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Athletics: Greene chasing Golden jackpot

Barry Roberts
Tuesday 28 May 2002 00:00 BST
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The World and Olympic 100 metres champion, Maurice Greene, has signed up for all seven meetings of the 2002 IAAF Golden League circuit, which starts with the Bislett Games in Oslo on 28 June.

"I am delighted that the fastest man on Earth has agreed to run in every Golden League meeting," said the IAAF president, Lamine Diack. "With no World Championships or Olympic Games in 2002, the Golden League will have a special significance.

"We expect nothing less than to have our best athletes at our best meetings in their best form. I believe that the quest for record-breaking performances, as well as a share of the Golden League jackpot, will make this year's Golden League a classic."

Thousands of supporters in Addis Ababa yesterday turned out for the funeral of Ethiopia's former Olympic marathon champion, Mamo Wolde, who died at his home on Sunday after a long illness.

Mamo, a former army captain, was 70 years old. He became a sporting hero in his home country after winning marathon gold at the 1968 Mexico Olympics and bronze at the 1972 Munich Games.

Many of Ethiopia's top athletes including Haile Gebreselassie and Derartu Tulu, dressed in their green, yellow and red Olympic uniforms, formed a guard of honour as the bier carrying Mamo's body began its 5km journey from his house to the cemetery.

Mamo spent most of the last nine years in jail, accused of taking part in the murder of a 15-year-old boy during the regime of the Marxist dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam, but always maintained his innocence.

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