Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - Of the few things that irritated Ethiopian runner Mestawet Tufa in the two years prior to 2007, the mention of the words 10,000m definitely topped the list.

“I hated the mention of the event,” Tufa says. “Five years ago when I competed for the first time in the event in Addis Ababa, I was lapped by five or six runners and finished seventh.”

Instead of working hard and getting better at the event, Tufa chose to stay away from the event until this year when she ‘gambled’ on a decision to return at the 36th Ethiopian Athletics Championships in Addis Ababa.

It has proven to be a masterstroke of a decision that has since seen her take the national title, run a world leading time (31:00.47 in Valenswaard, Netherlands) at the distance to secure her place in Ethiopia’s team for the 11th IAAF World Championships in Osaka, and storm past world class challengers to win the All African Games title in Algiers, Algeria.

More significantly, however, it has put her in contention for a medal when the world’s top distance runners line up for the women’s 10,000m in the Japanese coastal city.

“I am happy that I made the decision to try the 10,000m,” she says. “It has given me the best year of my career.”

Beginnings mirror Bekele

Before her career shift, Tufa boasted a number of significant performances to her name in youth and junior athletics with her 3000m silver in the 2001 World youth championships in Debrecen, Hungary, and a fifth place finish over the 3000m at the 2000 World Junior Championships in Santiago, Chile the most noteworthy results in her earlier years.

It was a bright opening to an international career that had always promised so much since she joined the Ethiopian club system initially with the Muger Cement sports club.

Born in Bekoji, home to some of Ethiopia’s world class running talents like the Bekele brothers and the Dibaba sisters, Tufa, like Kenenisa Bekele, is the second child in a family of nine children. And like Bekele, her parents tilled the land three times a year for cash and subsistence crops.

“I have never noticed the resemblance,” she says. “But now that you mentioned it, I was also born in the same village as Kenenisa which is a one-hour run from the centre of Bekoji. I also went to the same school as Kenenisa and was introduced to the sport in Physical Education (P.E) classes by Coach Sentayehu Eshetu [the same coach who first spotted Kenenisa’s speed when he trained for football matches].”

Needed some early prodding to pursue running

But Tufa was not easily won over by the lure of the sport early on. “I was extremely shy,” she says. “I was embarrassed for changing from skirts to running shorts and used to get punished in school for it. It was one day when I won a small race, I don’t even remember the distance, that I showed interest. I remember telling my father that I would be the next Derartu Tulu.”

Despite her initial enthusiasm, it took a year before Tufa was convinced that running would be her chosen destiny in life. “After winning a race in Bekoji, I was selected to represent the zone in the Oromiya regional championships,” she says. “I won that race in Assela and entered the Ethiopian cross country championships representing the region. I finished tenth overall, but finished first in the division for regional runners.”

Her performances quickly caught the attention of the top clubs in Ethiopia. Tezazu Wubshet of the Oromiya Prisons sports club even offered her to stay at his home and help her train. “I escaped from his house and went back home to my mother,” she says. “I was homesick and did not realize the importance of running at the time.”

At the end, Tolosa Kotu, current national team coach and then Muger Cement sports club head coach, convinced her to join his club. She would only stay less than a year before joining her current club Omedla.

“I liked the colour of their running jersey,” she says referring to Omedla’s bright yellow track tops. “I also lived and trained with runners of the club and had always dreamt of joining them.”

Tufa competed successfully for Omedla before she was selected for the national team in 2000. After her successes in Santiago and Debrecen, she had looked to follow on the success trail of Dibaba, Defar, and other Ethiopian runners when she started her senior year in 2004, but that was exactly when her injury nightmares started.

“I had won the 5000m in the Addis Ababa Municipal Championships that year,” she says. “But a week before the Ethiopian championships, I suffered a knee injury. I have never been the same since then. I had treatment on the injured both in Ethiopia and overseas, but I have not been able to return back to form in the following years.” 

After many starts and stops in her career, Tufa finally got the consistency and fitness she had craved for so long last year when she first qualified for the world cross country championships in Fukuoka, Japan, and announced herself on the senior stage with a seventh place finish in the long course.

“Getting my health back was very important for me,” she says. “I was able to train hard over an extended period without feeling any pains. That was the key to my good performance in Fukuoka.”

Runs through injury to world lead

She had run well over the roads and the cross country this year before making her winning return to the 10,000m in May. But after running a career best of 14:51.72 in Hengelo, she then suffered a recurrence of the injury that had plagued an early part of her career. 

“I had arranged to run in Valenswaard, Netherlands,” she recalls. “But I started to feel the pain; I had given up hope of making the race. However, it was Haile Gebrselassie who advised me to run despite my injury problems. I thank him now because of the result.”

The result was victory and a world leading 31:00.27 who guaranteed her place in Ethiopia’s team for Osaka. A month later, she followed up her fast time with victory over Kenyan Edith Masai in the All-African Games 10000m final.

“When I trained in Addis Ababa, I knew in my heart that I would do well in Algiers,” she says. “I decided to run to my strengths in Algiers. I decided to kick with 800m to go. Our coaches and Ethiopian spectators thought I was really crazy and miscalculated the laps because it is not usual for Ethiopian runners to sprint for so long. But it paid off and I am delighted with the victory.”

Her victory has put her among the favourites to grab a medal in Osaka and perhaps push compatriot and defending champion Tirunesh Dibaba to the line. But the 23-year old is not ready to heap her prospects.

“This will be my first major competition,” she says. “I want to do well and make a good impression. I do not want to set targets like medals or victories at this moment.”

Elshadai Negash for the IAAF