No. 21 Kenenisa Bekele Country:
Ethiopia Sport: Track and Field
With a total of twelve Gold medals, three from the Olympic Games in the 10000 meters and 5000 meters events and still counting, this dominant Ethiopian distance runner is only expressing to the world that Ethiopia indeed is blessed with talented distance runners. Bekele is the current Olympic and World Record Holder in the 10000meter and 5000 meter races. Also with six long (12K) course and five short (4K) course titles he is the most accomplished runner in IAAF World Cross Country Championships history.
After Bekele won the 3000 m at the World Indoor Track & Field Championships in Moscow in 2006, he would be considered as the first athlete to be Olympic champion, world outdoor track champion, world indoor track champion, and world cross country champion in history. Bekele is still an active competitor and some say by the time all is said and done and when he eventually would have put his track shoes away in retirement he would have bested even his idols Abebe Bikila and fellow countryman Haile Gebraselassie.
No. 20 Zola Budd Country:
South Africa Sport: Track and Field
Born in Bloemfontein, Orange Free State, South Africa, Zola Budd achieved fame in 1984, at the age of 17, when she broke the women's 5000 meters world record with a time of 15:01.83 sec, but is mostly remembered for her collision with Mary Decker Slaney in the 3000 meters final at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles California. Early on in Zola’s career she could not compete for South Africa because of the open practice by the South African Regime of Apartheid (Official Policy of Race Discrimination).
Zola’s talent could go to waste if she could not compete internationally because South Africa and its citizens were not allowed to compete internationally due to a global ban for the practice of Apartheid.
However Zola would find an opportunity with Britain as she was granted citizenship and with that opportunity she proceeded to establish herself in the track and field world. One thing that was odd about Zola was her ability to run barefooted like Ethiopian great Abebe Bikila. She would go on to win a series of major international events and her specialty was the cross country, the 3000 meters, the mile and the 1500 meters. Zola is retired today and she has left the track world with a couple of world records in the mile and the 3000 metres (Junior World records) which still stands today.
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