A/A, October 26, 2008 (Addis Ababa) - Unlike the season which is spring in most parts of Ethiopia, this Sunday, October 26, in the capital city of Addis Ababa, came to be cloudy sending down light showers now and then. But this did not prevent people from pouring out of their homes to crowd the boulevard at the Meskel Square in moods very much cheerful and merry. They meant to pay their respect and wish luck to a couple who just tied the knots.
In a hugely attended, colorful wedding, the international superstar athletes Tirunesh Dibaba (Beijing Olympic double gold medalist) and Sileshi Sihin (silver medalist at the same event) announced their marriage.
The event was officially dubbed “Wedding of the Millennium”, which Seyoum Bereded, who served as director general of the Ethiopian Millennium Celebration Secretariat, said was given the couple as one way of paying back to the great deeds both athletes have been doing to the nation. The wedding ceremony came as a daylong event: a public appearance, a lunch at the Hilton and a dinner at Sheraton being some of the programs.
Dressed in Black silk suit, shining like a king, Sileshi Sihene walked out on a red carpet sprinkled with rose petals from his fancy mansion at the Yerer Ber at 9:00 a.m. in the morning.
Accompanied by snow white-dressed best men, Sileshi jumped on the Ford Limousine. The best men followed with their new model Mercedes Benzes. They were off to pick the star of the morning Tirunesh Dibaba, according to www.tiruneshdibaba.net.
At Tirunesh Dibaba's place the crowd was waiting for the bride groom.
The renowned chant at this particular ceremony would have been "Anasgebam Sergegna" (we would not let the bride in where the best men had to put a little struggle to get in and take the bride), such resistance however, was not necessary -the bride was too irresistible not to let in.
Seleshi got a golden reception as he walked in to have his bride welcome him. Tirunesh was shining with her white elegant wedding dress.
The two had a ceremony at the Bole Medhaniealem Church, where they received a blessing and given the Holy Bibile.
Waving to the crowd that waited for them on the sides of the streets, Tirunesh Dibaba and Sileshi Sihine moved to the church.
The 23-year-old Tirunesh, also known as "the baby-faced assassin", won gold in both the 5,000m and 10,000m at the Beijing Olympics last August, while Sileshi finished second behind compatriot Kenenisa Bekele in the 10,000m race.