Meseret defar biography template

Meseret Defar

Ethiopian long-distance runner (born )

Meseret Defar Tola (Amharic: መሠረት ደፋር; born 19 November ) is an Ethiopian long-distancerunner who competes chiefly in the 3, metres and 5, metres events. She has won medals at top-tier international competitions including Olympic and World Championshipgold medals over 5, metres.

She broke the world record in the event in , broke it again in and held it until , when fellow Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba beat her time.

In on a track in Brussels Belgium, she became the only woman with a 2-mile run in less than 9 minutes (). This was an improvement on the world record by 11 seconds.[4]

Defar has been successful in the 5, m at the Olympic Games, taking gold at the London Olympics and Athens Olympics and bronze at the Beijing Olympics.

She has experienced similar success in the World Championships, taking silver in the Helsinki Championships and gold at the Osaka Championships.

She broke the world record in the event in , broke it again in and held it until , when fellow Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba beat her time. At the beginning of she made a world record attempt for the indoor m and came just short with a run of On 20 May she ran the 2 mile in Carson, California in a world best time of In addition to her achievements on the track, Meseret Defar is also known for her philanthropic work and dedication to giving back to her community.

Defar held the indoor records for the metres, 3, metres and two-mile run. She has dominated the 3, m indoor event, winning four consecutive gold medals at the IAAF World Indoor Championships from to She is also a two-time champion at the All-Africa Games, a four-time medalist at the African Championships and a two-time gold medalist at the World Junior Championships.

Defar took a break from competition in in order to start a family. She vowed to return by although she did not compete in the August World Championships in Beijing.[5]

Career

Olympics

Defar won the 5, metres gold medal at the inaugural Afro-Asian Games in She won gold medals in the women's 5, metres at the Summer Olympics in Athens with a time of and 5, metres at the Summer Olympics in London.

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

World Records

On 3 June she ran the 5, metres in New York City in a then-world record time of – she subsequently improved the record to at the Bislett Games in Oslo on 15 June On 3 February she ran the 3, metres indoor in Stuttgart (Germany) in a world record time of On 20 May she ran the 2 mile in Carson, California in a world best time of [6] On 1 September she won gold in at 5, m at the World Championships in Osaka, to go along with her Olympic victory and world record.[7][8] On 14 September , she set a world best () in the women's 2-mile (&#;km) at the Van Damme Memorial meet, shaving seconds off the mark she set in May at Carson, California.[9] Also in , Defar won the female IAAF World Athlete of the Year award.[10]

World Championships

She won a silver medal at the World Championships in Helsinki, losing only to Tirunesh Dibaba.

In , she won the World Indoor Championships over metres, defending her title from the IAAF World Indoor Championships. In the Reebok Boston Indoor meeting of January , Defar ran a time of in the two-mile (&#;km) event to establish a new two-mile indoor world best time, breaking the previous indoor best by over twelve seconds.[11] Defar won her third consecutive World Indoor gold medal in the &#;m at the World Indoor Championships in Athletics.

At the African Championships in Athletics, Defar was defeated in the m by compatriot Meselech Melkamu. At the Bislett Games, Defar's m world record was broken by Tirunesh Dibaba. She took a /&#;m double at the World Athletics Final. Defar began the athletics season by improving upon her personal bests, setting a new m world indoor record of and an indoor world best over two miles (&#;km) with a run.[12] She competed in the 10, metres event at the British national trials in July, attempting to take a spot on the Ethiopian team at the World Championships in Athletics.

In spite of the wet and windy conditions, she ran a personal best of &#;minutes – breaking Paula Radcliffe's UK all-comers’ record, becoming the fifth woman to run sub minutes, and earning qualification for the Championships in the process.[13]

In Berlin, Meseret was leading the World Championships in Athletics – Women's 10, 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 She then ran in the World Championships in Athletics – Women's 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.

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She went on to beat both athletes in the &#;m at the IAAF World Athletics Final a month later, setting a world leading time of in the process.

Rebounding from her bronze medal championship performance, she scored a fourth straight gold medal in the &#;m at the IAAF World Indoor Championships. Moving on to the road circuit, she won her third title at the Carlsbad , although her time of did not trouble her own course record.[14] At the African Championships in Athletics, she represented Ethiopia in the &#;m and won the silver medal behind Vivian Cheruiyot.

SHe won the &#;m gold at the 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 This mark improved upon Berhane Adere's fastest time on American soil for the distance and was the fifth fastest ever debut.[15]

At the beginning of she made a world record attempt for the indoor &#;m and came just short with a run of minutes.[16] She was dominant on the outdoor circuit, taking &#;m wins at the FBK Games, Bislett Games and Meeting Areva.

Her win streak ended at the World Championships in Athletics, where she first dropped out of the 10,&#;m then was beaten by Vivian Cheruiyot and Sylvia Kibet in the &#;m, ending up with the bronze medal.[17]

At the IAAF World Indoor Championships she aimed for a fifth straight title and was leading until the last &#;m, at which point she fell behind Hellen Obiri and finished the race as runner-up.[18] A haul of second-place finishes followed in the outdoor season, as she came runner-up to Cheruiyot twice and fellow Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba.[17][19] In spite of this, when it came to the &#;m final at the London Olympics she outran both her rivals to claim her second Olympic title over the distance.[20]

She began her indoor track season in with a &#;m win in minutes.[21] Later than month she ran a half marathon best of minutes to break the course record at the New Orleans Half Marathon.[22]

She won her second world title in the m World Championships in Athletics in Moscow in a time of She won the race by staying close to the front, but without taking the lead before pulling away with m left.

