Ethiopia competed at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics from 15 to 23 August. A team of 38 athletes competed after achieving one of the competition's qualifying standards. The squad composed of middle and long distance specialists featured three reigning world champions: Meseret Defar (5000 m), Tirunesh Dibaba (10,000 m), and Kenenisa Bekele (10,000 m). Because a champion is given a bye into the championships, Ethiopia was permitted to enter an extra athlete in those events, and the Ethiopian Athletics Federation also picked a reserve athlete in these events.^[1]