Meseret Defar

Meseret Defar at the 2010 World Indoor Championships

Defar Tola ( Amharic: መሰረት ደፋር; born November 19, 1983 in Addis Ababa ) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner. She was twice Olympic champion and world champion once in 5000 -meter run.

Career

Early on, she had international success: it was only Vice Junior World Champion in the 3000 -meter run in 1999 and the 5000 -meter run in 2000 and 2002, finally junior world champion over 5,000 meters. Her first big success in the adult area was the bronze medal at the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham in 2003 over 3000 meters. At the World Indoor Championships in Budapest in 2004 she took over the same distance the title.

The first highlight of her career was the 5000 - meter race of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, where she won gold in front of Isabella Ochichi (KEN ) and her compatriot Tirunesh Dibaba. At the U.S. Indoor Meeting Boston Indoor Games 2005 she missed with 8:30,05 min audited Berhane Adere world record over 3000 meters only nine tenths of seconds. At the World Championships in Helsinki in 2005 they had to settle for the silver medal - behind her 20 -year-old countrywoman Tirunesh Dibaba, who had not won in Athens the bronze medal.

At the World Indoor Championships in Moscow in 2006, she defended her title over 3000 meters. At Carlsbad 5000 she presented with an unofficial world record 14:46 in the 5K road race min on, and on June 3 this year she ran the Reebok Grand Prix in New York City with 14:24,53 min a world record in 5000 - meter run, 15 hundredths of a second faster than the old record of Elvan Abeylegesse.

In 2007, she presented over 3000 meters with 8:23,72 min a world indoor record, was second at the World 's Best 10K, defended her title in Carlsbad and improved it in the members of the IAAF Golden League Bislett Games in Oslo her own world record by almost eight seconds on 14:16,63 min. Over two miles they improved the world record twice and stayed on 14 September in Brussels with 8:58,58 min as the first woman among nine minutes ( this distance will be no official world records out ).

At the 2007 World Championships in Osaka she first won the world title in 5000 -meter run. She was elected athlete of the year to the end. In the following season they turned over two miles in the hall a world record, and at the World Indoor Championships in Lisbon in 2008, she won for the fourth time in a row over 3000 meters. At the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008 was her another victory indeed failed, but they won the bronze medal over 5000 meters behind Dibaba and Elvan Abeylegesse.

2009, it provided over 5,000 yards with 14:24,37 min a world indoor record and improved their two-mile record of 9:06,26 min. At the World Championships in Berlin, she won the bronze medal over 5000 meters and was fifth in the 10,000 meters. In 2010 she won at the World Indoor Championships in Doha gold again over 3000 meters and won for the third time at the Carlsbad 5000th one silver medal in the 5000m at the Athletics - Africa Championships in Nairobi followed by a victory over 3000 meters at the IAAF Continental Cup in Split. For the first time she competed in a half marathon and ran right off the bat with the Philadelphia Half Marathon with 1:07:45 h then the fastest time on U.S. soil. In the World Cup 2011 in Daegu she won bronze in the 5000m.

Defar won in 2012 at the World Indoor Championships in Istanbul silver over 3000 m. Eight years after her first Olympic success, she won Olympic gold again at the 2012 Olympic Games in London in the 5000 m final. 2013, it was in Moscow for the second time world champion in the 5000 m.

Meseret Defar is 1.55 m tall and weighs 45 kg.

Personal Best

• Hall: 9:06,26 min, 26 February 2009, Prague ( world record )

• Hall: 14:24,37 min 18 February, 2009, Stockholm ( world record)