In February 1997, the Ministry of Education ratified policy and strategies that guide sports in Eritrea. To translate these into action, the office of sport affairs held a convention in October, 1998 aimed at empowering the activities of then-limited sport sub committees and fostering participation in the field of athletics. A managing committee of the National Olympic Federation with 7 standing and 3 temporary members were chosen.
The times proved to be difficult due to Weyane’s aggression against our country which was escalating day by day. Nevertheless, the newly formed Federation committee, aiming to stick to its plans, sprang into action by sending one member to each zone to assess performance of athletes in accordance to agreed criteria and coordinate competitions
After consolidating all zonal meetings and surveys conducted thereby made obvious the need for nationally coordinated Athletics events. The coordination and fast progress gained in athletics after the war subsided, as many athletes would testify, was fruition of these previous efforts made against all odds. Even during the war, some regional administrations were able to lay the foundation for the future of athletics and made contributions that propel the progress of athletics. For e.g., Athletics events conducted at Forto school in Senaefe sub zone, given the war atmosphere, is nothing short of commendable. Similarly, in Barentu sub zone of Gash Barka region, some Eritrean nationals who had great love and interest for athletics formed a 15-member athletics club named Setit. Moreover, they made substantial financial help that goes towards the establishment of Regional athletics training center. As an example of such patriotic nationals, we can name Mr. TeweldeTesfagabir and his associates. Despite all shortcomings, the managing committee of the federation armed with a can-do mentality started collecting funds from different companies and worked on implementing its plans.
After detailed discussions and studies, the managing committee planned activities based on the calendar set up by IAAF and International Association of Athletics Federations. Then after, on 30th Nov of 1998, the federation distributed the plan for the year 1999 to all regions.
To mention few of the first ever men’s and women's athletics events:
All athletes who won the above events were chosen to represent Eritrean and participated in international indoor athletic events in countries like Japan, Tunisia, South Africa, Poland, Spain including African Youth games and all African games.
Our athletes such as YonasKiflu, Simiret Sultan and others, who participated for the first time in the aforementioned international events, even though they lacked experience, exhibited an encouraging display of competitive streak which has laid a solid foundation for future progress of Eritrea Athletics. Alongside these, the managing committee of the newly formed federation, on their visit to Germany, did an excellent job in making contacts with different parties who helped to secure office and sport equipment aid which greatly helped in the daily activities of the federation.
At this junction, the federation which has acquired basic set up to conduct its routine activities, started consolidating its capabilities and planned new competitions for the year of 2000. These include cross-country championships, marathon Natsnet and mountain races both for men and women for differing age groups. As a result, 9 athletes were chosen to represent Eritrea in the International Mountain Race event in Portugal. On top of that, we participated in marathon and mountain running events held in Sudan, Kenya, Germany and Italy and got encouraging results. All these activities greatly helped us to clearly identify our strengths for the 2000 Sydney Olympics.