Derartu TULU

Although Ethiopia has a long history of producing champion male distance runners, it was not until the emergence of Derartu Tulu that they had a champion woman distance runner as well. Tulu first made her name internationally as a cross-country runner and although eligible in her early years to enter as a junior, she instead competed in the senior races. She came 23rd in the 1989 World Cross Country Championships at only 16 years of age, and the next year improved to an 18th place finish. She did however compete on the track as a junior, and her international breakthrough came when she won the 1990 World Junior 10000m title at Plovdiv, Bulgaria in 32min 56.26sec. This heralded a rapid improvement in Tulu's performances and in 1991 she finished second in the World Cross Country Championships in Antwerp. At the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo, Tulu won her semi-final in a new national record of 31min 45.95sec.

The final was won in a fine display of front running by Scotswoman Liz McColgan. Tulu was the only runner to stay with McColgan, but she started to fade with three laps to go, and eventually finished eighth. Tulu had a tremendous track season in 1992. She competed in three 10000m events, all of them major championships, and won every one of them. On 27 June, she won the African Championships in a new African record of 31min 22.25sec. On 7 August, at the Barcelona Olympic Games, Tulu avenged her previous year's defeat by McColgan, and held off a challenge in the final laps from South African Elana Meyer to win the gold medal (see photo above) in another new African record of 31min 06.02sec. Finally, at the World Cup in Havana on 26 September, she won easily in hot, humid conditions in 33min 38.97sec. (Ron Casey)

After her Olympic and World Cup victories in 1992, Derartu Tulu was keen to seek additional titles in 1993, but unfortunately she missed virtually the whole season due to injury. Tulu returned to competition cautiously in 1994 and did not compete in any major competitions. She lowered her personal best at 3000m to 8min 54.74sec when winning at the Olympic Day meet in Jena, Germany on 3 June. Her best time over 10000m was 31min 48.93sec, which she clocked when winning a race at St Denis, France on 10 June. On 25 March 1995, Tulu competed in her first World Cross Country Championships for four years. At her last appearance, in 1991, she had finished second, but on this occasion she went one better, winning easily and leading Ethiopia to a second place finish in the teams event.

In the outdoor season, Tulu's main focus was the 10000m at the World Championships at Gothenburg in August. In preparation, she won an early season event at Mito, Japan on 7 May in 31min 27.58sec, and then clocked 31min 41.91sec in France on 17 June. At Gothenburg on 9 August, Tulu (see photo above) maintained a position in a small pack at the front of the field led by Fernanda Ribeiro (Portugal). The rest of the pack gradually dropped away until only Ribeiro and Tulu remained at the bell. Although Tulu mounted a concerted challenge on the final bend, Ribeiro pulled away to win, leaving Tulu with the silver medal. Due to the addition of the 5000m event to the Olympic women's program in 1996, there was increased competition at that distance. In the weeks following the 1995 World Championships, Tulu recorded two fast 5000m times of 14min 57.65sec at Cologne and 14min 57.89sec at Brussels. (Ron Casey)

The Olympic Games were held in Atlanta in 1996 and this provided Derartu Tulu with the opportunity to defend the 10000m Olympic crown she had won four years earlier in Barcelona. Tulu concentrated on the shorter distances in her preparation for the Olympics, winning a 5000m event at Hengelo on 27 May in a personal best of 14min 55.71sec, and then further improving that time on 3 June to 14min 50.88sec. In Atlanta, Tulu recorded the fastest time in the heats, but in the final on 2 August, she finished only fourth in 31min 10.46sec. Tulu bounced back from this defeat on 23 March 1997 at Turin, where she won her second World Cross Country Championship. On 21 April that year, Tulu made her marathon debut at Boston, finishing fifth in 2hr 30.28sec.

However, Tulu had an indifferent outdoor season, and failed to qualify for the final of the 10000m at the World Championships in Athens when she finished only 11th in her heat in 33min 25.99sec, her fastest time of the year. Tulu did not compete in 1998 during which time she gave birth to her first child, a daughter. On her return to competition in 1999 she only competed in road racing, where her best result was a 15th place finish in the World Half Marathon Championships at Palermo in 1hr 11.33sec. It seemed that following her poor showing in the 10000m at the 1997 World Championships, Tulu had decided to retire from track running, but in one of the greatest comeback stories in athletics, Tulu returned to the track in 2000 to win the 10000m gold medal at the Sydney Olympic Games (see photo above). It was an extremely fast race and Tulu's time of 30min 17.49sec not only set new Olympic and African records, but it was over 38 seconds faster than she had ever run before at that distance. (Ron Casey)