Press Conference Tirunesh Dibaba and Kim Smith - 2009 Reebok Grand Prix

Oh, I understand that very well. My feeling is that that paradigm needs to change. Just because 'we' pay her wages, doesn't make her beholden to the whims of the western world. I suspect that she would have quite a nice life by Ethiopian standards without the funding, the organization, the agents, the managers, etc. because she is an articulate, intelligent, and ambitious person.

I disagree with the premise that she is unable to communicate well. She communicates extremely well, but happens not to speak English. If you do an honest assessment of the four speakers in that video, Tiru is the best of the four! The guy asking the questions is an extremely uncomfortable speaker, and Kim Smith is painfully reserved and quiet. The translator speaks clearly, though a bit monotone and flat, and makes eye contact with his audience. I don't know what others are looking at, but that is how I judge the quality of a speaker.
It's worth noting that the western world will want nothing to do with her when someone better comes along. The machine is in the process of chewing her up right now. We should be careful what we wish for when we ask for our culture to consume another for the sake of our entertainment. Whatever you call that, it isn't success.

yes, but understand that it is the western world that pays her wages, allows her to run fantastic races and puts on the olympics, for the good of the sport the top runners need to be able to communicate with their audience otherwise the sport will be alienated, its not a dramatic change but the west has made her the success she is

I thought Kim Smith sounded much more uncomfortable. She's very quiet and reserved, with her eyes darting toward the floor. Dibaba looked at the audience, spoke very clearly, and answered the question concisely.

Anyway, I would much rather learn Amharic than have Tiru learn English. Too much focus is placed on these athletes accommodating the western, English speaking world. I think we should let them be who they are, and make the accommodation ourselves.

Her agent is Mark Wetmore from Global Athletics, not Hermans.

Event lists are up: http://www.reebokgrandprix.com/meet-info/
click on hyperlinks on the right.

Who is Tiru's agent? Is it Jos Hermans? This woman could be marketable all over the world. She's the most successful distance runner on the planet, she's absolutely gorgeous, she's photogenic - but she's terrible in public speaking. I'm not even criticizing the fact she doesn't speak English. She really seems uncomfortable in every way sitting there answering questions, even with an interpreter. On the other hand, you have people like Geb who speaks extremely well, and loves to spread a good message. If Hermans is her agent, you'd think he would have Tiru undergo some kind of public speaking training to increase her marketability like Geb and Bekele. Eh...what do I know?