Meseret Defar Tola (

Amharic Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amhara people, and also serves as a lingua franca for all other metropolitan populati ...

: መሠረት ደፋር; born 19 November 1983) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who competes chiefly in the 3,000 metres and 5,000 metres events. She has won medals at top-tier international competitions including Olympic and

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 ...

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s over 5,000 metres. She broke the

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

in the event in 2006, broke it again in 2007 and held it until 2008, when fellow Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba beat her time. In 2007 on a track in Brussels Belgium, she became the only woman with a 2-mile run in less than 9 minutes (8:58.58). This was an improvement on the world record by 11 seconds. Defar has been successful in the 5,000 m at the Olympic Games, taking gold at the 2012 London Olympics and 2004 Athens Olympics and

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She has experienced similar success in the World Championships, taking

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

in the 2005 Helsinki Championships and gold at the 2007 Osaka Championships. Defar held the indoor records for the 5000 metres, 3,000 metres and two-mile run. She has dominated the 3,000 m indoor event, winning four consecutive gold medals at the IAAF World Indoor Championships from 2004 to 2010. She is also a two-time champion at the All-Africa Games, a four-time medalist at the

African Championships An African Championship is a top level international sports competition between Africa, African athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports club, sports clubs. List of championships ;Athletics * African ...

and a two-time gold medalist at the World Junior Championships. Defar took a break from competition in 2014 in order to start a family. She vowed to return by 2015 although she did not compete in the August World Championships in Beijing.

Career

Olympics

Defar won the 5,000 metres gold medal at the inaugural Afro-Asian Games in 2003. She won gold medals in the women's 5,000 metres at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

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with a time of 14:45.65 and 5,000 metres at the

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

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. She also won a bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which was upgraded to a silver medal after the disqualification of Turkish athlete Elvan Abeylegesse.

World Records

On 3 June 2006 she ran the 5,000 metres in New York City in a then-world record time of 14:24.53 – she subsequently improved the record to 14:16.63 at the

Bislett Games The Bislett Games is an annual track and field meeting at the Bislett Stadium in Oslo, Norway. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now part of the Diamond League. History The first international athletics meeting at Bislett ...

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on 15 June 2007. On 3 February 2007 she ran the 3,000 metres indoor in Stuttgart (Germany) in a world record time of 8:23.72. On 20 May 2007 she ran the 2 mile in Carson, California in a world best time of 9:10.47. On 1 September 2007 she won gold in 14:57.91 at 5,000 m at the 2007 World Championships in

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

, to go along with her Olympic victory and world record. On 14 September 2007, she set a world best (8:58.58) in the women's at the Van Damme Memorial meet, shaving 11.89 seconds off the 9:10.47 mark she set in May at Carson, California. Also in 2007, Defar won the female IAAF World Athlete of the Year award.

World Championships

She won a silver medal at the 2005 World Championships in

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, losing only to Tirunesh Dibaba. In 2006, she won the World Indoor Championships over 3000 metres, defending her title from the

2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 10th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) were held in the Budapest Arena, Hungary between March 5 and March 7, 2004. A total off 139 countries were r ...

. In the Reebok Boston Indoor meeting of January 2008, Defar ran a time of 9:10.50 in the two-mile (3.2 km) event to establish a new two-mile indoor world best time, breaking the previous indoor best by over twelve seconds. Defar won her third consecutive World Indoor gold medal in the 3000 m at the 2008 World Indoor Championships in Athletics. At the 2008 African Championships in Athletics, Defar was defeated in the 5000 m by compatriot

Meselech Melkamu Meselech Melkamu (born 19 April 1985) is an Ethiopian Long-distance track event, long-distance runner. She defeated Meseret Defar to win the 5000 metres gold medal at the 2008 African Championships in Athletics, 2008 African Athletics Championshi ...

. At the 2008

, Defar's 5000 m world record was broken by Tirunesh Dibaba. She took a 3000/5000 m double at the 2008 World Athletics Final. Defar began the 2009 athletics season by improving upon her personal bests, setting a new 5000 m world indoor record of 14:24.37 and an indoor world best over two miles (3.2 km) with a 9:06.26 run. She competed in the 10,000 metres event at the British national trials in July, attempting to take a spot on the Ethiopian team at the

2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15 to 23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenbu ...

