Asha Gigi Roba (born 15 October 1973 in Arsi) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who specialises in the marathon. Her personal best of 2:26:05 hours was set in 2004 at the

Paris Marathon The Paris Marathon (french: Marathon de Paris) is an annual marathon hosted by the city of Paris, France. It is the marathon with the second-most finishers in the world, behind the New York City Marathon. The marathon begins along the Champs ...

, where she came second. She represented Ethiopia in the event at the 2004 Summer Olympics and the

World Championships in Athletics The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the Ol ...

(2003 and 2005). She has won the

Toronto Waterfront Marathon The Toronto Waterfront Marathon is an annual marathon held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in October. The race day also includes a half marathon and 5 km race. The race has quickly become an elite level marathon and is one of just five World ...

and the

Florence Marathon The Florence Marathon ( it, Maratona di Firenze) is an annual full-length marathon race held in late November in Florence, Italy, since 1984. History Established in 1984, the international competition has significantly grown in size since its in ...

. In her early career in the 1990s she won team medals with Ethiopia at the

IAAF World Cross Country Championships World Athletics Cross Country Championships is the most important competition in international cross country running. Formerly held annually and organised by World Athletics (formerly the IAAF), it was inaugurated in 1973, when it replaced the Int ...

and the World Road Relay Championships.

Career

Born in Arsi in Ethiopia's

Oromia Region Oromia (Amharic: ) ( om, Oromiyaa) is a regional state in Ethiopia and the homeland of the Oromo people. The capital of Oromia is Addis Ababa. It is bordered by the Somali Region to the east; the Amhara Region, the Afar Region and the Benis ...

,Asha Gigi
Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2011-11-27. she started her career as a

cross country runner Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open coun ...

. In 1994 she won a silver medal as part of the Ethiopian women's team at the

IAAF World Road Relay Championships The IAAF World Road Relay Championships was a biennial international athletics competition in long-distance relay running. First organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) in 1992, the championship ran for four edi ...

.IAAF World Road Relay Championships
Association of Road Racing Statisticians (2004-03-24). Retrieved on 2011-11-27. She also won a team silver medal at the

1994 IAAF World Cross Country Championships The 1994 IAAF World Cross Country Championships was held in Budapest, Hungary, at the Kincsem Park on March 26, 1994. A preview on the event was given in the Herald, and a report in ''The New York Times''. Complete results for senior men, ...

, through a 19th-place finish in the long race. She was selected for the national team at the 1996 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, but came 43rd overall on that occasion. In 1998 she helped the Ethiopian women to the gold medals at the World Relay Championships, came 36th at the 1998 World Cross Country, and was 19th at the

1998 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships The 7th IAAF World Half Marathon Championships was held on September 27, 1998, in the city of Uster, Switzerland. A total of 236 athletes, 139 men and 97 women, from 54 countries took part. Detailed reports on the event and an appraisal of the res ...

.Gigi Asha
IAAF. Retrieved on 2011-11-27. After coming 32nd and 28th at the 1999 and 2000 World Cross Country events, she began to compete more in road and track competitions. She won the Phoenix 10K race in 1999. At the 2002 African Championships in Athletics she was fourth in the

10,000 metres The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is common at championship level events. The ra ...

race and placed 17th at the

2002 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships The 11th IAAF World Half Marathon Championships was held on May 5, 2002 in the city of Brussels, Belgium. A total of 198 athletes, 123 men and 75 women, from 60 countries took part. Detailed reports on the event and an appraisal of the results were ...

. The following year she had her best finish at the World Cross Country event, taking tenth place in the women's long race as the fifth Ethiopian woman to finish is a near medal sweep. Asha Gigi made her debut over the marathon distance in 2003 at the

San Diego Marathon The Rock 'n' Roll San Diego Marathon is an annual marathon foot-race held in San Diego, California. Established in 1998, it is the original race in the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series. The event includes a half marathon.Cruz, Dan (2010-06-07)Lim ...

, where her time of 2:31:39 hours earned her a place for the national team. At the

2003 World Championships in Athletics The 9th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held from 23 August to 31 August 2003 in the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, France. Men's results T ...

in Paris she came 19th and was part of the Ethiopian silver medal-winning team in the

IAAF World Marathon Cup The IAAF World Marathon Cup was an international event organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations every two years. From 1997 until 2011 (its final year) it was incorporated with IAAF World Championships in Athletics. Ed ...

competition.Asha Gigi

World Marathon Majors The World Marathon Majors (WMM) (known for sponsorship reasons as the Abbott World Marathon Majors) is a championship-style competition for marathon runners that started in 2006. A points-based competition founded on six major marathon races reco ...

