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Fatuma Roba was the first African woman to win an Olympic marathon. She
first emerged on the international scene at the 1990 African
Championships, where, at only 16 years of age, she finished fourth in
both the 3000m and 10000m. Roba ran her first marathon in 1993, and by
the end of 1995, her personal best stood at 2hr 35min 25sec. However,
Roba made a rapid improvement in the early months of 1996. On 14
January, at Marrakech, she reduced her personal best to 2hr 30min 50sec.
Two months later, she further lowered this time when winning an
international marathon in Rome in 2hr 29min 05sec. Despite these
improvements in her times, Roba entered the Olympic Games marathon in
Atlanta on 28 July ranked only 29th on best times amongst the
competitors, and was not considered a serious threat. Nevertheless,
Roba strode away with race, reaching the halfway mark with a nine second
lead, and then steadily drew away from the field to win by two minutes (see photo above)
in another personal best of 2hr 26min 05sec.
Roba followed up this
victory by winning the following year's Boston marathon on 21 April, in
2hr 26min 23sec. Starting favourite for the 1997 World Championships
marathon at Athens on 9 August, Roba led at halfway, but had to
eventually withdraw due to injury. She returned in 1998 to successfully
defend her Boston marathon title, in a new personal best of 2hr 23min
21sec, and the following year, she recorded her third successive Boston
victory. Roba started favourite in the marathon in both the 1999 World
Championships in Seville and the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. However,
both events were held in very hot conditions, and Roba faded to 4th in
Seville after leading at 38km and finished only 9th in Sydney. (Ron Casey)
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