himself with a successful season of Grand Prix races, lowering his 5000 PB to 13:14.05 in San Sebastian and his 10,000 PB to 27:14.61 in Brussels. He also added another continental medal to his collection, a bronze in the 10,000 (27:47.19) at the All African Games in Nigeria.
2004 began promisingly with a PB (13:11.47i) 2nd place behind compatriot Kenenisa Bekele’s 5000m World Indoor Record (12:49.60) in Birmingham in Dejene’s first indoor race. He followed that with a victory over 4 km in the National Cross Country Championships, beating 2003 12 km World Cross bronze medalist Gebre-egziabher Gebremariam. In the Brussels World Championships, he finished a somewhat disappointing 11th but contributed to Ethiopia’s first men’s team victory over Kenya in 18 years. He brought that triumphant spirit to his defense of his Carlsbad 5 km title and won with a confident surge late in a tactical race (13:23).
His outdoor season started with a 2nd place behind Sileshi Sihine but ahead of Gebre-egziabher in the National Championships 10,000 (28:21.4). Next came a 4th at 5000 in a PB 13:03.19 at Bislett, behind Kenya’s John Kibowen and Gebre-egziabher. Then, in the all-important Rome GL, which served as Ethiopia’s final Olympic selection test, he scored a big PB 12:54.15 for 3rd behind World Champion Eliud Kipchoge (KEN) and Sileshi, and earned himself a place on Ethiopia’s 5000m team for Athens. In the 5000 final, against three of the world’s greatest distance runners (Kenenisa, Kipchoge and Hicham El Guerrouj), Dejene earned a solid 5th (13:16.92) behind Gebre-egziabher, and improved to 2nd a few weeks later in the World Athletics Final (13:07.91).
The year’s high point, however, came a week later over a longer distance, as Dejene became the fourth fastest half-marathoner in history (59:37) in winning the Great North Run in Newcastle. He replaced none other than his idol Haile as Ethiopian record holder.
The British north country proved to Dejene’s liking again in January as he lost by barely a second to Kipchoge in the Edinburgh International cross country. He carried that momentum right through the Ethiopian World Cross trials, where he comfortably won his third straigh 4 km title. This year he’s expecting to have something hanging around his neck when the running is over in St. Etienne/St. Galmier.
Yearly progression 5000/ 10,000: 2000 – 13:36.58/ 28:41.11; 2001 –; 2002 – 13:26.74/ 28:46.21; 2003 – 13:14.05/ 27:14.61; 2004 – 12:54.15/ 28:21.4.
Other PBs: 5000 indoor – 13:11.47i (2004); 5 km – 13:19 (Carlsbad 2003); 10 km – 27:38 (Pittsburgh 2002); Half-marathon – 59:37 (Newcastle 2004)
A note on Ethiopian names: Ethiopians are customarily referred to by first name only or first and second name together, the second name being the father’s first name.
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Prepared by Sabrina Yohannes, John Manners and Elshadai Negash for the IAAF “Focus on Africans” project. Copyright IAAF 2005.
realy i am very sory!!!
i am very sory
What a tragedy! My condolences go to his family.
what a tragedy! My heart goes out to his wife, his daughter and all other members of his family.
My Condolences to his Family & Friends plus for all Ethiopians!
Rest In Peace Dejene!!!! May God Bless Your Soul!!!
Oh god! betam yasazenal!!!!!!!!!!!.
am sorry to hear this bad News We exepect him to won but . its unbleieveable .how things so fast to burried .can you people to follw the clear what is going on with him ??????????
I AM SORRY
RIP. Never heard about him; but, what a tragedy!
i am an ethiopian born person and when some one how rise his own flag in worlid dies it make me fil dipress.so i can say for his family sory @ i fill he is a hero of his country and we miss him together so let as pray to god’