. Retrieved on 2011-11-27. The year after she was a lowly tenth at the

Osaka Ladies Marathon The is an annual marathon road race for women over the classic distance of 42.195 kilometres which is held on the 4th or 5th Sunday of January in the city of Osaka, Japan, and hosted by Japan Association of Athletics Federations, Kansai T ...

but then made a breakthrough at the

, setting a personal best time of 2:26:02 hours to finish runner-up to

Salina Kosgei Salina Jebet Kosgei (born 16 November 1976 in Simotwo, Keiyo District) is a long distance runner from Kenya. She is a Commonwealth Games gold medalist, has competed at the Olympics and has won various marathons, including the 2009 Boston Marat ...

. She had her first Olympic selection, but did not manage to finish the marathon at the

2004 Athens Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

. She also ran at the 2004

New York City Marathon The New York City Marathon (currently branded TCS New York City Marathon after its headline sponsor (commercial), sponsor) is an annual Marathon (sport), marathon () that courses through the five boroughs of New York City. It is the largest mar ...

, but managed only 13th place. She ran in Paris for a third year running in 2005 and came third in her second fastest time (2:27:41 hours).Asha Gigi
MarathonInfo. Retrieved on 2011-11-27. Her third consecutive national selection saw her give her career best finish on the global stage, as she came 16th in the marathon at the

2005 World Championships in Athletics The 10th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), were held in the Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland (6 August 2005 – 14 August 2005), the site of the first IAAF ...

in Helsinki. She had a poor run at the

Singapore Marathon The Singapore Marathon is an annual international marathon race which is held on the first Sunday of December in the city of Singapore. It is a World Athletics Gold Label Road Race. History The first competitive marathon in Singapore was held o ...

in December (2:46:14 hours) but returned to form in Paris in 2006 with a run of 2:32:35 hours for seventh place. She was fourth at that year's

Berlin Marathon The Berlin Marathon (german: Berlin-Marathon, ) is a marathon event held annually on the streets of Berlin, Germany on the last weekend of September. Held annually since 1974, the event includes multiple races over the marathon distance of , inc ...

(2:32:32) and was a late leader at the Tokyo Ladies Marathon, but failed to finish the race. She recorded her third career sub-2:30 marathon in Paris in 2007 and her time of 2:29:11 hours brought her fourth place. Her first ever victory over the distance came at the

where, in spite of a fast early pace, she went on to break the course record with her time 2:33:15 hours. The 2008 season was one of her most successful: she ran her third fastest ever time (2:28:24) at the

Dubai Marathon The Dubai Marathon is an annual road-based marathon hosted by Dubai, United Arab Emirates, since 1998. The marathon is categorized as a Gold Label Road Race by World Athletics. History Initial era The inaugural Dubai Marathon was held ...

, taking sixth place, was third at the

Hamburg Marathon The Hamburg Marathon (german: Hamburg-Marathon) is an annual marathon race over the classic distance of held in Hamburg, Germany. In 2009, 13,938 participants were counted. The marathon is categorized as a Gold Label Road Race by World Athlet ...

in another sub-2:30 clocking, then was runner-up in her attempted defence at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon. She also won the

Prague Half Marathon The Prague Half Marathon (known as the Sportisimo Prague Half Marathon for sponsorship reasons) is an annual half marathon road running event which takes place in Spring on the city streets of Prague, Czech Republic, first held in 1999. It ...

Her sole outing of 2009 was in Dubai, where she came 11th overall. After a break from running in 2010, she came sixth at the

Xiamen International Marathon The Xiamen International Marathon () is an annual marathon race held in January in the coastal city of Xiamen in Fujian province, People's Republic of China. It is one of the prominent marathon races of the year. More than 50,000 runners took p ...

. Asha Gigi won the second marathon of her career at the 2011

, beating all opposition in a time of 2:31:36 hours.Sampaolo, Diego (2011-11-27)
Bekele and Gigi lead Ethiopian sweep in Florence
IAAF. Retrieved on 2011-11-28.

Achievements

Personal bests

* 5000 metres - 15:37.38 min (1999) *

- 31:48.31 min (2003) *

Half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish or shortcut ...

- 1:10:27 min (2005) * Marathon - 2:26:05 min (2004)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gigi, Asha 1973 births Living people Sportspeople from Oromia Region Ethiopian female long-distance runners Ethiopian female marathon runners Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Ethiopia World Athletics Championships athletes for Ethiopia 20th-century Ethiopian women 21st-century Ethiopian women 21st-century Ethiopian people