The IAAF is very sad to learn of the death of the renowned distance running coach Dr Woldemeskel Kostre, the recipient of the 2006 IAAF Coaches’ Award, who died in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa at the age of 69 early on Monday (16).
Kostre was considered by many to be the architect of Ethiopia’s phenomenal success at longer distances from the mid-1980s onwards, although he also had a reputation of being a disciplinarian and authoritarian even when his athletes were setting world records.
“We have lost Dr Kostre but he had been ill for a long time. Dr Kostre was a very strict man but he showed me how to behave. He gave discipline a top priority. It very sad he has now left us,” said Ethiopian distance running legend Haile Gebrselassie on Monday.