Africa to honour athletes in Hall of Fame

ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — Africa's top athletes will be honoured in a new African athletics Hall of Fame award to be hosted in Ethiopia later this month, the continent's governing body for the sport said on Saturday.

Seventy-two athletes, including track heavyweights Haile Gebreselassie, Hicham El-Guerrouj and Frankie Fredericks, have been chosen for the inaugural induction set to take place in a tribute gala on the eve of the 16th African Athletics Championships at the end of April.

"The event is meant to pay tribute to the best (African) athletes during the past 50 years," Aminata Gueye, spokeswoman of the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA), told AFP.

Gueye said only Olympic gold medalists, world champions and record holders from the continent are eligible for the Hall of Fame, and plans are also underway to create an exhibition.

"The athletes, both male and female, were selected through their achievements. We went through records three or four months ago and came up with the list," said the CCA's presidential advisor, Jean-Emmanuel Pondi.

Five former greats, including Ethiopia's twice-Olympic marathon champion Abebe Bikila, will also be given posthumous awards, Pondi added.

Over 1,200 participants are expected to compete in twenty-three events during the five-day tournament.

This year's competition, which has cost Ethiopia more than two million dollars to organize, is one of a selected number of international fixtures whereby qualification for the Beijing Olympics can be secured.