Habiba Ghribi () (born 9 April 1984) is a Tunisian middle- and long-distance runner who specialises in the 3000 metres steeplechase. She won the gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics, giving her country its first Olympic medal by a woman. She is also the Tunisian record holder in the event, having run 9:05.36 at the

Memorial van Damme The Memorial Van Damme is an annual athletics event at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, that takes place in late August or early September. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now the final event of the Diamond Le ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

in September 2015. Ghribi competed 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 ...

a number of times but found greater success on the track, winning a steeplechase silver at the 2006 African Championships in Athletics and a bronze in the

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athle ...

at the

2009 Mediterranean Games The 2009 Mediterranean Games, officially the XVI Mediterranean Games ( it, XVI Giochi del Mediterraneo) and commonly known as Pescara 2009, was a multi-sport event held in Pescara, Italy, from 26 June to 5 July 2009. It was governed by the Inter ...

. She represented Tunisia at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, finishing thirteenth in the first ever women's Olympic steeplechase race. In the 2016 Müller Anniversary Games, she won the women's 3000m steeplechase. She was voted the Best Sportswoman of 2009 by the

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

daily newspaper ''Assahafa''.

Career

Ghribi began 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 ...

and competed in the junior race at the 2000 IAAF World Cross Country Championships at the age of fifteen, finishing in 46th place (the second best of the Tunisian team). She competed in the senior short race in 2002, finishing in 76th. Ghribi competed at the 2002 African Championships in Athletics in Radès, Tunisia and ended up in 11th place in the 5000 metres final. Ghribi won the gold in the junior race at the 2002 Pan Arab Cross Country Championships. She also went back to the junior race in 2003 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, improving to 23rd place and heading the Tunisian team to 7th place overall. After modest finishes in the World Cross Country short race in the 2004 and 2005, she switched to focus on the 3000 m steeplechase on the track instead when it became a world championship event. Ghribi took part in her first

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 ...

at the 2005 Helsinki Championships and finished eighth in her heat, not managing to qualify for the women's final but setting a personal best and Tunisian record of 9:51.49 nevertheless. She gained her first major medal in the event the following year, taking the silver medal at the 2006 African Championships in Athletics behind world medallist

Jeruto Kiptum Jeruto Kiptum Kiptubi (born 12 December 1981) is a Kenyan middle-distance runner who specializes in the 3000 metres steeplechase. She was born in 1981 in Metkei, Keiyo District. She studied at the Singore Girls Secondary School in Iten, like ...

Ghribi's next major competition was the 2008 Beijing Olympics. This was the first time that the Olympics had held a women's steeplechase competition and she greatly improved her record to 9:25.50 in the Olympic heats, but was a little slower in the final and finished 13th overall. Ghribi competed at a number of major events in 2009, starting with her first ever long race at the

2009 IAAF World Cross Country Championships 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...

where she finished in 41st place. After this she ran in the

at the

and achieved a personal best of 4:12.37 on her way to a bronze medal. She made her second world steeplechase appearance at the

2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg ...

and further improved her best by a significant amount in the World final. Her time of 9:12.52 took her up to sixth place. Ghribi closed the year with a performance at the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Final results, but she failed to finish the race. In recognition of her achievements in 2009, Ghribi topped a poll organised by the

Arabic language Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...

daily '' Assahafa'' and was named as the "Best Sportswoman in 2009" in Tunisia. In September 2015 she ran a personal best, Tunisian national record, African record and the 4th fastest time ever of 9:05.36 at the

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. In June 2016, Ghribi was officially named the 2012 Olympic champion in the women's 3000 m steeplechase, several months after the original gold medalist, Yuliya Zaripova of Russia, was disqualified due to a doping violation. As of December 2016, Ghribi was considering legal action to recover at least $38,000 in prize money that Zaripova had received at events from which she was later disqualified.

Personal bests

*All information taken from IAAF profile.

Competition record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ghribi, Habiba 1984 births Living people Tunisian Muslims People from Kairouan Tunisian female middle-distance runners Tunisian female long-distance runners Tunisian female steeplechase runners Olympic athletes of Tunisia Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for Tunisia World Athletics Championships medalists Olympic gold medalists for Tunisia Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Mediterranean Games bronze medalists for Tunisia Athletes (track and field) at the 2009 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games medalists in athletics World Athletics Championships winners