Personal bests

Type Event Time Date Place Notes
Outdoor metres12 June New York City, New York, United States
metres8 June Eugene, Oregon, United States
metres+14 September Brussels, Belgium
Two miles14 September Brussels, BelgiumWorld Record
metres22 July Stockholm, Sweden
10, metres11 July Birmingham, England
10&#;km (road)25 February San Juan, Puerto Rico
Half marathon (road) a15 September South Shields, United Kingdom
24 February New Orleans, United States
Marathon (road)10 March Nagoya, Japan
Indoor metres2 February Brussels, Belgium
Two miles26 February Prague, Czech Republic
metres18 February Stockholm, Sweden
  • All information taken from IAAF profile.

Personal life

Defar is a Christian and who is apart of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church who exhibited her religious beliefs publicly, when celebrating her meter win at Olympics by revealing and venerating an icon of Mary and Baby Jesus.[23][24]

See also

References

  1. ^"Meseret Defar".

    . International Association of Athletics Federations. Retrieved 9 February

  2. ^"Meseret Defar".

    She is also a two-time champion at the All-Africa Games, a four-time medallist at the African Championships and a two-time gold medallist at the World Junior Championships. Philanthropic Work and Giving Back to Community In addition to her achievements on the track, Meseret Defar is also known for her philanthropic work and dedication to giving back to her community. International Association of Athletics Federations. A haul of second-place finishes followed in the outdoor season, as she came runner-up to Cheruiyot twice and fellow Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba.

    ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures. Archived from the original on August 8, Retrieved 9 February

  3. ^"Meseret Defar". . Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April Retrieved 9 February
  4. ^"Defar Sets World Record in Two-Mile Race".

    Meseret defar She began her indoor track season in with a m win in She won the race by staying close to the front, but without taking the lead before pulling away with m left. Defar took a break from competition in in order to start a family. She won her second world title in the m World Championships in Athletics in Moscow in a time of

    14 September

  5. ^Eder, Larry (6 March ). "Meseret Defar is pregnant, will miss , back in , by EME News". RunBlogRun. Archived from the original on 10 September Retrieved 1 September
  6. ^Meseret Defar 2mile WR at Carson – YouTube video
  7. ^ World Championships Women m result – IAAF
  8. ^ WC m women's – YouTube video
  9. ^Meseret Defar 2mile WR at IAAF Golden League-Brussels – YouTube video
  10. ^"Gay and Defar are World Athletes of the Year – Powell and Vlasic win Performance of the Year Award".

    IAAF. Retrieved 24 April

  11. ^Morse, Parker. "Defar runs Two Miles World best in Boston". IAAF. Retrieved 24 April
  12. ^Ramsak, Bob (26 February ). "Defar runs Two Miles World best in Prague". IAAF. Retrieved 24 April
  13. ^Brown, Matthew (12 July ).

    "Defar clocks in Birmingham to secure Berlin ticket". IAAF. Retrieved 24 April

  14. ^Cruz, Dan (12 April ). "Defar and Kipchoge prevail in Carlsbad". IAAF. Retrieved 24 April
  15. ^Larkin, Duncan (20 September ). "Defar clocks in Half Marathon debut in Philadelphia".

    IAAF. Retrieved 24 April

  16. ^Julin, A. Lennart (23 February ). "With three more World junior records, Bengtsson steals the spotlight in Stockholm". IAAF.

    Meseret defar biography template Tools Tools. Medal record. Meseret Defar at Wikipedia's sister projects. Retrieved 18 February

    Retrieved 18 February

  17. ^ ab"Focus on Athletes - Meseret Defar". IAAF. Archived from the original on 23 September Retrieved 18 February
  18. ^Johnson, Len (11 March ). "EVENT REPORT - Women's Metres - Final". IAAF. Retrieved 18 February
  19. ^Rowbottom, Mike (11 May ).

    "Middle distance magic highlights hot results in Doha – Samsung Diamond League".

  20. Meseret meaning
  21. Meseret pronunciation
  22. Haile gebrselassie
  23. Meseret Defar Biography - HowOld.co

    24. IAAF. Retrieved 18 February

  24. ^Martin, David (10 August ). "London - Event Report - Women's m Final". IAAF. Retrieved 18 February
  25. ^Gordon, Ed (2 February ). "Defar delights over m, five world-leading marks in Karlsruhe". IAAF. Retrieved 18 February
  26. ^"Defar and Farah set course records in New Orleans".

    IAAF. 24 February Retrieved 2 February

  27. ^CNA. "Virgin Mary 'crosses the finish line' with Olympic gold runner". Catholic News Agency. Retrieved
  28. ^Crouse, Karen ().

  31. "Ethiopian Reclaims 5,Meter Title From a Rival Countrywoman". The New York Times. ISSN&#; Retrieved

External links