Million Wolde
Medal record
Men’s Athletics
Representing  Ethiopia
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place2000 Sydney5000 m
World Championships
Silver medal – second place2001 Edmonton5000 m

Million Wolde (Amharic: ሚሊዮን ወልዴ; born March 17, 1979) is an Ethiopian athlete and winner of the 5,000 metres race at the 2000 Summer Olympics.

At the age of seventeen, Million Wolde competed in the 1996 World Junior Championships in Sydney, finishing sixth in the 3,000 m steeplechase. At the next World Junior Championships, at Annecy, France in 1998, he won the 5,000 m. He also finished eighth in the Junior World Cross-Country Championships at Cape Town in 1996, gained second place at Turin in 1997 and at Marrakech, in 1998, he won his final junior championships over 8 km. On the road, Wolde represented Ethiopia in the 1998 World Road Relay Championships at Manaus, Brazil. Ethiopia eventually finished second to Kenya, after Wolde had established a narrow lead in the initial 5 km leg.

But the real fame came when Wolde won the bronze medal in the 3,000 metres at the World Indoor Championships at Maebashi in 1999 and then finished eighth in the 5,000 m at the World Championships in Seville later that year. At the World Cross-Country Championships, Wolde finished fourth in the senior men's short course (4 km) at Belfast in 1999 and fifteenth at the same distance in Vilamoura, Portugal in 2000.

The highlight of Wolde's career came in the 5,000 m at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, when he was still just twenty two. With no one prepared to set a decent pace, Wolde bided his time and then sprinted past the leaders with 200 m remaining to win in 13:35.49 ahead of second placed Ali Saïdi-Sief of Algeria and Morocco's Brahim Lahlafi. At the next World Championships in Edmonton, Canada, Wolde won a silver medal in 5,000 m.

Injuries hampered his career during recent years, but he was still active as of 2008.[1] As of 2015, he lived in Tarrytown, NY and participated in several local races.[2][3][4] As of August 2018, Million was an Assistant Cross Country coach at Saint Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights, MN.

References

  1. ↑ IAAF, February 8, 2008: Kenya secures swift but exceptionally tight doubles at the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon
  2. ↑ http://web2.nyrrc.org/cgi-bin/htmlos.cgi/72232.1.681728805455031643%5B%5D
  3. ↑ "Active Results".
  4. ↑ "Rocky's Races on Facebook". Facebook. Archived from the original on 2022-04-30.
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