Kenenisa Bekele facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Kenenisa Bekele
	Kenenisa in 2012
Personal information
Nationality	Ethiopia
Born	13 June 1982 (age 39); near Bekoji, Ethiopia
Height	165 cm
Weight	56 kg
Sport
Country	Ethiopia
Sport	Track, Long-distance running
Event(s)	5000 metres, 10,000 metres, marathon
Team	NN Running Team
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	Indoor 2000 m: 4:49.99i WR (Birmingham 2007); 3000 m: 7:25.79 (Stockholm 2007); Indoor 2-Mile: 8:04.35i NR (Birmingham 2008); 5000 m: 12:37.35 NR (Hengelo 2004); Indoor 5000 m: 12:49.60 WR (Birmingham 2004); 10,000 m: 26:17.53 NR (Brussels 2005); Marathon: 2:01:41 NR (Berlin 2019);
	Men's athletics
	Representing Ethiopia
	Olympic Games
	World Championships
	World Indoor Championships
	African Championships
	All-Africa Games
	World Cross Country Championships
	World Marathon Majors

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Kenenisa Bekele (Oromo: Qananiisaa baqqalaacode: om is deprecated ; Amharic: ቀነኒሳ በቀለ; born 13 June 1982) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner and was the world record holder in both the 5000-metre and 10000-metre from 2004 (5,000m) and 2005 (10,000m) until 2020. He won the gold medal in both the 5000 m and 10,000 m events at the 2008 Summer Olympics. At the 2004 Olympics, he won the gold medal in the 10,000 m and the silver medal in the 5000 m.

He is the most successful runner in the history of the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, with six long (12 km) course and five short (4 km) course titles. He won the 10,000 m title at the World Championships in Athletics in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009 (matching Haile Gebrselassie's four in a row win streak). Kenenisa was unbeaten over 10,000 m from his debut in 2003 until 2011, when he failed to finish at the World Championships final.

At the 2009 World Championships in Athletics he became the first man to win both 5000 m and 10,000 m title at the same championships. Over 5000 m he has also won an Olympic silver (2004), World Championship bronze (2003), two African Championship titles and one All-Africa Games gold medal. He also won the 3000 metres title at the 2006 World Indoor Championships.

On 6 April 2014, he produced the sixth fastest marathon debut ever on a record-eligible course with his victory at the Paris Marathon, in a course record time of 2:05:04. On 25 September 2016, Kenenisa won the Berlin Marathon in a time of 2:03:03, a new personal best, then the third-fastest marathon of all time. On 29 September 2019, he again won the Berlin Marathon in a time of 2:01:41, two seconds slower than the world record of 2:01:39 set by Eliud Kipchoge in the 2018 Berlin Marathon. Considering his accomplishments in cross country, track, and road racing, many consider him to be the greatest distance runner of all time.

Career

Early life and career

Kenenisa Bekele was born in 1982 at Bekoji, Arsi Zone, the same town as the Dibaba sisters (Ejegayehu, Tirunesh and Genzebe) and their cousin Derartu Tulu.

In March 2001, he won the IAAF World Junior Cross Country title by a full 33 seconds. Five months later, in August 2001, he set a new 3000 metres world junior record by running 7:30.67 minutes in Brussels. The record lasted for three and a half years, being broken by Augustine Choge with a run of 7:28.78 minutes. In December 2000 and 2001 Kenenisa won the 15k roadrace Montferland Run in the Netherlands.

For five years in a row, from 2002 (at the age of 19) through 2006, he took both short (4 k m) and long (12 k m) races at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, a feat no other runner has accomplished even once. After the IAAF eliminated the short course race in 2007, Kenenisa won a final long course race in 2008, bringing his World Cross Country medal totals to 11 senior individual gold medals (6 long course, 5 short course), 1 senior silver medal (2001), 1 junior gold medal (2001), 2 team gold medals (2004, 2005), 3 team silver medals (2002, 2003, & 2008), and 1 team bronze medal (2006) for a grand total of 19 medals.

Kenenisa is renowned for his ability to accelerate very quickly at the end of a long-distance race; in Oslo in June 2003, he chased after Kenyan Abraham Chebii and won the race in 12:52.26.

He has faced fellow Ethiopian, Haile Gebrselassie, twice in road competition, once in cross country, and six times on the track. Haile defeated Kenenisa on the track in the 2000 Nurnberg 5000 metres, the 2001 Great Ethiopian Run 10 km, and the Cross de l'Acier in December 2001, but lost to Kenenisa in Hengelo 2003 over 10,000 m (26:53 to 26:54), Rome 2003 over 5000 m (12:57 to 13:00), Paris 2003 World Championships over 10,000 m (26:49 to 26:50), Athens 2004 Olympic Games (27:05 to 27:27), in the 10,000 m in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games (27:01 to 27:06), and in the Great North Run half marathon in September 2013 (60:09 to 60:41).

