Ethiopia, stricken by poverty, war and famine, is still able to parade an array of supreme distance runners this weekend at the last major international championships before the Athens Olympics.

World 10,000 metres champion Kenenisa Bekele, the only man to win the world long- and short-course cross-country titles, attempts a third consecutive double at the hilly Parc of Laeken.

His team mate Werknesh Kidane, the world 10,000 silver medallist, has entered both the women's events in the two-day championships.

Four other Ethiopians have been selected over both distances although a final decision on the team will not be made until Friday evening.

Ethiopia, Africa's oldest independent country, is enjoying a golden age in athletics comparable with any in its illustrious history since Abebe Bikila became the first African to win an Olympic title with his marathon title at the 1960 Rome Games.

Bekele led an Ethiopian clean sweep in the 10,000 metres at last year's Paris World championships, beating the incomparable Haile Gebrselassie into second place.

Kidane finished second to compatriot Berhane Adere in the women's 10,000 while 19-year-old Tirunesh Dibaba won the 5,000. The level of the Ethiopian track achievement was such that the north Africans finished third in the overall medals table behind the might of the United States and Russia.

Kidane's chances of two titles were enhanced on Thursday by the withdrawal through injury of Britain's world marathon record holder Paula Radcliffe. Radcliffe, the 2001 and 2002 long-course champion, had planned to double up in Brussels.

INSPIRATIONAL TULU

Dibaba will run in Saturday's long-course eight-km race the day before her sister Ejigayehu competes in the four-km event.

The pair were inspired to take up athletics after the achievements of their cousin Derartu Tulu, the first black African woman to win an Olympic title with her triumph in the 10,000 at the 1992 Barcelona Games.

Tulu, now 34, went on to win three cross-country titles and the 2000 Sydney 10,000 gold followed by the London marathon in the following year.

She plans to defend her 10,000 title in Athens in August and will run the long-course event in Brussels.

Bekele, 21, who also picked up a silver medal in the 5,000 in Paris, has shown he is in prime form this year with a world indoor 5,000 metres record in Birmingham, England, last month.

"I am ready to run and win both medals in Brussels," he said. "Kenenisa is ready for everyone and he does not prepare for individuals."

In Lausanne last year, Ethiopia won four of the six individual gold medals and two of the team titles and, as usual, their main opposition in the team events will come from the Kenyans.

One of the growing number of Kenyans now running for adopted countries is also attempting a women's double.

Lornah Kiplagat, who has taken up Dutch citizenship after marrying her agent Pieter Langerhorst, finished fourth in the world 10,000.

Kiplagat has not competed in the world cross-country championships for eight years but she claimed a notable scalp this year when she defeated Radcliffe in the 10-km road race in San Juan. Radcliffe had been unbeaten for the previous 2-1/2 years.