EJEGAYEHU DIBABA
2005 IAAF World Championships bronze medallist, 5000m and 10000m. |
2004 Olympic Games silver medallist, 10000m |
2004 IAAF World Cross Country Championships silver medallist, 8km. |
2004 IAAF World Athletics Final, bronze medallist, 5000m |
Ejegayehu Dibaba nickname “Gigi” was 10 years old (and little sister Tiru just 6) when their cousin Derartu Tulu won her historic gold medal in Barcelona. It took another six years, when a physical education teacher urged her to run the intra-school championships. She won and the background for a long career was set.
By 2004 she was near the top, winning a silver medal at World Cross Country before going to take 10000m silver in Athens. It was a race she almost did’nt run. Originally selected for the 5000m race, she was bumped up at the last minute. As it turned out, she ran the third-fastest time in the world for 2004 and the fastest of the year by any Ethiopian woman athlete. |
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She followed that up in 2005 in 2005 with a double-bronze performance at the World Championships.
Gigi and her sister Tiru, share a house and are virtually inseparable, often owing their intricately braided hair and ornately painted fingernails to each other.
Asked about the best and worst parts of their close relationship, Tiru once said: “We train together, we plan together, we help each other and so many times we share the good and bad things of life. She is a friend, a sister and my confessor.” |