Kenenisa's outstanding track career led to his involvement in a project to break the two-hour barrier for the marathon, though a number of factors undermined this effort.

2004 season

In 2004, he broke the world records for the indoor 5000 m, outdoor 5000 m and outdoor 10,000 m (both in a timeframe of 9 days). He won the short and long course world cross country titles, leading Ethiopia to the senior men's team title. He also won a gold medal in the men's 10,000 metres and a silver medal in the men's 5000 metres in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.

2005 season

On 4 January 2005, Kenenisa's fiancée, 18-year-old Alem Techale, died of an apparent heart attack while on a training run with him. She was the 2003 World Youth Champion in the 1500 metres and in excellent physical condition.

Kenenisa competing in the 2006 Golden League.

He resumed racing on 29 January, and lost indoors over 3000 m to Ireland's Alistair Cragg after sprinting towards the line with one and a half laps to go, while thinking that there was only half a lap left. A few weeks later he lost to fellow Ethiopian Markos Geneti over two miles.

In March, Kenenisa lined up to defend his long and short course titles at the 2005 IAAF World Cross Country Championships. He won on the short course despite a fast pace set by Qatari Saif Saaeed Shaheen, and followed that win with a long course victory the next day over Eritrean Zersenay Tadese and Kenyan rival Eliud Kipchoge.

On 8 August 2005, Kenenisa Bekele won the gold medal in the 10,000 m at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki with a stunning last 200 m spurt.

On 26 August 2005, Kenenisa set the 10,000 m world record 26:17.53 at the 29th Memorial Van Damme meeting in Brussels, slicing nearly three seconds off his previous world record 26:20.31, and running with 5000 m splits of 13:09 and 13:08 minutes. The race saw 6 runners finishing in less than 27 minutes, with Sammy Wanjiru dipping in 26:41.75, a new world junior record. At the end of 2005 Kenenisa was voted the Track & Field News magazine athlete of the year for the second year in a row.

2006–2007

Kenenisa leading the way at the 2007 Cross de Itálica.

When Kenenisa won the 3000 m at the 2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Moscow, he became the first athlete in history to be Olympic champion, world outdoor track champion, world indoor track champion, and world cross country champion.

In 2006 he won five out of six IAAF Golden League events (5000 m) in the same season, which earned him a total of US$83,333.

On 17 February 2007, he broke the indoor world record over 2000 m in Birmingham, with a time of 4:49.99. His spectacular final 300 m aided this time which would be considered excellent even outdoors.

On 24 March 2007, however, his remarkable racing streak of 27 consecutive victories in cross country races (dating back to his last previous loss in December 2001) came to an end when after leading the race in the penultimate lap of the 2007 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Mombasa he succumbed to the very hot, humid conditions (which caused more than 1/6 of all competitors to drop out) and was passed by eventual winner Zersenay Tadese on the last lap before Kenenisa dropped out. This was greeted with cheers by the Kenyan crowds, an occurrence which has been frowned upon by the wider athletics community.

He recovered from that rare failure to take the 10,000-metre title at the 2007 IAAF World Championships in Osaka, once again besting his compatriot Sileshi Sihine. During that race, he looked like he was going to be dropped several times over the last 800 metres, but recovered to overtake Sileshi with 150 metres to go and take his third straight world title.

Beijing Olympics and Berlin World Championships

Celebrating his gold medal victory at the 2009 World Championships.

In Edinburgh on 30 March 2008, he won his sixth World Cross Country title (long course – 12k), breaking the three-way tie of 5 wins he had previously shared with Paul Tergat and John Ngugi. With this win, Kenenisa laid sole claim to most decorated athlete in IAAF World Cross Country Championships history. He has won 6 long course (12k) individual gold medals, 5 short course (4k) gold medals, 1 junior championship (8k), and 4 team gold medals for a sum total of 16 gold medals. His overall medal count (both individual and team results) stands at 27 medals: 16 gold, 9 silver and 2 bronze.

On 17 August 2008 Kenenisa won gold in the 10,000m finals with a time of 27:01.17, setting a new Olympic Record in the process. In a race in which 20 men broke the 28-minute barrier and four finished under his 2004 Olympic record of 27:05.10, he needed his renowned finishing kick to pull out the victory, running a 53.42-second final 400 metres (similar to the 53.02-second final 400-metre sprint he used to win the gold medal in Athens in 2004 over the same distance).

