Erba Tiki Gelana ( am, ኧርባ ቲኪ ገላና; born 22 October 1987) is an Ethiopian professional

long-distance runner Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely Aerobic exercise, aerobic in nature and requires endurance, stamina as well as mental strength. Within e ...

who competes in

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

races. Her personal best of 2:18:58 had been the Ethiopian national record for the event from 2012 to 2017. She won the 2011

Amsterdam Marathon The Amsterdam Marathon (branded TCS Amsterdam Marathon for sponsorship reasons) is an annual marathon (42.195 km) in Amsterdam in the Netherlands since 1975. The road race has a Platinum Label from World Athletics. During the event, there a ...

and the 2012

Rotterdam Marathon The Rotterdam Marathon, currently branded NN Rotterdam Marathon, is an annual marathon that has been held in Rotterdam, Netherlands since 1981. It has been held in April every year since the third edition in 1984 and attracts many top athletes. ...

. She won the gold medal at the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

with a time of 2:23:07, a new

Olympic record Olympic records are the best performances in a specific event in that event's history in either the Summer Olympic Games or the Winter Olympic Games, including: * Archery (list) * Alpine skiing (records recognized only by FIS) * Athletics (list) ...

Biography

A cousin of 2000 Olympic marathon champion

Gezahegne Abera Gezahegne Abera ( Amharic: ገዛሄኘ አበራ; born April 23, 1978) is an Ethiopian athlete, winner of the marathon race at the 2000 Summer Olympics. Born in Etya, Arsi Province, Gezahegne's first international competition was the ...

, Tiki was born in

Jijiga Jijiga (, am, ጅጅጋ, ''Jijiga'') is the capital city of Somali Region, Ethiopia. It became the capital of the Somali Region in 1995 after it was moved from Gode. Located in the Fafan Zone with 70 km (37 mi) west of the border ...

, a town renowned for producing top runners. She began competing in road races in Ethiopia and came fourth at the 2004

Great Ethiopian Run The Great Ethiopian Run ( am, ታላቁ ሩጫ በኢትዮጵያ) is an annual 10-kilometre road running event which takes place in late November in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Overview The competition was first envisioned by neighbors Ethiopian runn ...

. She went to

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

in Spain in 2006 and made her debut over the

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 shortcu ...

distance, including wins in

Mataró Mataró () is the capital and largest town of the ''comarca'' of the Maresme, in the province of Barcelona, Catalonia Autonomous Community, Spain. It is located on the Costa del Maresme, to the south of Costa Brava, between Cabrera de Mar and Sa ...

and

Terrassa Terrassa (, es, Tarrasa) is a city in the east central region of Catalonia, Spain, in the province of Barcelona, ''comarca'' of Vallès Occidental, of which it is the co-capital along with Sabadell. The name ''Terrassa'' derives from Latin ' ...

. She won the San Silvestre Barcelonesa 10K race at the end of the year. She travelled to Japan in 2007 and won the 10K at the

Sanyo Road Race The Sanyo Women's Half Marathon, also known as the Sanyo Women's Road Race ( ja, 山陽女子ロードレース), is an annual road running competition for women held in December in Okayama, Japan. It features both a 10K run and half marathon race ...

– her time of 31:54 minutes made her the third fastest Ethiopian that year. She won the 2008 Women First 5K in

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...

in March, then came fourth at the high-profile

World 10K Bangalore The World 10K Bengaluru (known as the TCS World 10K Bengaluru for sponsorship reasons by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)) is an annual 10 kilometres road running competition which takes place in Bangalore, India. The competition was first ...

in May. She debuted on the European

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

circuit that summer and set a

5000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a stan ...

best of 15:17.74 minutes at the

Internationales Stadionfest The Internationales Stadionfest (ISTAF) is an annual track and field athletics meeting at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany. It was first held in July 1921 at the Deutsches Stadion, which was replaced from 1937 by the Stadium of the 1936 Ol ...

and a

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 race ...

best of 31:27.80 minutes at the

Ostrava Golden Spike Golden Spike ( cz, Zlatá tretra) is an annual athletics event at the Městský Stadion in Ostrava- Vítkovice, Czech Republic as part of the IAAF World Challenge Meetings. It was first organized in 1961. The history of the meeting was interru ...

. In late 2008, she took sixth place at the

Delhi Half Marathon Airtel Delhi Half Marathon (ADHM) is an annual half marathon foot-race held in New Delhi, India. Established in 2005, it is both an elite runner and mass participation event. It is an AIMS-certified course and is listed as a Gold Label Road Rac ...

with a time of 1:10:22 hours, but she was two minutes slower at the 2009

RAK Half Marathon Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon is an annual half marathon held in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. History The first event, in 2007, saw Samuel Wanjiru breaking the world record, but Wanjiru himself set a new world record only a month later in ...

