Derartu Tulu

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Oromia Region, Ethiopia)
Years active1990–2011
Height1.56 m (5 ft 1 in)[1]
Weight44 kg (97 lb)[2]
Sport
CountryEthiopia
SportAthletics
Event10,000 metres
Achievements and titles
Personal bests
, 2005)
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing  Ethiopia
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1992 Barcelona 10,000 m
Gold medal – first place 2000 Sydney 10,000 m
Bronze medal – third place 2004 Athens 10,000 m
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2001 Edmonton 10,000 m
Silver medal – second place 1995 Gothenburg 10,000 m
World Cross Country Championships
Gold medal – first place 1995 Durham Senior race
Gold medal – first place 1997 Turin Senior race
Gold medal – first place 2000 Vilamoura Senior race
President of
Ethiopian Athletic Federation
Assumed office
14 November 2018
Preceded byHaile Gebrselassie

Derartu Tulu

IAAF World Cross Country champion (1995, 1997, 2000
).

She has been serving as President of Ethiopian Athletics Federation since 2018.

Derartu comes from a sporting family of several Olympic medalists, which include her nieces Tirunesh, Genzebe and Ejegayehu Dibaba.

Life and career

Derartu Tulu grew up tending cattle in the village of Bekoji in the highlands of Arsi Province,[3] the same village as Kenenisa Bekele. She is the cousin of Ejegayehu Dibaba, Tirunesh Dibaba and Genzebe Dibaba.

Derartu is the first Ethiopian woman and the first African woman to win an Olympic

IAAF World Cross Country Championships where she won gold, having arrived at the race only an hour before the start. She was stuck in Athens airport without sleep for 24 hours.[6] The same year she lost out to Fernanda Ribeiro and won silver
at the World Championships 10,000.

The 1996 season was a difficult year for her. At the

IAAF World Cross Country Championships title for the third time. In 2001, she finally won her world 10,000 track title in Edmonton
. This was her third world or Olympic gold medal. She has a total of 5 world and Olympic medals.

Her transition to the

marathon was rewarded with victories in London and Tokyo Marathons in 2001. She finished fourth at the 2005 World Championships, setting her personal best time of 2:23:30. She also won the Portugal Half Marathon in 2000 and 2003, and Lisbon Half Marathon in 2003. In 2009, at the age of 37, she won the New York City Marathon, defeating of the likes of Paula Radcliffe,[8] Lyudmila Petrova and Salina Kosgei
.

In 2004 Derartu declined to enter the

World Record holder Paula Radcliffe, whom she has had a great rivalry with over the years,[9] and focused instead on the Olympic Games, where she won the bronze medal in the 10,000 m behind Xing Huina and her cousin Ejegayehu Dibaba
. (Radcliffe failed to finish.)

Derartu continued to run competitively in her late thirties, while most of her old rivals retired. Her last marathon finish came in 2011 in Yokohama.[10]

She is remembered for her speed and her 60.3 second-last lap at the end of the 10,000 m at the Sydney Olympics was a sprint of note.

She has been the president of the Ethiopian Athletics Federation (EAF) since 14 November 2018.

International competitions

Representing  Ethiopia
Year Competition Venue Position Event Time
1989 World Cross Country Championships Stavanger, Norway 23rd Senior woman 23:29
1990 World Cross Country Championships Aix-les-Bains, France 15th Senior woman 19:53
African Championships Cairo, Egypt 1st 3000 m 9:11.21
1st 10,000 m 33:37.82
World Junior Championships Plovdiv, Bulgaria 1st 10,000 m 32:56.26
1991 World Cross Country Championships Antwerp, Belgium 2nd Senior woman 20:27
World Championships Tokyo, Japan 21st (h) 3000 m 9:01.04
8th 10,000 m 32:16.55
1992 African Championships Belle Vue Harel, Mauritius 1st 3000 m 9:01.12
1st 10,000 m 31:32.25
World Cup Havana, Cuba 1st 3000 m 9:05.89
1st 10,000 m 33:38.97
Olympic Games Barcelona, Spain 1st 10,000 m 31:06.02
1995 World Cross Country Championships Durham, United Kingdom 1st Senior woman 20:21
World Championships Gothenburg, Sweden 2nd 10,000 m 31:08.10
1996 Olympic Games Atlanta, GA, United States 4th 10,000 m 31:10.46
1997 World Cross Country Championships Turin, Italy 1st Senior woman 20:53
World Championships Athens, Greece 24th (h) 10,000 m 33:25.99
1999 World Half Marathon Championships Palermo, Italy 14th Half marathon 1:11:33
2000 World Cross Country Championships Vilamoura, Portugal 1st Senior woman 25:42
Olympic Games Sydney, Australia 1st 10,000 m 30:17.49 OR
2001 London Marathon London, United Kingdom 1st Marathon 2:23:57
World Championships Edmonton, Canada 1st 10,000 m 31:48.81
Tokyo International Women's Marathon Tokyo, Japan 1st Marathon 2:25:08
2003 World Athletics Final Monte Carlo, Monaco 2nd 5000 m 14:56.93
2004 World Cross Country Championships Brussels, Belgium 16th Senior woman 28:39
Olympic Games Athens, Greece 3rd 10,000 m 30:26.42 SB
2005 World Half Marathon Championships Edmonton, Canada 15th Half marathon 1:12:12
World Championships Helsinki, Finland 4th Marathon 2:23:30 PB
2009 New York Marathon New York, NY, United States 1st Marathon 2:28:52

Personal life

Tulu is the aunt of the Dibaba siblings – Ejegayehu, Tirunesh and Genzebe Dibaba.[5]

Accolades

Tulu was named to the BBC's 100 Women programme in 2017.[11]

References

  1. ^ Derartu Tulu CNN.com
  2. ^ "Derartu Tulu", Eurosport, retrieved 1 August 2021
  3. ^ "Derartu TULU". Olympic.org. 13 January 2017. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
  4. ^ Robbins, Liz (2009-11-01). Tulu Wins as Radcliffe Struggles to Fourth. New York Times. Retrieved on 2016-07-02.
  5. ^ a b "Meet the Dibabas: The Fastest Family on the Planet". Vogue. 31 March 2016. Archived from the original on 3 January 2017. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  6. ^ MacKay, Duncan (2000-12-30). Cold of Consett holds no fears for Ethiopia's world-beating waif. The Guardian. Retrieved on 2016-07-02.
  7. SPIKES Magazine
    (2014-01-13). Retrieved on 2016-07-02.
  8. ^ McDougall, Christopher (4 November 2010). "Born to Run the Marathon?".
  9. ^ Marint, David (2003-09-12). Athletics: Radcliffe and Tulu to renew rivalry. The Independent. Retrieved on 2016-07-02.
  10. ^ Derartu Tulu. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-07-02.
  11. ^ "BBC 100 Women 2017: Who is on the list?". BBC News. 20 October 2017. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
  12. ^ "令和5年秋の外国人叙勲 受章者名簿" (PDF). Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. Retrieved 3 November 2023.

External links

Olympic Games
Preceded by Flagbearer for  Ethiopia
Sydney 2000
Succeeded by