On 23 August 2008 Kenenisa bested his competitors and won the 5000-metre finals, shattering Saïd Aouita's Olympic Record by almost eight seconds with a time of 12:57.82. The race was remarkable for his manner of doing most of the pacing himself before accelerating to a scintillating finish: his last 3000 metres only took 7:35.53, his final 2000 metres 4:56.97, last 1600 metres 3:57.01 (=3:58.4 final mile) and his final lap a punishing 53.87 seconds.-

By winning the 10,000/5000m double in the Beijing Olympics, Kenenisa joined another elite group of athletes: Hannes Kolehmainen (1912), Emil Zátopek (1952), Vladimir Kuts (1956), Lasse Virén (twice, in 1972 and 1976) and Miruts Yifter (1980).

Kenenisa Bekele won two gold medals at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics, held in Berlin. His double victories in 5000m (13:17.09) and 10,000m (26:46.31 – a World Championships Record) were unprecedented and by doing this became the first man to take both the long-distance track gold medals at the same World Championships. His talent combination of endurance and speed has made it nearly impossible to defeat Kenenisa when he is at full strength. During the 10,000m race in which he was running behind Eritrea's Zersenay Tadesse, the broadcaster declared "it is over, in fact it was over from the start" as the final lap began and Kenenisa turned an ostensibly close race into a blowout. The IAAF announcer concluded, "this man is probably the greatest distance runner we will ever see."

In spite of his unrivalled success in athletics, Kenenisa did not experience the mainstream appeal that others such as Haile Gebrselassie did. His quiet demeanour and aversion to interviews did not make him a highly marketable athlete in the Western world. Fellow world record holder Usain Bolt stated that Kenenisa Bekele's achievements had not received the recognition that they deserved.

Injuries

Kenenisa pursuing the lead pack in the Men's 10,000 metres final event at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Kenenisa made a disappointing start to 2010, finishing fourth in the Edinburgh Cross Country in a race he was favored to win – a trio of Kenyan athletes ran him out of the contest over the final lap. He spent the entirety of the indoor and outdoor seasons out with a ruptured calf muscle.

2011 World Championships and 2012 Olympics

Kenenisa Bekele finally returned to training after a knee injury in March 2011. Having not raced on the track since 2009, Kenenisa returned for the World Championships. He dropped out of the 10,000m with 10 laps remaining. Kenenisa decided not to run the 5000 m and returned to the Diamond League at the Ivo Van Damme Memorial in Brussels where he set the fastest time in the world for the 10,000 metres in 2011.

Kenenisa's 2012 season did not start well, as he was a lowly eleventh place at the Edinburgh Cross Country. In April, he appeared to have returned to form by winning the Great Ireland Run in a new personal best time for a 10 km road race of 27:49, improving the course record by 46 seconds.

In the 2012 London Olympics 10,000m race he ran within the leading group for the whole race, but could not keep up with the Mo Farah's sprint in the last 150 metres and eventually finished fourth, with a time of 27:32.44, just 1.01 second outside the bronze medalist, his brother Tariku.

In his first race of 2013 he won the Great Ireland Run for a second time. Kenenisa then won the Great North Run half marathon in a time of 60:09, beating Mo Farah by just one second after making a move that Farah couldn't match with just less than 12 miles gone.

Marathon career

Kenenisa Bekele at the 2014 Paris Marathon.

2014

Kenenisa Bekele started his marathon career in the 2014 Paris Marathon on 6 April 2014. His marathon debut was very successful as he bettered both the Paris course record and the debut marathon times of past legends Haile Gebrselassie, Paul Tergat and Samuel Wanjiru by running 2:05:04 to win.

Kenenisa then went on to compete in the 2014 Chicago Marathon on 12 October 2014. He finished fourth in 2:05:51, 1min 40s behind Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge.

2015

On 23 January 2015, Kenenisa Bekele took on the Dubai Marathon, where he had to retire from the race after 30 km.

He was planned to compete in the 2015 London Marathon but had to withdraw due to a persistent injury to his right Achilles tendon. Following 11 months of injury, Kenenisa returned to racing at the 2016 London Marathon. Prior to the race he indicated he was only currently at 90% fitness. Kenenisa finished in 3rd place behind winner Eliud Kipchoge and runner-up Stanley Biwott in a time of 2:06:36. This performance was despite the fact he only returned to jogging in early 2016 following injury and had only completed 6 weeks of specific marathon training. He was also hampered in the race by missing his drinks at 5 separate stations, due to them being used by the designated pacemakers.