, finishing 16th. but managed second place behind Abebu Gelan at the

Virginia Beach Half Marathon The Rock 'n' Roll Virginia Beach Half Marathon was an annual half marathon road running event which took place in Virginia Beach, United States, on the first Sunday of September between the years of 2001 and 2021. Owned and organized by the IRONM ...

in her American debut. Her

debut followed in October at the

Dublin Marathon The Dublin Marathon is an annual 26.2 mile (42.2 km) road marathon in Dublin, Ireland, held on the last Sunday in October. Prior to 2016, the race took place on the last Monday in October, which is a public holiday in Ireland. Held each yea ...

and in a close finish she took third place on the podium. In 2010, she came fourth at both the

Los Angeles Marathon The Los Angeles Marathon (formerly known as the City of Los Angeles Marathon) is an annual running event typically held each spring in Los Angeles, California, since 1986. The marathon was inspired by the success of the 1984 Summer Olympic Ga ...

and the Dublin Marathon, although she improved her best to 2:29:53 hours. The 2011

marked a breakthrough for Tiki as she won the race in a time of 2:22:08 hours – almost eight minutes faster than her previous best and an improvement upon

Gete Wami Getenesh "Gete" Wami Degife (Amharic: ጌጤነሽ 'ጌጤ' ዋሚ ደግፌ born December 11, 1974 in Debre Berhan) is an Ethiopian former long-distance runner who competed in cross country, track, and road events. Her brother, Mulugeta Wami ...

's nine-year-old course record. At the end of that year she returned to Ethiopia, where she came runner-up at the Great Ethiopian Run and third at the Ethiopian Clubs Cross Country Championships. She improved her personal best at the

Kagawa Marugame Half Marathon The is an annual road running competition which takes place in early February in Marugame, Japan. It currently holds IAAF Silver Label Road Race status and the professional races attract over 1000 entries each year,Ota, Shigenobu (2009-02-02)Mar ...

in February 2012, going unchallenged to win the race in 1:08:48 hours. She broke the Ethiopian record at the 2012

, completing a solo run of 2:18:58 hours to win the race almost five minutes ahead of runner-up

Valeria Straneo Valeria Straneo (born 5 April 1976) is an Italian long-distance runner, winner of the silver medal at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics and Italian record holder in the marathon. She won the Stramilano in 2011 and bettered the half ma ...

. This made her the fourth fastest woman ever over the distance. She was selected to represent Ethiopia in the Olympic marathon as a result. At the

London 2012 Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

she won the gold medal at the marathon with an

time of 2:23:07 hours, in spite of rain throughout the race and a fall at the water station. After the Olympics she ran a personal best for the half marathon, recording 1:07:48 for third at the

Great North Run The Great North Run (branded the Simplyhealth Great North Run for sponsorship purposes) is the largest half marathon in the world, taking place annually in North East England each September. Participants run between Newcastle upon Tyne and Sou ...

, then ran a 15 km best of 48:09 minutes at the

Zevenheuvelenloop Zevenheuvelenloop (''Seven Hills Run'' in English) is an annual 15 kilometres road running race held in Nijmegen, Netherlands. It was first organised in 1984 and has grown to be one of the largest road races in the Netherlands;van Hemert, Wim & T ...

(finishing behind Olympic 10,000 m champion

Tirunesh Dibaba Tirunesh Dibaba ( om, Xirunesh Dibaabaa, Amharic: ጥሩነሽ ዲባባ ቀነኒ; born 1 June 1985) is an Ethiopian athlete who competed in long-distance track events and international road races. She has won three Olympic track gold medals, ...

at both races). She was chosen at the AIMS World Athlete of the Year Award for her performances that year. In her first outing of 2013 she held off Kim Smith to defend her Marugame Half Marathon title. Competing in the

2013 London Marathon The 2013 London Marathon was the 33rd running of the annual marathon race in London, England, which took place on Sunday, 21 April. The men's elite race was won by Ethiopia's Tsegaye Kebede and the women's race was won by Kenyan Priscah Jeptoo ...

, Gelana was knocked to the ground in a collision with wheelchair racer Josh Cassidy at the 15 km feeding station. Although able to resume, she dropped off the lead pace in the second half of the race and finished in 16th place in a time of 2:36:55 hours. The incident prompted London Marathon organisers to alter starting arrangements for the 2014 edition to allow wheelchair athletes to start ahead of the women's race. Gelana was selected for the Ethiopian team to contest the marathon at the 2013 world championships in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, but dropped out of the race held in hot and humid conditions after just 5 km. Her early withdrawal, together with that of teammate

Meseret Hailu Meseret Hailu Debele (born 12 September 1990) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who competes in half marathons and marathons. She was the gold medallist at the 2012 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships and won the Amsterdam Marathon that same ...

, prompted the Ethiopian Athletics Federation to ask the pair to submit written explanations for their actions. Returning to the London Marathon in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, Gelana finished in ninth place in a time of 2:26:58 hours, over six minutes behind winner

Edna Kiplagat Edna Ngeringwony Kiplagat (born 15 November 1979) is a Kenyan professional long-distance runner. She was the 2011 and 2013 World Champion in the marathon. She established herself as an elite marathon runner with wins at the Los Angeles and New ...

Personal bests

– 31:27.80 min (2008) *10 km road – 31:54 min (2007) *15 km road - 48:09 min (2012) *Half marathon – 1:08:48 hours (2012) *Marathon – 2:18:58 hours (2012)

Road race wins

: 2011 * Kagawa-Marugame Half Marathon: 2012, 2013 *

: 2012 *

Olympic marathon The marathon at the Summer Olympics is the only road running event held at the multi-sport event. The men's marathon has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since 1896. Nearly ninety years later, the women's event was added to the pro ...

: 2012

References

External links

* __NOTOC__ {{DEFAULTSORT:Tiki Gelana Living people 1987 births Sportspeople from Oromia Region Ethiopian female long-distance runners Ethiopian female marathon runners Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Ethiopia Olympic gold medalists for Ethiopia Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Recipients of the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races Best Marathon Runner Award 21st-century Ethiopian women