Dibaba weds Sihine

ADDIS ABABA – Ethiopia’s double Olympic gold medallist Tirunesh Dibaba married her long-time fiancé and fellow athlete Sileshi Sihine in a colourful wedding ceremony witnessed by thousands of people here on Sunday.

The elaborate ceremony, which has been dubbed ‘The wedding of the Millennium’, first took place inside an Ethiopian Orthodox church, where a traditional mass was held before the smiling couple were driven into the city centre with their invited guests. They were paraded on top of a plush limousine ahead of a large convoy towards the city’s landmark “Meskel Square”, where a chanting and enthusiastic crowd of people greeted them along the way.Another thousand people attended a banquet dinner at Addis Ababa’s priciest hotel – the Sheraton later on Sunday evening.The 23-year-old Tirunesh, who is popularly known as “the Baby-Faced Assassin”, won both 5 000m and 10 000m gold medals at the Beijing Olympics last August, while Sileshi finished second behind compatriot Kenenisa Bekele in the 10 000m race.Nampa-ReutersThey were paraded on top of a plush limousine ahead of a large convoy towards the city’s landmark “Meskel Square”, where a chanting and enthusiastic crowd of people greeted them along the way.Another thousand people attended a banquet dinner at Addis Ababa’s priciest hotel – the Sheraton later on Sunday evening.The 23-year-old Tirunesh, who is popularly known as “the Baby-Faced Assassin”, won both 5 000m and 10 000m gold medals at the Beijing Olympics last August, while Sileshi finished second behind compatriot Kenenisa Bekele in the 10 000m race.Nampa-Reuters