2016

On 24 April 2016 he placed 3rd at the London Marathon with a time of two hours six minutes and 38 seconds. In September he won the 2016 Berlin Marathon in a time of 2:03:03 which set a new personal best time for him at the Marathon distance and the second fastest marathon of all time.

2017

On 19 January 2017, attempting to break the world record, Kenenisa dropped out of the Dubai Marathon after the half way mark due to a fall at the beginning of the race. On 23 April 2017, Kenenisa finished second in the London Marathon, finishing in 2:05:57, 9 seconds behind winner Daniel Wanjiru.

2018

Kenenisa ran the 2018 London Marathon in April and came in sixth place with a time of 2:08:53.

He also ran the Amsterdam marathon in October 2018 but dropped out due to injury with about 2 km to go.

2019

Kenenisa won the Berlin Marathon in September in 2:01:41, the second fastest time ever and just two seconds off of the world record set by Eliud Kipchoge on the same course the previous year. After the run he stated that he still believes that he can break the world record.

2020

Kenenisa won the London half marathon on 1 March 2020 in 60:22. He improved on the course record by 1:18 minutes formerly set by Mo Farah in 2019. Chris Thompson came in second with 61:07 also within the former course record.

Personal life

On 18 November 2007, Kenenisa married Ethiopian film actress Danawit Gebregziabher in Addis Ababa. Kenenisa has one younger brother, Tariku Bekele, who is also an accomplished world-class distance runner.

Statistics

Personal bests

Kenenisa leading the 5000 m at the 2009 World Championships

Distance	Time (min)	Date	Location
1500 m	3:32.35	28 September 2007	Shanghai
Mile run (indoors)	4:01.57	3 February 2006	New York City
2000 m (indoors)	4:49.99 (WR)	17 February 2007	Birmingham
3000 m	7:25.79	7 August 2007	Stockholm
3000 m (indoors)	7:30.51	20 February 2007	Stockholm
Two miles	8:13.51	26 May 2007	Hengelo
Two miles (indoors)	8:04.35	16 February 2008	Birmingham
5000 m	12:37.35	31 May 2004	Hengelo
5000 m (indoors)	12:49.60 (WR)	20 February 2004	Birmingham
10,000 m	26:17.53	26 August 2005	Brussels
10 km (road)	27:49	15 April 2012	Dublin
15 km (road)	42:42	9 December 2001	's-Heerenberg
Half Marathon	1:00:09	15 September 2013	Newcastle
Marathon	2:01:41	29 September 2019	Berlin

Yearly progression

5000 metres
Year	Best	Location	Date	World rank
2012	12:55.79	Paris	6 July	9th
2009	12:52.32	Zurich	28 August	1st
2008	12:50.18	Zurich	29 August	1st
2007	12:49.53	Zaragoza	28 July	1st
2006	12:48.09	Brussels	25 August	1st
2005	12:40.18	Paris	1 July	1st
2004	12:37.35	Hengelo	31 May	1st
2003	12:52.26	Oslo	27 June	3rd
2002	13:26.58	Milan	5 June	71st
2001	13:13.33	Seville	8 June	29th
2000	13:20.57	Rieti	3 September	53rd

10,000 metres
Year	Best	Location	Date	World rank
2012	27:02.59	Birmingham	22 June	3rd
2011	26:43.16	Brussels	16 September	1st
2009	26:46.31	Berlin	17 August	1st
2008	26:25.97	Eugene, Oregon	8 June	1st
2007	26:46.19	Brussels	14 September	1st
2005	26:17.53	Brussels	26 August	1st
2004	26:20.31	Ostrava	8 June	1st
2003	26:49.57	Paris	25 August	4th

