A day before the start of the Doha 2014 athletics meeting, the opening round of the Diamond League, 800m stars Ethiopia’s Mohammed Aman and Botswana’s Nijel Amos met local and international media representatives in a special session at the championship’s press centre at the InterContinental The City hotel.
Although the reigning indoor and outdoor world champion, Mohammed Aman, only arrived in the Qatari capital on Thursday morning and therefore had no rest before this session, the Ethiopian star looked in good shape ahead of Friday’s race. Aman expressed his great enthusiasm for the competition starting tomorrow, saying “I have a magic formula for staying energetic and relaxed, all you have to do is drink plenty of water to feel better”.
Aman returns to Doha a year after losing last year’s meeting to Kenya’s David Rudisha, the London 2012 Olympic gold medallist and also world record holder for the event, who was forced to withdraw from the Doha meeting at the last minute through injury.
Aman commented on the absence of his most prominent rival, saying “I feel very sad for Rudisha, every injury is difficult and needs a lot of time to heal, especially at this high level of competition, but I wish him the best and hope he returns to the track at his usual level, his absence won’t make me put in less effort, since I don’t train only for him, there are many other outstanding runners in this race,” and it is worth noting that Aman, 20, was the last man to beat Rudisha on the track, at the Zurich 2012 meeting.
On the presence of a notable rival tomorrow, Botswana’s Nijel Amos, Aman said “We are good friends, but we like to push each other to give our best, I know I’ll get great support from the stands through the Ethiopian community in Doha, which will give me a lot of energy and motivate me to give my utmost, even though I completely shut myself off from everything around me during the race and don’t listen to anything.”
The Ethiopian star continued “I can’t say what time I’ll run tomorrow, this is my first outdoor race of the season, and with Rudisha absent we’ll have to produce a good result on our own, I do think about the world record, especially when I look at my progress over recent years, it’s possible to break the record this year, God willing, but that depends on training properly, at the very least I can get close to the record.”
Aman also confirmed his focus for the coming period will be Olympic gold and said “Last year I achieved my dream by becoming world champion, and now the goal is the gold medal at the Rio Olympics, it’s hard to find a good coach to achieve that, but I believe I’ve already found one, my current coach is excellent and we train most of the time around Addis Ababa.”
Aman’s most prominent rival at the Doha meeting will be his friend Amos, the London 2012 Olympic silver medallist. The two runners know each other well from junior-level championships, with victory going to Aman at the 2013 Summer Universiade in Kazan, and also at the 2012 World Junior Championships in Barcelona.
Doha will see the return to the track of Amos, 20, for the first time since last July, when he decided to take a break from competition.
On that period, Amos, who holds the world junior record of 1:41.73, said “I stopped athletics for a while and it was great, I worked as a DJ and enjoyed it a lot, music helps you get rid of stress”.
The young runner, considered one of the most prominent stars in his country’s society, continued “I missed last year’s World Championships, so I’m very eager to compete in championships and improve my level, I’ll see how things go in Doha tomorrow.”
Aman and Amos share another common hobby, football, which they follow closely in their free time. On that, the Botswanan star said “I used to play football when I was young, but it’s a team sport, so you can’t succeed alone, which is why I chose athletics,” and with both world-class runners in the field, Friday’s race on the Qatar SC track is certain to see fierce competition between them as they seek the best possible time.
