Tirunesh Dibaba

Tirunesh's 1000 metre splits were 2:56.0 - 2:55.2 - 3:00.0 - 2:55.0 - 2:46.8.

Dibaba won two gold medals in March at the World Cross Country Championships in Saint-Galmier, France.

Tirunesh Dibaba (Xirunesh Dibaabaa, Amharic: ጥሩነሽ ዲባባ ቀነኒ; born 1 October 1985 ) is an Ethiopian athlete who competes in long-distance track events and international road races.

She has won three Olympic track gold medals, five World Championship track gold medals, four individual World Cross Country (WCC) adult titles, and one individual WCC junior title.

Their aunt Derartu Tulu won gold medals in the 10,000 metres at the 1992 and 2000 Summer Olympics, the bronze medal in the 10,000 metres at the 2004 Summer Olympics, the silver medal in the 10,000 metres at the 1995 World Championships, and the gold medal in the 10,000 metres at the 2001 World Championships.

She was the second woman, the other being Sonia O'Sullivan, to win two events since these championships began in 1998.

Dibaba out-sprinted her sister Ejegayehu and Adere to win the 10,000 metres at the World Championships in Helsinki, Finland.

She was raised in the high-altitude Arsi Zone in Oromia, Ethiopia but has lived in Addis Ababa, the capital, since 2000.

Tirunesh comes from an athletic family.

Dibaba's first fully international outdoor event as a junior was the 2001 World Cross Country Championships (WCCC) in Ostend, Belgium where, at the age of 15, she finished fifth.

Dibaba finished second in the junior race at the 2002 WCCC in Dublin, Ireland before winning that race in Lausanne, Switzerland in 2003.

Dibaba also earned a silver medal in the 5000 metres at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Kingston, Jamaica, 1.05 seconds behind Meseret Defar and just 0.05 seconds ahead of bronze medalist Vivian Cheruiyot.

In May, Dibaba won the only Ethiopian national track championship of her senior career.

The event was the 5000 metres, with Meseret Defar finishing second.

In Paris at her World Championships debut, Dibaba won the 5000 metres in a sprint finish against Marta Dominguez of Spain and Edith Masai of Kenya.

This made her the youngest athlete to win an individual gold medal at the World Championships.

Recalling the race, Dibaba said, "I competed in Paris only because I had the 'A' standard. No one expected me to win. There was no pressure from anywhere. All of them [the pre-race favorites] were looking at each other [during the race] and no one was focusing on the finish line. I just went for it and was surprised that I had won."

In October, she finished fourth in the 5000 metres at the All-Africa Games in Abuja, Nigeria and second in the same event at the Afro-Asian Games in Hyderabad, India.

Meseret Defar won both races.

Dibaba said, "I was a bit tired after Paris and did not train well. I was not ready to run those races."

At the Summer Olympics in Athens, Dibaba finished third in the 5000 metres, behind Meseret Defar and Kenyan Isabella Ochichi.

At age 19, she became the youngest-ever medalist for Ethiopia at the Olympics.

She said about the race, "I was a bit overweight and after following Elvan [Abeylegesse] at the early part of the race, I just could not follow the rest at the end. I was not disappointed. I had learned my lesson."

At the Reebok Boston Indoor Games in January, Dibaba set a world record in the 5000 meters with a finish time of 14:32.93.

This was 6.36 seconds faster than the previous world record set by Berhane Adere.

Finishing second was Dibaba's sister Ejegayehu, over 25 seconds behind.

She faded during the last 1000 metres after running with Tirunesh through 4000 metres in a hand-timed 11:46.2.

With her 2003 World championship title, she became the youngest World Champion at the age of 18 years and 90 days.

Tirunesh comes from a sporting family of several Olympic medalists, which includes her sisters Genzebe and Ejegayehu, and her aunt Derartu Tulu.

The matriarch of the Dibaba athletics dynasty, Tirunesh is the most decorated of the family.

Tirunesh was born in the village of Bekoji, Arsi Zone of the Oromia Region and the fourth of six children.

She is of Oromo descent.

She began competing in athletics at the age of 14.

Her older sister Ejegayehu won the silver medal in the 10,000 metres at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.

At the 2005 IAAF World Championships in Helsinki, Finland, Tirunesh became the first woman to win the 5000 m and 10000 m at the same championship.

She is the one of two women (the other Sonia O'Sullivan) who won the short and long course World Cross Country title at the same championship (2005 in Saint-Galmier, France).

As of 25 June 2017, her younger sister Genzebe holds the world record for 1,500 metres, 2,000 metres and the indoor world records for 1,500 metres, one mile (pending ratification), 3,000 metres, and 5,000 metres.

Tirunesh and Genzebe are the only siblings in history to hold concurrent world records.

Tirunesh was the 5,000 metres (outdoor track) world record holder until 2020 when her compatriot Letesenbet Gidey set a new world record.

She is nicknamed the "baby-faced destroyer."