RIP to the greatest coach ever? Woldemeskel Koster - guy coached Haile G, Kenny B, T. Dibaba, and Tulu!!!

Arthur L fan wrote:

Does anyone know how much of a role he had in coaching the Ethiopian greats?

I don't know how involved he was but will say that I got a text from an Ethiopian journalist friend of mine. He sent me a link to a story about his death and wrote

"The coach who has turned the Ethiopian long distance running team into one of the most successful in the world Dr. Woldemeskel Kostre passed away yesterday. RIP our legendary hero! "

Uh, ever hear of Bear Bryant?

Duh

http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/ethiopias-tough-running-coach-woldemeskel-kostre-dies-69-39162054

Kostre won the IAAF's coach of the year award in 2006. He was part of Ethiopia's distance-running program for more than 35 years, starting as an assistant coach at the 1972 Munich Olympics and working with Ethiopia's best athletes up until the 2008 Games in Beijing.

He was head coach of the team for 25 years, presiding over Ethiopia's golden era.

tyuoble wrote:

working with Ethiopia's best athletes up until the 2008 Games in Beijing.

Why did he stop coaching, and what did he die from?

What was he a doctor of? I guess to be a good coach, one has to go to medical school these days.

Disappointing to see this thread barely has any replies.

Does anyone know much about his training philosophy? It would be great to hear more about the methodology of the coach of some of the all time greats.

DPL wrote:

What was he a doctor of? I guess to be a good coach, one has to go to medical school these days.

Physical education.

Is "koster" beard in Ethiopian?

Coach Cookie wrote:

Is "koster" beard in Ethiopian?

Are you asking if "koster" means "beard" in Amharic (Ethiopian language)?

If so, no. It doesn't mean beard, and there's actually an error in the spelling (typo); it's supposed to be "Kostre" not "Koster." Koster is a dutch name, isn't it? But I'm sure, the coach's name is Kostre, Dr. Woldemeskel Kostre (or ዶክተር ወ/መስቀል ኮስትሬ in Amharic alphabet). But as for the meaning,...not really sure, it could be in one of the many Ethiopian languages, and I only know Amharic, but it could mean "My Kostr," with the "E" added at the end. The vowel "E" at the ends kinda act as a suffix in most cases. For example, we can take Genzebe Dibaba's name.

Genzeb (without the "e" at the end) means "Money", but if the "e" is added at the end, it means "My money". So "Genzebe" means "My money."

"Almaz" means "Diamond" btw. So adding "e" at the end "Almaze" would mean ?____?

T

H

E

A

N

S

W

E

R

Is........yup, you guessed it right, "My Diamond".

Cheers!

I got the impression he was the team coach rather than coaching individuals.

I thought his name was Woldemar Kostre and assumed he was an East German import.

Anyone could be a great coach with Ethiopian genetics available to them though.

Waldemar Cierpinski wrote:

Anyone could be a great coach with Ethiopian genetics available to them though.

That's what all the coaches who have not had success say!

Plus there are numerous of foreign coaches in Kenya (maybe Ethiopia as well I don't know) who have extremely limited or non existent success.

Additionally as Renato once said (I paraphrase) "It's easy to coach to a Kenyan to beat a European. It is not easy to coach a Kenyan to beat every other Kenyan and all the Ethiopians"

Coaching requirements, whistle, clip board,... syringe.