. In spite of the wet and windy conditions, she ran a personal best of 29:59.20 minutes – breaking

Paula Radcliffe Paula Jane Radcliffe Order of the British Empire, MBE (born 17 December 1973) is a British former long-distance runner. She is a three-time winner of the London Marathon (2002, 2003, 2005), three-time New York Marathon champion (2004, 2007, 200 ...

's UK all-comers’ record, becoming the fifth woman to run sub-30 minutes, and earning qualification for the Championships in the process. In Berlin, Meseret was leading the 2009 World Championships in Athletics – Women's 10,000 metres until the last 50 metres when her legs appeared to dramatically tie up, handing the gold medal to Kenya's Linet Masai and was passed by three other athletes, finishing with a time of 30:52.37. She then ran in the 2009 World Championships in Athletics – Women's 5000 metres final and was leading at the top of the home straight, but was passed by two Kenyan with metres to go, Vivian Cheruiyot and Sylvia Kibet. She went on to beat both athletes in the 3000 m at the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Final a month later, setting a world leading time of 8:30.15 in the process. Rebounding from her bronze medal championship performance, she scored a fourth straight gold medal in the 3000 m at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships. Moving on to the road circuit, she won her third title at the Carlsbad 5000, although her time of 15:04 did not trouble her own course record. At the 2010 African Championships in Athletics, she represented Ethiopia in the 5000 m and won the silver medal behind Vivian Cheruiyot. SHe won the 3000 m gold at the 2010 IAAF Continental Cup a month later. She made her half marathon debut at the Rock 'n' Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon and succeeded first time, winning in a time of 1:07:44. This mark improved upon Berhane Adere's fastest time on American soil for the distance and was the fifth fastest ever debut. At the beginning of 2011 she made a world record attempt for the indoor 3000 m and came just short with a run of 8:36.91 minutes. She was dominant on the outdoor circuit, taking 5000 m wins at the FBK Games,

and Meeting Areva. Her win streak ended 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 the ...

, where she first dropped out of the 10,000 m then was beaten by Vivian Cheruiyot and Sylvia Kibet in the 5000 m, ending up with the bronze medal. 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 fo ...

she aimed for a fifth straight title and was leading until the last 100 m, at which point she fell behind Hellen Obiri and finished the race as runner-up. A haul of second-place finishes followed in the outdoor season, as she came runner-up to Cheruiyot twice and fellow Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba. In spite of this, when it came to the 5000 m final at the 2012 London Olympics she outran both her rivals to claim her second Olympic title over the distance. She began her indoor track season in 2013 with a 3000 m win in 8:35.28 minutes. Later than month she ran a half marathon best of 67:25 minutes to break the course record at the New Orleans Half Marathon. She won her second world title in the 5000m

2013 World Championships in Athletics The 14th IAAF World Championships in Athletics (Moscow 2013; ) was an international athletics (sport), athletics competition held in Moscow, Russia, from 10 to 18 August 2013. Initially, Russia at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics, Russia ...

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

in a time of 14:50:19. She won the race by staying close to the front, but without taking the lead before pulling away with 200m left.

Personal bests

*All information taken from IAAF profile.

Personal life

Defar is a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

who is a part of the

Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church () is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. One of the few Christian churches in Africa originating before European colonization of the continent, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church dates bac ...

who exhibited her religious beliefs publicly, when celebrating her 5000 meter win at 2012 Olympics by revealing and venerating an

icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic Church, Catholic, and Lutheranism, Lutheran churches. The most common subjects include Jesus, Mary, mother of ...

of Mary and Baby Jesus.

References

External links

*
Meseret Defar's Global Athletics profileVideo Interview of Meseret Defar before and after 2007 IAAF World Championships 5000m
{{DEFAULTSORT:Defar, Meseret 1983 births Living people Athletes from Addis Ababa Ethiopian Orthodox Christians Ethiopian female long-distance runners Olympic athletes for Ethiopia Olympic gold medalists for Ethiopia Olympic silver medalists for Ethiopia Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for Ethiopia World Athletics Championships medalists World record holders in athletics (track and field) Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) African Games gold medalists for Ethiopia African Games gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Track & Field News Athlete of the Year winners Athletes (track and field) at the 2003 All-Africa Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2007 All-Africa Games Diamond League winners World Athletics Indoor Championships winners IAAF Continental Cup winners World Athletics Championships winners IAAF World Athletics Final winners