Shitaye Eshete Habtegebrel (born 21 May 1990) is an

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

n-born long-distance runner who competes internationally for

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

Debut

She first began competing for the oil-rich Gulf state in 2009, making her debut at the

Asian Cross Country Championships The Asian Cross Country Championships is a biennial regional cross country running competition for athletes from Asia. It is organised by the Asian Athletics Association and was first held in 1991 in Fukuoka, Japan. The competition has been held ...

Manama Manama ( ar, المنامة ', Bahrani pronunciation: ) is the capital and largest city of Bahrain, with an approximate population of 200,000 people as of 2020. Long an important trading center in the Persian Gulf, Manama is home to a very di ...

. She won the women's junior title while team-mate Tejitu Daba, another former Ethiopian, completed a Bahraini 1–2. Her debut at the global level came shortly afterwards 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 ...

and she finished 24th in the junior race, one place behind Daba. She was entered into the 5000 metres race at the

2009 Asian Athletics Championships The 18th Asian Athletics Championships were held in Guangzhou, China in 2009. Results Men's results Track Field Women's results Track Field Medal table Participating nations * (12) * (1) * (1) * (77) * (22) * (16) * ...

in November and she came sixth.

2010–2012

Shitaye made her senior debut the following year, running at the

2010 IAAF World Cross Country Championships The 2010 IAAF World Cross Country Championships were held at Myślęcinek Park in Bydgoszcz, Poland on 28 March 2010. It was the first time in over twenty years that Poland hosted the annual championships, having previously held them in Warsaw in ...

and she was eleventh overall in the rankings, leading the Bahrain women alongside

Mimi Belete Mimi Belete Gebregeiorges (born 9 June 1988) is an Ethiopian-born middle and long-distance runner who competes internationally for Bahrain. She won the 5000 metres title at the 2010 Asian Games. She moved to Belgium as a political refugee alon ...

to ninth place in the team competition. In August she made her first appearance on the

IAAF Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fourteen of the best invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics (formerly known as the IAAF) one-day mee ...

, setting a 5000 m best of 15:25.67 minutes at the DN Galan. She was the sole representative for Asia-Pacific in that event at the

2010 IAAF Continental Cup The 1st IAAF Continental Cup was an international track and field sporting event held under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations. Originally scheduled as the 11th IAAF World Cup in Athletics, it was renamed in 200 ...

, where she was sixth. The 2010 Asian Games saw her claim her first international medal, as she took third for the bronze medal over

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 ...

behind Indian duo Preeja Sreedharan and

Kavita Raut Kavita Rahut (née ''Raut'', born 5 May 1985) is an Indian long-distance runner from Nashik, Maharashtra. She holds the current national record for 10 km road running with a timing of 34:32 as well as the current national record in the h ...

. She was one place lower than her previous position at the 2011 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, just edging into the top twelve of the women's senior race. However, she led the national team to fourth in the rankings, aided by the presence of Maryam Yusuf Jamal. She performed well on the track that year, taking the 10,000 m title at the

2011 Asian Athletics Championships The 19th Asian Athletics Championships were held in Kobe, Japan between July 7–10, 2011 at the Kobe Universiade Memorial Stadium. The tournament had 507 athletes from forty Asian nations competing in the 42 track and field events over the fou ...

, the 5000 m title at the

2011 Military World Games The 2011 Military World Games ( pt, Jogos Mundiais Militares de 2011), officially known as the 5th CISM Military World Games ( pt, V Jogos Mundiais Militares do CISM), was hosted from July 15–24, 2011 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The 5th Military ...

, and then breaking the Bahraini record with a run of 31:21.57 minutes to finish sixth in the 10,000 m final at the

2011 World Championships in Athletics The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011. The United States topped the medal standings in th ...

. She ended the year with a 5000 m bronze and 10,000 m silver at the

2011 Pan Arab Games The 2011 Pan Arab Games also known as the 12th Pan Arab Games took place in Doha, Qatar from 6 to 23 December 2011. This was the first time that the country had hosted the multi-sport event. Khalifa International Stadium was the main venue for th ...

.Athletics
. ArabGames2011. Retrieved on 2011-12-15. Shitaye began the next season indoors, setting a national record for the 3000 metres to take the title at the

2012 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships The 2012 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships was the fifth edition of the international indoor athletics event between Asian nations. It took place at the Vocational and Technical College Athletics Hall in Hangzhou, China, between 18 and 19 Febr ...

. She then finished fifth in the final of that event at the

2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics was the 14th edition of the global-level indoor track and field competition and was held between March 9–11, 2012 at the Ataköy Athletics Arena in Istanbul, Turkey. It was the first of fou ...

.Eshete Shitaye
IAAF. Retrieved on 19/11/2019 Heading outdoors, she won the women's title at the

, leading a women's sweep of the top three. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she competed in both the 5000 m and the 10000 m, finishing in 10th place and 6th place respectively, and setting a new national record in the 10000 m. The next year, 2013, she also finished 6th in the 10000 m at the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

after winning the

Asian Championship An Asian Championship is a top level international sports competition between Asian athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. List of Championships (Summer Olympic Sports) ;Aquatics * Asia ...

2014–2015

She took a career break in 2014 to have a child and returned to competition in late 2015.

2016 and onwards

She competed in the 10000 m at the 2016 Summer Olympics but was unable to finish the race. She returned to win the 10000 m race at the

Asian Championships An Asian Championship is a top level international sports competition between Asian athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. List of Championships (Summer Olympic Sports) ;Aquatics * Asia ...

in 2019.

References

External links