Triple Olympic champion Tirunesh Dibaba ran alongside his sisters Genzebe, world record holder at 1500 meters, and Ejegayehu at another deserted national stadium in the capital, Addis Ababa.

Inside his home on a treadmill, Kenenisa Bekele ran with the family as a spectator.

- I think we're coming out of this storm. Mankind has survived many major disasters before. But it won't be easy, 37-year-old Bekele tells Tadias.

He has three Olympic golds on the track record and still holds the world records of 5000 and 10000 meters. Nowadays he is a marathon runner and has recorded the second fastest time ever. He was preparing for the London Marathon when the pandemic struck. 

Lent his hotel to corona patients

During the corona pandemic, Bekele has made his hotel in Sululta outside Addis Ababa available to corona patients.

- I want to help them for their own money from this infectious disease whose mysterious virus damages health and destroys the lives of so many, says Bekele.

Derartu Tulu, the first female black Olympic champion (10000 m) in Barcelona in 1992, ran from her garden.

"I long for the day this pandemic is over and we can run together," she said in the broadcast from the event that could be followed on social media.