Ten best and most famous Ethiopian athletes

For over half a century, Ethiopian athletes have been consistently breaking records in world events and providing an already proud nation with even more sources of joy. The following is a list of 10 of the best and most famous Ethiopian athletes.

1. Abebe Bikila Marathon Runner

Abebe Bikila (1932-1973), fondly referred to as the “barefoot runner”, is most famous for the gold medal he won for Ethiopia at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, while setting a new world record.

Abebe is a pioneer who laid the foundation for and acted as an inspiration to today’s unstoppable East African long-distance runners. He participated in 16 marathons and won 12 of them. Abebe also received his second gold medal at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, while breaking his own world record. He unfortunately was plagued by injuries throughout his career, and in 1969, a car accident would prevent Abebe from ever walking again. He is remembered today as one of the greats in long distance running; schools, events, and also a stadium use his name to honor him.

2.Berhane Adere

Berhane Adere born on July 21, 1973 is a long distance road and track runner, who is known best for being world champion for the 10,000 meters in 2003 and world champion for the half marathon in 2002. In 2003, she also won the gold medal for 3,000 meters at the IAAF World Indoor Championships and in 2006 and 2007 Berhane won the Chicago Marathon. She would go on and also win the Dubai Marathon in 2008 and the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon in 2007.

3.Haile Gebrselassie

Haile Gebrselassie (born April 18, 1973), is a long distance road and track athlete. For the over 10,000 meters event, he has 2 Olympic gold medals and 4 World Championship titles. Haile has also won the Berlin Marathon an incredibly 4 times in a row and the Dubai Marathon, 3 times consecutively.

Haile also won 4 world titles for indoors and was named 2001’s World Half Marathon Champion. He won many international titles for the distances of 1500 meters and the marathon, but chose to move away from outdoor/indoor and cross country running, opting for road running. In his illustrious career, Haile has broken 61 Ethiopian national records, for distances of 800 meters to the marathon; he has also set 27 world records.

4.Meseret Defar

Meseret Defar, born on November 19, 1983 is a long distance road and track athlete who has destroyed world records and won numerous gold medals at various international competitions. She is mostly focused on the 3,000 and 5,000 meters races, which she dominated. In 2006, Meseret beat the world record in the 5,000 meter event, and beat it again in 2007 and held it till Tirunesh Dibaba beat it in 2008.

Among her many medals for the 5,000 meters event, Meseret won gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics, bronze at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and silver and gold at the World Championships. She has also won 4 consecutive gold medals for the 3,000 meters event at the IAAF World Indoor Championships from the year 2004 through to 2010.

Furthermore, Meseret was a 2 time champion at the All Africa Games, 2 time gold medalist at the World Junior Championships and 4 time medalist at the African Championships.

5.Kenenisa Bekele

Kenenisa Bekele (born June 13, 1982), is a long distance road and track athlete. In 2004 Olympics, he won the gold for the 10,000 meters event, while still managing to get the silver for the 5,000 meters. In the 2008 summer Olympics, Kenenisa did what he failed to do in 2004, and that was to get the gold for both the 5,000 meters and the 10,000 meter events. Aside from the Olympics, Kenenisa is the most successful athlete in the history of the IAAF World Cross Country Championships.

In the 2009 World Championship Athletics, Kenenisa became the 1st man to win both the 5000 meters and 10,000 meters at the same competition. He also won World Championship bronze in 2003, 2 African Championship titles, and 1 Africa Games gold medal, and gold at the 2006 World Indoor Championships for the 3000 meters. In 2016, he won the Berlin Marathon, making him the 3rd fastest marathon runner of all time.

6.Derartu Tulu

Derartu Tulu, born on March 21, 1972 is a long distance road and track runner who is most famous for being the first ever black African woman to win an Olympic gold medal. She won this at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games in the 10,000 meters race.

Derartu also won gold at the 1995 IAAF World Cross Country Championships and silver at the World Championships that same year. In 2000, she won an Olympic gold medal for the 10,000 meters event making her the first and only woman to have won gold for the event twice. Derartu won 6 gold medals at the Olympics and world competitions.

Later in life, Derartu opted to focus on marathons and she was successful at it, by winning various titles. While all her old competitors had already retired, Derartu kept competing well into her late thirties until 2011.

7.Miruts Yifter Long-Distance Track and Road Running

Miruts Yifter (1944-2016) was long distance track and road runner, best known for his 2 gold medals at the 1980 Summer Olympics. Given the nickname “Yifter the Shifter” and he is also sometimes called, Muruse Yefter. He won a bronze medal for the 10,000 meters at the Munich Olympics in 1972, a gold medal at the All Africa Games in 1973, and 2 gold medals at the 1st African Championships in 1979 (5,000 & 10,000 meters).

In the 1980 Moscow Olympics, Miruts won gold for both the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters. Miruts was also plagued by a controversy surrounding his age at the Moscow Olympics which was estimated at between 33 years of age to 42.

8.Gete Wami

Gete Wami, born on December 11, 1974, is a long distance road and track athlete and is mostly known for her amazing marathon victories. In 1999, she won 10,000 meters gold medal at the All African Games and a gold medal at the World Championships, creating a new African and Championships record. She is also a 2 time winner of the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, with the long race title in 1996 and short in 2001. Gete won the Berlin Marathon, two years in a row in 2006 and 2007.

9.Tirunesh Dibaba

Tirunesh Dibaba, born June 1, 1985, is a long distance road and track athlete, nicknamed the “Baby Faced Destroyer”. She is currently the 5000 meters world record holder for the outdoor track. Tirunesh has won 5 World Championship track gold medals, 3 Olympic track gold medals, 4 World Cross Country adult wins, as well as a World Cross Country Junior title. In 2015 she is also married to the long distance superstar runner, Sileshi Sihin.

10.Feyisa Lilesa

Feyisa Lilesa born on February 1, 1990 is a long distance road and track runner, who is best known for becoming the youngest man to run under 2:06, which he did at the 2010 Rotterdam Marathon. Feyisa has won the Dublin Marathon (2009), Xiamen International Marathon (2010), bronze medal at the World Championships Marathon (2011), and a silver medal at the Rio Olympics Marathon (2016). He is also popular because of the political statement he made at the Olympics to protest the abuse inflicted upon his ethnicity in Ethiopia.

The Ethiopian herald June 27,2020

BY HIZKEL HAILU