Alemitu Bekele Degfa

Alemitu Bekele

Celebrating gold in Turin
Personal information
Nationality Turkey
Born 17 September 1977 (1977-09-17) (age 34)
Shoa, Ethiopia
Residence İstanbul, Turkey
Sport
Sport Running
Event(s) 3000 metres, 5000 metres
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)

3000m: 8:35.19

5000m: 14:42.62

Alemitu Bekele (Alemitu Bekele Degfa; born 17 September 1977) is an Ethiopian-born Turkish long-distance runner who specializes in the 5000 metres.

She was born in Shoa, Ethiopia. In the 5000 metres she finished seventh at the 2008 Olympic Games. In the 3000 metres she won the gold medal at the 2009 European Indoor Championships, and also competed at the 2008 World Indoor Championships without reaching the final round.

She set an indoor European record at the beginning of 2010: her time of 14:46.44 at the GE Galan was enough to beat Gabriela Szabo's 11-year-old mark. Despite this achievement, which made her the fifth fastest of all-time over the distance, she finished some twenty seconds adrift of winner Meseret Defar who narrowly missed the world record.[1]

She won the 5,000 meters at the 2010 European Athletics Championships in a championship-record time of 14 minutes, 52.20 seconds at Barcelona's Olympic stadium. She represented Team Europe at the 2010 IAAF Continental Cup and claimed the 3000 m silver medal behind Meseret Defar.[2] She opened her 2011 season at the Cinque Mulini and won the individual title as well as the team title for Üsküdar Belediyesi Spor Kulübü as part of the European Cross Country Club Championships.[3]

Contents

Personal bests

Distance Time Location Date
1500 m 4:02:20 Izmir, Turkey July 1, 2010
3000 m 8.35.19 Lousanne, Switzerland July 8, 2010
3000 m (indoor) 8:46:50 NR Torino, Italy March 8, 2009
5000 m 14:52:20 CR Barcelona, Spain August 1, 2010
5000 m (indoor) 14:46.44 ER Stockholm, Sweden February 10, 2010

Performance progression

Distance Season Time Location Date
1500 m 2000 4:11.28 Kavala, Greece July 2, 2000
2007 4:12.68 Istanbul, Turkey June 30, 2007
2008 4:06.32 Istanbul, Turkey June 26, 2008
2009 4:13.69 Berlin, Germany August 18, 2009
1 mile 2000 4:34.49 İstanbul, Turkey June 24, 2000
2008 4:33.46 İstanbul, Turkey June 7, 2008
3000 m 2007 8:55.51 Sofia, Bulgaria July 5, 2007
3000 m (indoor) 2009 8:56.73 Paiania, Greece February 9, 2008
2009 8:46.50 Torino, Italy March 8, 2009
5000 m 2008 15:05.85 Izmir, Turkey May 31, 2008
2009 15:18.18 Berlin, Germany August 22, 2009
2010 14:52.20 Barcelona, Spain August 1, 2010
2010 14:42.62 Stockholm, Sweden August 6, 2010

References

  1. ^ Julin, A. Lennart (2010-02-11). Another blazing 5000m run by Defar - Stockholm report. IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-02-11.
  2. ^ EVENT Report - Women's 3000 Metres. IAAF (2010-09-04). Retrieved on 2011-02-07.
  3. ^ Sampaolo, Diego (2011-02-06). Lamdassem and Bekele are triumphant in the Cinque Mulini. IAAF. Retrieved on 2011-02-06.

External links