Werknesh Kidane (; born November 21, 1981), is an Ethiopian

long distance runner Long may refer to: Measurement * Long, characteristic of something of great duration * Long, characteristic of something of great length * Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate * Longa (music), note value in early music men ...

from Tigray who competes in both

5000 5000 or ''variation'', may refer to: In general * A.D. 5000, the last year of the 5th millennium CE, an exceptional common year starting on Wednesday * 5000 BCE, a year in the 5th millennium BC * 5000s AD, a decade, century, millennium in the 6th ...

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 ra ...

. She has won numerous medals 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 ...

and represented Ethiopia at the Summer Olympics in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

, 2004 and

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

. She was the silver medallist at the

2005 World Championships in Athletics The 10th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), were held in the Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland (6 August 2005 – 14 August 2005), the site of the first IAAF ...

and a gold medallist at the 2003 IAAF World Cross Country Championships.

Biography

She was born in the historic town of Maychew, Tigray, and her first international title came at the

1999 IAAF World Cross Country Championships The 1999 IAAF World Cross Country Championships took place on 27 and 28 March 1999. The races were held at the Barnett Demesne/ Queen's University Playing Fields in Belfast, United Kingdom. Reports of the event were given in ''The New York Ti ...

where she topped the podium in the junior race. She made her Olympic debut as a teenager and came seventh in the 5000 m final at the

2000 Sydney Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

. She won the 2002

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 ...

and came second in the short race at the

2002 IAAF World Cross Country Championships The 2002 IAAF World Cross Country Championships took place on March 23/24, 2002. The races were held at the Leopardstown Racecourse, Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, near Dublin, Ireland. Reports of the event were given in ''The New York Times'', ...

. Werknesh began her 2003 season with a win at the Antrim International Cross Country and then went on to take the women's long race title at the 2003 IAAF World Cross Country Championships. She won the silver medal in the 10,000 m at the

2003 All-Africa Games The 8th All Africa Games were 5–17 October 2003 in Abuja, Nigeria. 53 countries participated in 23 sports. The main venue was the newly constructed Abuja Stadium. The organizing committee was headed by Nigerian Amos Adamu. Venues * Nation ...

, finishing behind fellow Ethiopian Ejegayehu Dibaba. Her season peaked at the

2003 World Championships in Athletics The 9th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held from 23 August to 31 August 2003 in the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, France. Men's results T ...

where she set a 10,000 m personal best of 30:07.15 minutes to secure the runner-up position behind Ethiopian veteran Berhane Adere who broke the African record for the event. The following year she came fourth in the event at the

2004 Athens Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

. She also won the long race bronze medal at the 2004 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, as well as taking fourth in the short race. She had a success campaign on the 2004/05 cross country circuit in Spain, winning in

Soria Soria () is a municipality and a Spanish city, located on the Douro river in the east of the autonomous community of Castile and León and capital of the province of Soria. Its population is 38,881 ( INE, 2017), 43.7% of the provincial populati ...

, Valle de Llodio and

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

. At the 2005 IAAF World Cross Country Championships she took second place in the short race and third in the long race, taking the team titles with

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 medal ...

in both races. She took part in the

but could not repeat her podium feat of two years earlier, finishing in sixth in the 10,000 m. Werknesh returned to international competition after a long break 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 came in ninth place in the senior race. She made her first top-level road race attempt at the 2010 Great Manchester Run and won with a personal best time of 32:31 minutes. She ran at the NYRR New York Mini 10K in June 2010, and finished in third place behind Kenyans Linet Masai and Emily Chebet. She continued on the US road circuit with a performance at the

Philadelphia Half Marathon The Philadelphia Distanced Run is an annual half marathon road running event which takes place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States on the third Sunday of September. The competition was established in 1978 as the Philadelphia Distan ...

, where she was third in a time of 1:08:30. She made her marathon debut in the 2011 Boston Marathon, where she placed seventh with a time of 2:26:15. The following year she ran at the Carlsbad 5000 and was runner-up behind

. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she finished fourth in the 10,000m again. She was a late entry at the Carlsbad 5000 in 2015 (wearing the name "Werky" on her bib), representing Adidas, and placed 11th with a time of 16:00 flat. She lives in USA since becoming a US resident. Her parents live in Axum, Tigray. She stands 1.58 m / 5'2" tall and is coached by Kassu Alemayehu and Dr Woldemeskel Kostre when she is running for the Ethiopian National Team. Her manager is

Mark Wetmore Mark Wetmore (born June 29, 1953) is an American cross country and track coach who specializes in middle-distance and long-distance running. He began his collegiate coaching career when he was accepted as a volunteer assistant coach at the Univer ...

of Global Athletics & Marketing. Werknesh is married to Gebregziabher Gebremariam.

References

External links

*
Profile at Athens 2004 games

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kidane, Werknesh 1981 births Living people Sportspeople from Tigray Region Ethiopian female long-distance runners Ethiopian female marathon runners Olympic athletes for Ethiopia Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for Ethiopia World Athletics Championships medalists World Athletics Cross Country Championships winners African Games silver medalists for Ethiopia African Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2003 All-Africa Games 20th-century Ethiopian women 21st-century Ethiopian women