Alemitu Bekele (''Alemitu Bekele Degfa;'' born 17 September 1977) is an

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

n-born Turkish long-distance runner, who specialized in the 5000 metres. Bekele was born in

Shoa, Ethiopia Shewa ( am, ሸዋ; , om, Shawaa), formerly romanized as Shua, Shoa, Showa, Shuwa (''Scioà'' in Italian), is a historical region of Ethiopia which was formerly an autonomous kingdom within the Ethiopian Empire. The modern Ethiopian capital Ad ...

. In the 5000 metres she finished seventh at the 2008 Olympic Games. In the 3000 metres she won the gold medal at the 2009 European Indoor Championships, and also competed at the 2008 World Indoor Championships, without reaching the final round. She set an indoor European record at the beginning of 2010: her time of 14:46.44 at the

GE Galan The Globen Galan is an annual indoor athletics event held in February at the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, Sweden. The meeting was first held in 1990 and from 2000 to 2010 known as GE Galan, because General Electric was the official title sponsor. ...

- a result later voided - was enough to beat

Gabriela Szabo Gabriela Szabo (, hu, Szabó Gabriella; born 14 November 1975) is a retired Romanian runner. She competed in the 1500 m and 5000 m events at the 1996 and 2000 Olympics and won a gold, a silver and a bronze medal. Szabo is a three-time world c ...

's 11-year-old mark. Despite this achievement, which made her the fifth fastest of all-time over the distance, she finished some 20 seconds adrift of winner

Meseret Defar Meseret Defar Tola (Amharic: መሠረት ደፋር; born 19 November 1983) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who competes chiefly in the 3000 metres and 5000 metres events. She has won medals at top-tier international competitions including O ...

who narrowly missed the world record. This record was later rescinded due to a doping offense. She won the 5000 m at the

2010 European Athletics Championships The 2010 European Athletics Championships were the 20th edition of the European Athletics Championships, organised under the supervision of the European Athletic Association. They were held at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Barcelona, C ...

in a championship-record time of 14 minutes, 52.20 seconds - a result later voided - at Barcelona's Olympic stadium. She represented Team Europe at the

2010 IAAF Continental Cup The 1st IAAF Continental Cup was an international track and field sporting event held under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations. Originally scheduled as the 11th IAAF World Cup in Athletics, it was renamed in 200 ...

and claimed the 3000 m silver medal - a result later voided. She opened her 2011 season at the

Cinque Mulini The Cinque Mulini is an annual cross country running race in San Vittore Olona, Italy. First held in 1933, the course is unusual in that it revolves around a number of water mills along Olona river, which lend the competition its name – meaning ' ...

and won the individual title as well as the team title for Üsküdar Belediyespor - results later voided - as part of the

European Cross Country Club Championships The European Champion Clubs Cup Cross Country is an annual cross country running competition between the European running clubs that are the reigning national champions for their country. It is often abbreviated to the name ECCC Cross Country. It i ...

.Sampaolo, Diego (2011-02-06)
Lamdassem and Bekele are triumphant in the Cinque Mulini
IAAF. Retrieved on 2011-02-06.

Doping ban

On 16 January 2013, the IAAF announced that she had been banned from competition for four years until 14 February 2016 due to use or attempted use of

illegal drug The prohibition of drugs through sumptuary legislation or religious law is a common means of attempting to prevent the recreational use of certain intoxicating substances. While some drugs are illegal to possess, many governments regulate the ...

s, and all her results since August 17, 2009 will be voided. This resulted from irregularities in her

biological passport An athlete biological passport is an individual electronic record for professional athletes, in which profiles of biological markers of doping and results of doping tests are collated over a period of time. Doping violations can be detected by n ...

Personal bests

*NR National record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bekele, Alemitu 1977 births Living people Ethiopian female long-distance runners Turkish female long-distance runners Olympic athletes of Turkey Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics European Athletics Championships medalists World Athletics Championships athletes for Turkey Enkaspor athletes Turkish sportspeople in doping cases Doping cases in athletics Ethiopian sportspeople in doping cases Ethiopian emigrants to Turkey Turkish people of Ethiopian descent Naturalized citizens of Turkey European champions for Turkey

Doping ban

Personal bests

See also

References

External links