Hala Gezah (born September 17, 1989 in

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

) is a

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...

n sprinter. She competed in the

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in

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 ...

. She was the only female athlete to compete for Libya at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Early life

When she was a child, her father, a football player, encouraged her to be an athlete. She practices the

Islamic faith Faith, derived from Latin ''fides'' and Old French ''feid'', is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or In the context of religion, one can define faith as "belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". Religious people oft ...

. Gezah's athletic training was interrupted after the dictator of Libya, Muammar Gaddafi, was overthrown. The political change interrupted communication with a local athletic federation and left the

Libyan Olympic Committee Libyan Olympic Committee ( ar, اللجنة الاولمبية الليبية) is the National Olympic Committee representing Libya. See also * Libya at the Olympics External links Official website(in Arabic)Libya (IOC) {{ANOCA Libya Olympic ...

without funds. Aside from training as a runner, Gezah also studied science.

Career

Gezah only participated in one competition in 2012 prior to the Olympic games. Her result at the biennial African athletics championships in Benin was not enough to qualify for the Olympic games. Gezah was the only Libyan woman to compete at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Because the International Olympic Committee encourages participation from many countries, Libya was able to send one athlete in athletics and chose Gezah. She was one of only four Libyan athletes to compete in the 2012 Summer Olympics and the only female Libyan athlete to compete. On August 3, 2012, she ran the preliminaries for the women's 100 metres in 13.24 seconds, placing 23 out of 33 wildcard participants, which did not qualify her for Round 1. Her personal best recorded times in competition are 13.15 seconds in the 100 metres and 27.32 seconds in the 200 metres. Both results were recorded at

Porto Novo Porto-Novo (Portuguese: "New Port", , ; yo, Àjàṣẹ́, ), also known as Hogbonu and Ajashe, is the capital of Benin. The commune covers an area of and as of 2002 had a population of 223,552 people. Situated on an inlet of the Gulf of G ...

on 27 June 2012 and 30 June 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gezah, Hala 1989 births Living people Libyan female sprinters Olympic athletes for Libya Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Tripoli, Libya Olympic female sprinters