Bekele's fiancee dies in training
MONTE CARLO, Monaco -- Ethiopia's Olympic 10,000m champion Kenenisa Bekele was hit by tragedy on Tuesday when his fiancee Alem Techale died of a heart attack it was reported on the IAAF website.
A 'gifted' athlete who won the 2003 World Youth Championship 1500m title, Techale was training with Bekele in a hilly area on the outskirts of Addis Ababa when she collapsed.
Techale, 18, who was due to marry the six-time world cross country champion in May, died on the way to hospital.
IAAF president Lamine Diack expressed his condolences to 22-year-old Bekele, who has done the double in the short and long course cross country world championship races three times in the last three years.
He is also the reigning world champion in the 10,000m.
"I remember Alem as an extremely gifted athlete who, after being crowned as World Youth Champion in 2003, looked set for a long and successful career in our sport," wrote Diack on the IAAF website.
"I also recall meeting her at the last edition of the World Athletics Gala when you (Bekele) were honored as (2004) Athlete of the Year, and remember her as a charming person with a warm and pleasant personality. She will be sadly missed."
