Ethiopian precious athletes

Haile Gebre Selassie, world champion and Olympic champion, has broken more than 22 world records. He currently holds the 20-kilometer world record.

Kenenisa Bekele, world champion, world cross country champion, and Olympic champion, holds the 5,000 and 10,000 meter world records.

Derartu Tulu was the first woman from Africa to win an Olympic gold medal in the 10,000-meter event at Barcelona.

Abebe Bikila won the Olympic marathon in 1960 and 1964, setting world records both times. He is well known for winning the 1960 marathon in Rome while running barefoot.

Miruts Yifter, the first in a tradition of Ethiopia known for brilliant finishing speed, won gold medals in the 5,000 and 10,000-meter events at the Moscow Olympics in 1980. He was the last man to achieve this feat.

Fatuma Roba was the first Ethiopian athlete ever to win an Olympic marathon in 1996.

Tirunesh Dibaba won the 5,000-meter race in Paris, France, at the age of 17.

Abebe Bikila

He was a famous Ethiopian who was born in 1932. After joining the army at 19, he started running in 1956. His coach, Onni Niskanen, was Swedish. Training at altitudes well above 2000 meters served Abebe well. In 1960, Abebe proved to be the most famous Ethiopian runner of all time in Rome.

He won the Olympic marathon race barefoot in 2 hours, 16 minutes, and 2 seconds. Four years later, he repeated his success at the Tokyo Olympics. This time, the world record was his alone. His time of 2 hours, 15 minutes, and 16.2 seconds was more than four minutes ahead of second-place Basil Healthy of Great Britain.

Usually, Abebe runs this race only six weeks after having an appendix operation. However, being a man of talent and purpose, Abebe had done a series of rigorous exercises to beat all the other runners. Abebe was also the first man to win two Olympic marathons, one after the other.

Abebe tried to achieve a third success at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. After only 10 miles, a leg injury forced him out. The victory went to another fine Ethiopian competitor, Mamo Wolde.

The following year, Abebe Bikila’s marathon career was over. He was crippled in a car crash and was confined to a wheel chair. However, by taking up archery, he completed several games. Abebe died on October 25, 1973.

Selamta, vol. 8, Nol. (1991)

Tirunesh Dibaba

Tirunesh Dibaba

She is a long-distance runner. She is known as the Frying Princess. She was born in Arsi, but she lives and trains in Addis Ababa. She often runs and trains with her sister, Ejegayehu. Her sister is also a long-distance runner.

She became a famous Ethiopian by doing something that no other Ethiopian runner had ever done. At the age of 17, she won the 5,000-meter race in Paris, France, at the 9th World Championships. She became the youngest world champion at that time.

At the 10th World Championship in Helsinki, she again did what no other man or woman had done before. She won both the 5,000-meter race and the 10,000-meter race. The Flying Princess, Trunesh Dibaba, is a famous Ethiopian woman.

Do you know of any long-distance female runners?

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Derartu Tulu

Derartu Tulu, a member of the Oromo ethnic group, was born in 1969 in the village of Arsi in central Ethiopia as the seventh child in a family of 10 children. She grew up fending cattle in the Arsi Highlands. She did not realize that she was an extremely fast runner until the age of 16.

Derartu’s first significant win came in a 400-meter race at her school, where she outran the school’s star male athlete. This, along with a win in an 800-meter race in her district, convincingly put her on a path to a successful career in athletics.

Derartu became the first black African woman to win an Olympic medal. She won her first gold medal in the 1992 Olympic Games in the 10,000-meter event in Barcelona, Spain, and her second in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, also in the 10,000-meter event. In 2004, she won a bronze medal in the Athens, Greece, Olympic Games. In addition, she has won several marathons and cross-country events.

Marathon Winnner

Fatuma Roba is a famous Ethiopian female athlete. She is famous for working very hard to accomplish greatness. Fatuma Roba was born in Arsi. She had many brothers and sisters. In her childhood, Fatuma Roba dreamed of being a famous runner. She came to Addis Ababa to train.

Fatuma Roba was the first Ethiopian athlete ever to win a marathon. In 1996, she became the first African woman ever to win an Olympic marathon. She won that marathon in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Later, she became the first African woman to win the Boston Marathon in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.