Samuel Tsegay Tesfamriam (born 24 February 1988) is an

Eritrea Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...

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 ...

running for the Swedish track club Hälle IF and currently going through the process of acquiring

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

citizenship, who specializes in the

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 ...

and

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 ...

. As a junior, he competed in the junior races at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, finishing seventeenth in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, eighth in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

and eighth in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

. He finished fourth in the 10,000 metres at the 2006 World Junior Championships. At the

2009 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 ...

he finished sixteenth in the senior race. The Eritrean team took bronze medals in the team competition. He finished fifth at the

2009 World Half Marathon Championships The 2009 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships was held in Birmingham, United Kingdom on 11 October 2009. It was the final event of the International Association of Athletics Federations' 2009 World Athletics Series. Organisation The city of B ...

, and competed in the

at the 2009 World Championships. A fifth place at the

2010 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships The 2010 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships was held in Nanning, China on 16 October 2010. The competition took place on the city streets, beginning and ending at Wuxiang Square, with a total prize purse of US$245,000 at stake. The Kenyan ...

gained him a team

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

alongside Zersenay Tadese. He took third at the

Cross Valle de Llodio The Cross Internacional Valle de Llodio is an annual cross country running competition that takes place in Llodio in the Basque Country, Spain, around late November. The event was first held in February 1985 and changed to an end-of-year competit ...

in November behind compatriot

Teklemariam Medhin Teklemariam Medhin Weldeslassie (born 24 June 1989) is an Eritrean long-distance runner who specializes in the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres. He represented his country at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics. Running career Junior career Medhin was ...

. He ran at the

2011 IAAF World Cross Country Championships The 2011 IAAF World Cross Country Championships took place on March 20, 2011. The races were held at the Polideportivo Antonio Gil Hernández in Punta Umbría, Spain. Reports of the event were given for the IAAF. Preparation The Unite ...

but was ultimately disqualified as he and Ethiopia's Abera Kuma began fighting on the final stretch. Reflecting the history of antipathy between the nations, Tsegay accused the Ethiopian of deliberately elbowing him and standing on his heels from behind, thus he reacted by grabbing Abera's leg and threw a punch before dashing to the finish. The

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...

disqualified both athletes for their conduct. He ran a personal best of 2:07:28 hours at the Amsterdam Marathon in October that year. Although this time brought him the national record for the

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 ...

, previously held by

Yonas Kifle Yonas Andebrhan Kifle (born 5 November 1977) is an Eritrea Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its c ...

, he only finished eighth in the high calibre race. At the 2012 Egmond Half Marathon he took third place. His personal best times are 13:16.59 minutes in the 5000 metres, achieved in July 2009 in Barcelona; 28:20.96 minutes in the 10,000 metres, achieved in June 2009 in

Villeneuve-d'Ascq Villeneuve-d'Ascq (; pcd, Neuvile-Ask) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. With more than 60,000 inhabitants and 50,000 students, it is one of the main cities of the Métropole Européenne de Lille and the largest in area ( ...

; and 59:21 hours in the half marathon, achieved in March 2014 in Copenhagen.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsegay, Samuel 1988 births Living people Eritrean male long-distance runners Eritrean male marathon runners Olympic athletes for Eritrea Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Swedish Athletics Championships winners