Rio Olympics: Two Oromo women athletes from different countries

Sifan Hassan

Sifan Hassan (Oromo: Siifan Hassan; born on January 1, 1993 in Adama, Oromia) is an Oromia-Dutch middle- and long-distance runner. She is the Dutch indoor record holder for the 1500 metres and 3000 metres and was the under-23 winner at the 2013 European Cross Country Championships. Hassan won the gold medal at 1500 m at the European Athletics Championships Zürich 2014.

As a 15 year old girl in 2008, Sifan Hassan came to the Netherlands as a refugee. After some years staying in different places she picked up her running again. She found out she had the talent to compete internationally and decided to not only focus on her nursing study but on running as well. Therefor she moved to the National Training Centre in Papendal which turned out to be a good choice.
Sifan made huge progressions by lowering her 800m, 1500m and her 3000m personal bests. She won the 1500m at the Ostrava Golden Spike meeting, finished second behind Abeba Aregawi in the Lausanne Diamond League, and took the third place in Stockholm. Only Meseret Defar and Mercy Cherono were faster that day.

After Sifan received her Dutch passport in November 2013, she traveled to the European Cross Country Championships in Belgrade as one of the favorites for the U23 title and she won her first European title.

The 2014 season brought her new personal bests and national records as she broke the 2:00 barrier in the 800m, the 4:00 barrier in the 1500m and the 8:30 barrier in the 3000m. She set a world leading time of 3:57.00 in the Paris Diamond League. Sifan travelled to the European Championships in Zurich with this WL time and as the clear favorite for gold, but therefor she had to beat Sweden’s Abeba Aregawi. Abeba could not follow Sifan in the final meters and placed second behind European Champion Sifan Hassan. As the newly crowned European Champion, all competitors in the 5000m were keeping an eye on Sifan. But she could not win the race due to a tactical mistake and some tiredness from the 1500m final. She won a beautiful silver medal behind Meraf Bahta.

The 2015 season started off really well for Sifan by breaking the national record in the 1500m indoor (4:00.46). Later on she won the golden medal at the European Indoor Championships in Prague. She continued winning races and breaking records in the outdoor season. She ran a fast 3:56.05 in Monaco which was another National Record for her. At the World Championships in Beijing she won the bronze medal behind Dibaba and Kipyegon.

The indoor season in 2016 went really well for Sifan Hassan as she won the gold medal at the World Championships Indoor in Portland. She started her outdoor season at the European Championships in Amsterdam where she won the silver medal in the 1500m.

Sifan’s personal bests

800m: 1:58.50
1000m: 2:34.68
1500m: 3:56.05
3000m: 8:29.38
5000m: 14:59.23

2016 Summer Olympics – Athletes
Sifan Hassan Finalist in 1500m

Genzebe Dibaba

Genzebe Dibaba Keneni (Afaan Oromo: Ganzabee Dibaabaa; born 8 February 1991 in Bokoji, Oromia) is an middle- and long-distance runner. She is the sister of three-times Olympic champion Tirunesh Dibaba and Olympic silver medallist Ejegayehu Dibaba, and the cousin of former Olympic champion Derartu Tulu.
She was the 2012 World Indoor Champion for the 1500 m, and is the reigning 2014 World Indoor Champion and World Indoor Record Holder in the 3000 m. She represented Ethiopia at the 2012 Summer Olympics and has twice competed at the World Championships in Athletics (2009 and 2011). She was highly successful as a junior (under-20) athlete, having won two junior world cross country titles and one world junior 5000 m gold medal. At the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, she became World Champion in 1500 m as well as claiming the bronze medal in the 5000 m event. She was named Laureus Sportswoman of the Year for the 2014 year alongside male winner counterpart Novak Djokovic and was 2015 IAAF World Athlete of the Year.

She is the current world record holder for the 1500 m (both indoor and outdoor), the indoor 3000 m, the indoor 5000 m, the indoor mile, and the indoor two mile.

Personal bests[edit]

2016 Summer Olympics – Athletes
Genzebe Dibaba Finalist in 1500m