Competition record

International competitions

Note: XC stands for cross country

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
Representing Ethiopia
1999	World XC Championships	Belfast, United Kingdom	9th	Junior race (8.012 km)	26:27
1999	World Youth Championships	Bydgoszcz, Poland	2nd	3000 m	8:09.89
2000	World Junior Championships	Santiago, Chile	2nd	5000 m	13:45.43
2001	World XC Championships	Ostend, Belgium	2nd	Short race (4.1 km)	12:42
2001	World XC Championships	Ostend, Belgium	1st	Junior race (7.7 km)	25:04
2002	World XC Championships	Dublin, Ireland	1st	Short race (4.208 km)	12:11
2002	World XC Championships	Dublin, Ireland	1st	Long race (11.998 km)	34:52
2003	World XC Championships	Lausanne, Switzerland	1st	Short race (4.03 km)	11:01
	World XC Championships	Lausanne, Switzerland	1st	Long race (12.355 km)	35:56
	World Championships in Athletics	Paris, France	3rd	5000 m	12:53.12
	World Championships in Athletics	Paris, France	1st	10,000 m	26:49.57
	All-Africa Games	Abuja, Nigeria	1st	5000 m	13:26.16
2004	World XC Championships	Brussels, Belgium	1st	Short race (4 km)	11:31
	World XC Championships	Brussels, Belgium	1st	Long race (12 km)	35:52
	Olympic Games	Athens, Greece	2nd	5000 m	13:14.59
	Olympic Games	Athens, Greece	1st	10,000 m	27:05.10
2005	World XC Championships	Saint-Galmier, France	1st	Short race (4.196 km)	11:33
	World XC Championships	Saint-Galmier, France	1st	Long race (12.02 km)	35:06
	World Championships in Athletics	Helsinki, Finland	1st	10,000 m	27:08.33
2006	World Indoor Championships	Moscow, Russia	1st	3000 m	7:39.32
	World XC Championships	Fukuoka, Japan	1st	Short race (4 km)	10:54
	World XC Championships	Fukuoka, Japan	1st	Long race (12 km)	35:40
	African Championships	Bambous, Mauritius	1st	5000 m	14:03.41
	IAAF World Cup	Athens, Greece	2nd	3000 m	7:36.25
2007	World XC Championships	Mombasa, Kenya	—	Senior race (12 km)	DNF
2007	World Championships in Athletics	Osaka, Japan	1st	10,000 m	27:05.90
2008	World XC Championships	Edinburgh, United Kingdom	1st	Senior race (12 km)	34:38
	African Championships	Addis Ababa, Ethiopia	1st	5000 m	13:49.67
	Olympic Games	Beijing, China	1st	5000 m	12:57.82
	Olympic Games	Beijing, China	1st	10,000 m	27:01.17
2009	World Championships in Athletics	Berlin, Germany	1st	5000 m	13:17.09
2009	World Championships in Athletics	Berlin, Germany	1st	10,000 m	26:46.31
2011	World Championships in Athletics	Daegu, South Korea	—	10,000 m	DNF
2012	Olympic Games	London, United Kingdom	4th	10,000 m	27:32.44

Marathons

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
2014	Paris Marathon	Paris, France	1st	Marathon	2:05:04
2014	Chicago Marathon	Chicago, United States	4th	Marathon	2:05:51
2015	Dubai Marathon	Dubai, UAE	DNF	Marathon	DNF
2016	London Marathon	London, United Kingdom	3rd	Marathon	2:06:36
2016	Berlin Marathon	Berlin, Germany	1st	Marathon	2:03:03
2017	Dubai Marathon	Dubai, UAE	DNF	Marathon	DNF
2017	London Marathon	London, United Kingdom	2nd	Marathon	2:05:57
2018	London Marathon	London, United Kingdom	6th	Marathon	2:08:53
2018	Amsterdam Marathon	Amsterdam, Netherlands	DNF	Marathon	DNF
2019	Berlin Marathon	Berlin, Germany	1st	Marathon	2:01:41

World Grand Prix Finals

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Notes
2001	Grand Prix Final	Melbourne, Australia	2nd	3000 m
2003	World Athletics Final	Monaco, Monaco	1st	3000 m
2005	World Athletics Final	Stuttgart, Germany	1st	5000 m
2009	World Athletics Final	Thessaloniki, Greece	1st	3000 m

World Marathon Majors results timeline

World Marathon Majors	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Tokyo Marathon	–	–	–	–	–	–
Boston Marathon	–	–	–	–	–	–
London Marathon	–	–	3rd	2nd	6th	–
Berlin Marathon	–	–	1st	DNF		1st
Chicago Marathon	4th	–	–	–		–
New York City Marathon	–	–	–	–		–

Circuit honours

IAAF Golden League jackpot winner: 2006, 2009
Montferland Run 15K: 2000, 2001
Giro al Sas 11K: 2001
Memorial Peppe Greco 10K: 2003

Cross country wins

Tilburg Warandeloop: 2000
Cinque Mulini: 2002
Lotto Cross Cup Brussels: 2002
Oeiras International Cross Country: 2002, 2003
Campaccio: 2002, 2004
Cross Internacional Juan Muguerza: 2003
Trofeo Alasport: 2003
Cross Internacional de Itálica: 2003, 2004, 2007
Cross Internacional de Venta de Baños: 2004
Great Edinburgh International Cross Country: 2006, 2007, 2008

Awards

IAAF World Athlete of the Year: 2004, 2005
Track & Field News Athlete of the Year: 2004, 2005
Ethiopian Person of the Year: 2007/2008