Dejene Berhanu

Dejene Berhanu (December 12, 1980 – August 29, 2010^[1]) was a male Ethiopian runner, who specialized in the 5000 metres.

Berhanu finished 11th in the short race at the 2004 World Cross Country Championships and 5th in the 5000 at the Athens Olympics. He followed that up with a pair of strong finishes at the World Cross Country Championships the next year. Berhanu was 7th in the short race and 6th in the long race. He ran in the 5000 again at the World Championships at Helsinki, finishing 8th.

In 2006, Berhanu turned to focus on the marathon. He eschewed cross country for the Rotterdam Marathon, where he finished fourth in a time of 2:08:46. He ran the Chicago Marathon in the fall as a last-minute replacement for favourite Felix Limo. Running with the leaders through the halfway mark in a blistering 63:15, Berhanu faded after 30 km and finished 9th in a time of 2:12:27.

Death

Berhanu died August 29, 2010 in Ethiopia, at age 29. The cause of death was suicide.^[2]

Achievements

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
Representing  Ethiopia
2000	African Championships	Algiers, Algeria	2nd	10,000 m
2003	All-Africa Games	Abuja, Nigeria	3rd	10,000 m
	World Athletics Final	Monte Carlo, Monaco	6th	5000 m
2004	World Cross Country Championships	Brussels, Belgium	11th	Short race
	Olympic Games	Athens, Greece	5th	5000 m
	World Athletics Final	Monte Carlo, Monaco	2nd	5000 m
2005	World Cross Country Championships	Saint-Galmier, France	7th	Short race
	World Cross Country Championships	Saint-Galmier, France	6th	Long race
	World Championships	Helsinki, Finland	8th	5000 m
2007	World Championships	Osaka, Japan	31st	Marathon	2:27:50

Personal bests

• 3000 metres – 8:06.56 (2002)
• 5000 metres – 12:54.15 (2004)
• 10,000 metres – 27:12.22 (2005)
• Marathon – 2:08:46 (2006)

References

• Dejene Berhanu profile at IAAF
• sports-reference
• marathoninfo

Sporting positions
Preceded by Hendrick Ramaala	Men's Half Marathon Best Year Performance 2004	Succeeded by Zersenay Tadese