UAE’s Betlhem Belayneh admits her gold medal triumphs at the Asian Athletics Championships in Pune were “special” but warned that this is “just the beginning”.
Belayneh, 21, won the gold medal in the 1,500m on the third day of the meet in India and completed a historic double by winning the 5,000m on the final day, breaking the meet record in the process.
It was the first time a UAE woman had won an Asian gold medal in athletics and Belayneh says she is feeling confident as she prepares for the upcoming World Athletics Championships in Moscow.
“I’m so happy this time,” Belayneh said. “Everybody expects gold when you go to a competition but this time I actually got it. That’s a special one for me because I’m the first woman to get gold for the UAE. Especially because this is the first gold in 1500m in my life. So I won’t forget this day.
"I think this is my time. When you work hard and you achieve something you feel special. But I have just started. This is just the beginning for me.”
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Belayneh, who idolises three-time Olympics champion Tirunesh Dibaba, explains how she has a soft spot for the 1,500m – an event which she competed in at the London 2012 Olympics and clocked 4:14.07 in her heat. She was a second faster in Pune.
“In the Arab Games (in Doha in May) I ran the 5000m first and I got the gold. And I was expecting a gold in the 1,500m and I ended up winning bronze. But in India, the 1,500m was the first race. When you get the gold in the 1,500m, the 5,000m becomes easier. You feel more ‘I can do it, I have to do it, this is history’. Even if it was raining and there’s water splashing in your face, you feel you have to get it.
“For me, 1,500m is special. That’s my target, that’s my job. Normally I don’t train for 5,000m… the 1,500m gave me the right motivation.”
Having achieved the A-standard qualifying time in both events, Belayneh will be contesting both at the World Championships next month but she makes no promises of what she can achieve in Moscow. “It’s a competition, you don’t know what’s going to happen but I believe that anything is possible,” she said.
Belayneh was not the only one to bring glory to the UAE in Pune last week. Alia Saeed, 22, opened the country’s medal account there by winning silver in the 10,000m – also a first by a UAE female.
Saeed, who typically runs the 5,000m, ended up fourth in her signature event, but she says she is proud of how well she did in the 10,000m. She is yet to qualify for the World Championships but she feels she can run a qualifying time in the next three weeks to book her spot alongside her best friend, Belayneh.
“I’m so happy because I was running the 10,000m for the first time,” said Saeed, who was finalist in the 3,000m in the World Indoor Championships in Istanbul last year. “I usually prefer the 5,000m but now I’m doing both. I will do my best to qualify for Moscow.”
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