 Kebede at the 2007Amsterdam Marathon | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Ethiopian |
| Born | (1987-01-15)15 January 1987 (age 39) Mekelle,Tigray Province, Ethiopia |
| Height | 5 ft 2 in (1.57 m)[1] |
| Weight | 110 lb (50 kg)[2] |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Running |
Event | Long distances |
Medal record | |
Tsegaye Kebede Wordofa (Amharic: ፀጋየ ከበደ ዎርዶፋ; born 15 January 1987) is an Ethiopianlong-distance runner who competes inroad running events, includingmarathons. He quickly rose to become a prominent distance runner after his international debut at theAmsterdam Marathon in 2007. In his second year of professional running, he won theParis Marathon, theFukuoka Marathon and the marathonbronze medal at the2008 Beijing Olympics.
In the 2009 season he established himself as one of Ethiopia's top athletes: he came second in theLondon Marathon and at his firstWorld Championships in Athletics he took the bronze medal in the marathon. He retained his Fukuoka Marathon title at the end of 2009, running the fastest ever marathon race in Japan. He won the2010 London Marathon – his firstWorld Marathon Major – and the2013 London Marathon.
Tsegaye Kebede was brought up as part of a large family, the fifth child of thirteen, and his early years were marked by poverty. Living inGerar Berak, a village some 40 km north ofAddis Ababa or near the town ofSendafa, he collected firewood to sell and herded livestock to supplement his father's earnings, paying for his own education and the rest of his family. He received his primary education at jima senbate school in Sendafa town. He ate one meal a day and had to work every day to earn around 2.50 Ethiopian birr (US$0.30).[3]
He began running for pleasure as an 8-year-old and, after competing at ahalf marathon in Addis Ababa in 2006, an athletics coach (Getaneh Tessema) offered him the chance to train with his group. He attended a 10 km time trial session with the group in the following days, and he beat all runners with the exception ofDeriba Merga, who went on to win theGreat Ethiopian Run that year.[3] He won theAbebe Bikila International Marathon a few months later,[4] effectively resolving the visa problems he had encountered while trying to race overseas.[3] His first marathon race abroad was the 2007Amsterdam Marathon and he finished eighth with a new personal best of 2:08:16.[5] This time and finish established him among Ethiopia's top marathon runners—Haile Gebrselassie and Deriba Merga were the only Ethiopians to run faster times that year.[6]
Keen to establish himself, he looked towards obtaining a spot on theEthiopian 2008 Olympic team for the marathon race.[3] He took second place behindPatrick Makau Musyoki at theRas Al Khaimah Half Marathon with a time of 59:35, a personal best.[7] A win at theParis Marathon in April improved his chances of selection, as his sprint finish earned him another personal best with 2:06:40.[8] He finished third in theWorld 10K Bangalore race the following month, setting a best of 28:10 over the distance.[9] Haile Gebrselassie stated that he did not intend to compete in theBeijing Olympics, meaning that Kebede and Merga would carry the medal hopes for Ethiopia.[3]
With only two years of competitive running and one year of international competition to his credit,[3] the 21-year-old Kebede won the bronze medal inmen's marathon at the2008 Summer Olympics inBeijing, China, passing teammate Deriba Merga in the last 400 metres of the race.[10] He won theGreat North Run in October,[11] and finished the year with a win at theFukuoka International Marathon; his time of 2:06:10 brokeSamuel Wanjiru's course record and was the fastest marathon onJapanese soil. This raised him in the rankings to the twelfth fastest ever marathon runner at the time.[12]
He remained in strong form the following year: he set a new personal best of 2:05:20 at the 2009London Marathon, taking second place behind Wanjiru.[13] This elevated him into the top ten in the all-time marathon lists and made him the second fastest Ethiopian afterworld record holder Haile Gebrselassie.[14] RepresentingEthiopia at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics, Kebede repeated the feat he had achieved a year earlier at the Olympics, overtaking Deriba Merga and taking the bronze medal as the fastest Ethiopian finisher in theWorld Championship marathon.[15] He improved his best further at the end of that year, winning the Fukuoka International Marathon for a second time. He finished the race in 2:05:18, a new course record and again setting the fastest time ever recorded for the marathon in Japan.[16]
At the2010 London Marathon, he set his sights on beating the defending championSamuel Wanjiru. Wanjiru dropped out at 20 km, however, and Kebede saw off a challenge fromAbel Kirui at the 30 km mark. Thepacemakers were not quick through the early stages and Kebede had enough energy to sprint for the line, but his time of 2:05:19 was nine seconds short of the record and a second away from Kebede's best.[17][18] The2010 Chicago Marathon in October provided a much closer battle with Wanjiru. Kebede closely followed the pacemakers and repeatedly surged ahead of the field. Wanjiru managed to make up ground each time and, running in increasingly high temperatures, Kebede was overtaken by him in the last 400 m and he finished in second place with a time of 2:06:43. This result also left him behind Wanjiru in the race for theWorld Marathon Majors jackpot, but he was generally positive about the defeat: "I am happy. This is not the end. I will run again".[19]
He attempted to defend his title in the2011 London Marathon, but could not keep up with the leaders' pace at the 30 km mark, and had to settle for fifth place with a time of 2:07:47.[20] He was not chosen for the Ethiopian2012 London Olympics marathon team despite the pleas of Haile Gebrselassie to their country's selection committee.[1] At theGreat Manchester Run in May he came runner-up to Gebrselassie but ran a personal best of 27:56 minutes.[21] He entered the2012 Chicago Marathon and went one better than his 2010 performance to win the race. He gradually pulled ahead of the pack in the second half of the race and managed a course record time of 2:04:38, also a personal best.[22]
In April 2013, Kebede beat "the world's best marathon field"[1] by 29 seconds to win theLondon Marathon in 2:06:04. At 21.7 miles (35 km), he trailed the race's eventual second-place finisher and course record holderEmmanuel Mutai of Kenya by 43 seconds,[23] slowed by a pain in his side.The Independent described Kebede as a "pocket-battleship clad in a blue vest – a runner with a boxer's stance" and called his race finish "devastating".[1]
Updated 7 October 2012
| Event | Time (h:m:s) | Date | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 kilometres | 27:56 | 20 May 2012 | Manchester, UK |
| Half marathon | 59:35 | 8 February 2008 | Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates |
| 25 kilometres | 1:14:43 | 24 August 2009 | Beijing, China |
| 30 kilometres | 1:30:25 | 21 October 2007 | Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| Marathon | 2:04:38 | 7 October 2012 | Chicago, United States |
All Information taken from IAAF profile.[24]
