Ejegayehu Dibaba Keneni ( om, Ijigaayoo Dibaabaa; Amharic: እጅጋዬሁ ዲባባ); born 21 March 1982, in

Bekoji Bekoji ( Oromo: Boqojjii, Amharic: በቆጂ) is a town in central Ethiopia. Located in the Arsi Zone of the Oromia Region, it has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation of 2810 m. It is the administrative centre of Limuna Bilbilo woreda ...

) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner. She won the silver medal 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 ...

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), ...

. Ejegayehu earned bronze medals for the 5000 metres and 10,000 m 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 ...

. She took gold medals in the 10,000 m at the 2003

Afro-Asian Games The Afro-Asian Games were the series of inter-continental multi-sport competitions, held between athletes from Asia and Africa. These Games are one-of-a-kind, since no other sporting competition brings athletes from these two continents together ...

and All-Africa Games. Ejegayehu comes from a sporting family of several Olympic medalists, which includes her sisters Tirunesh and Genzebe, and her cousin

Derartu Tulu Derartu Tulu NL COL ( om, Daraartuu Tulluu, Amharic: ደራርቱ ቱሉ; born 21 March 1972) is an Ethiopian former long-distance runner, who competed in track, cross country running, and road running up to the marathon distance. She won 10,0 ...

Career

Ejegayehu Dibaba is an

Ethiopian Ethiopians are the native inhabitants of Ethiopia, as well as the global diaspora of Ethiopia. Ethiopians constitute several component ethnic groups, many of which are closely related to ethnic groups in neighboring Eritrea and other parts of ...

long-distance runner from the high-altitude

Arsi Zone Arsi ( om, Godina Arsii) is a zone in Oromia Region of Ethiopia, named after a clan of the Oromo, who inhabit in the area. Arsi is bordered on the south by Bale Zone, on the southwest by the West Arsi Zone, on the northwest by East Shewa Zone, ...

of the

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 ...

. She is the third child of six. Her younger sisters Tirunesh and Genzebe are also international long-distance athletes, and brother Dejene is marked as a future star. Like her sister Tirunesh, her cousin

is a double Olympic gold medallist (1992 and 2000). Ejegayehu beat her cousin to take the silver medal in the

at the 2004 Summer Olympics, her two bronze medals at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics were behind her sister winning the gold in the final sprint. She took part in a 7 km race at the Memorial Peppe Greco in September 2010 and took second place behind Sylvia Kibet. Ejegayehu made her debut over the marathon distance at the 2011 Chicago Marathon and defeated

Kayoko Fukushi is a Japanese long-distance runner, who specializes in the 5000, 10,000 metres and marathon. Fukushi represented Japan at the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics. She was the bronze medallist in the marathon at the 2013 World Championships in ...

by 2 minutes, 29 seconds in making her marathon debut at 2:22:09, the third fastest debut time and easy win. Although she finished second, she was subsequently awarded the win in 2014 when Lilya Shobukova was subsequently disqualified for a doping scheme. See Doping in Russia for details on Shobukova's incident leading to disqualification. Ejegayehu Dibaba is 1.60 m tall and weighs 46 kg.

International competitions

Personal bests

* 3000 metres - 8:35.94 (

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

2006) * 5000 metres - 14:32.74 (

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula o ...

2004) *

- 30:18.39 ( Sollentuna 2005) *

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 ...

- 1:16:40 (

Tequila Tequila (; ) is a distilled beverage made from the blue agave plant, primarily in the area surrounding the city of Tequila northwest of Guadalajara, and in the Jaliscan Highlands ('' Los Altos de Jalisco'') of the central western Mexican s ...

2001) * Marathon - 2:22:09 ( Chicago, IL 2011)

References

External links

* 1982 births Living people Ethiopian female long-distance runners Ethiopian female marathon runners Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Ethiopia Olympic silver medalists for Ethiopia Sportspeople from Oromia Region World Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for Ethiopia Chicago Marathon female winners Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) African Games gold medalists for Ethiopia African Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2003 All-Africa Games {{Ethiopia-athletics-bio-stub