Athletics: Abera aims for place on wall of the greats

On the wall of the main stadium in Addis Ababa there is an Olympic symbol of five interlocking rings, each containing the face of one of Ethiopia's great runners. Haile Gebrselassie, double Olympic 10,000 metres champion and multiple world record-holder, is there, along with the woman who has matched his Olympic feat, Derartu Tulu, and the double Olympic marathon champion, Abebe Bikila.

The image of Gezehagne Abera, who makes his London Marathon debut on Sunday after missing last year's race with injury, is not yet on display. "Hopefully," he said, "if I do a good result, someday it will be."

Given that this 24-year-old farmer's son is already world and Olympic champion, a unique achievement, it is difficult to imagine what kind of clinching result he has in mind. But perhaps a win in London over a field which includes Gebrselassie's perennial Kenyan rival, Paul Tergat, will do the trick. "We don't actually know what the requirements are," Abera added. "We'll just have to see if they put a picture up."

His early years followed the traditional path of running the 25km return journey between his school and home in the same region where Gebrselassie and Tulu were raised. But unlike his illustrious near neighbours, who progressed to the marathon via track careers which they still maintain, Abera made an early decision to go straight to the 26 miles, 385 yards distance. "At the time the competition in Ethiopia was weaker than at 10,000 metres," he explained.

After running his first marathon in Addis, he made his international debut at the age of 20, finishing fourth in Los Angeles in 1999 in 2hr 13min 59sec. Later that year he finished 11th in the World Championships before winning the Fukuoka marathon in 2:07.54, finishing a second clear in a frantic climax to the race.

The following year Abera won the Olympic title in Sydney despite falling at 17km and hurting his knee, and in 2001 his sprinting did him proud once more as he won the world title by the margin of a second, following that with another Fukuoka victory, this time by the relatively comfortable margin of three seconds.

Although Abera clearly relies upon his fast finish, he prefers to keep an open mind about his tactics. "There are times when I like to lead, but sometimes I will sprint. It depends upon the other athletes in the race. I go with the flow." He acknowledges that there have been occasions when he has misjudged his racing – even in winning the world title he feels he put pressure on himself by setting off for victory too early.

This Sunday, however, his main concern appears to be the weather. Asked if he felt any particular expectation to maintain his fellow countryman's largely successful record against Tergat, he responded with a twinkling grin. "Yes," he said. "I'm planning to beat all the others."