Dejene Berhanu

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Dejene Berhanu (born December 12, 1980 in Addis Alem ; † August 29, 2010 ) was an Ethiopian long-distance runner .

Life

Berhanu started running when he saw a televised recording of Haile Gebrselassie's Olympic victory in 1997 and tested himself with a 10 km run on a road. His 35 minute time encouraged him to join a training group.

In 2000 he was Ethiopian youth champion in cross-country and African runner-up in the 10,000 meter run . In 2001 he became national cross-country champion, but had to pause most of the season due to injuries. In 2002 he became national champion over 5000 and runner-up over 10,000 meters; over the latter route, he finished fifth at the African Athletics Championships . In 2003 he won bronze at the Pan-African Games .

In 2004, with an eleventh place at the World Cross Country Championships , he contributed to the fact that the Ethiopian men's team won gold for the first time in 18 years. On the track he broke the 13-minute mark over 5000 meters and qualified for the Olympic Games in Athens , where he came in sixth place. In his debut over the half marathon distance , he won the Great North Run with a course record of 59:37 minutes. Because of the gradient of the route, however, this time is not considered for records.

The following year he was sixth on the long-distance and seventh on the short-distance at the World Cross Country Championships. At the World Championships in Helsinki he was eighth over 5000 meters.

Then he switched to the marathon distance . On his debut, he finished fourth in the Fukuoka Marathon in 2:11:48 h. Also in fourth, he improved the following year in the Rotterdam Marathon to 2:08:46 h, and in the Chicago Marathon he was ninth. At the 2007 World Championships marathon in Osaka , he came in 31st place.

At the age of 29, Berhanu committed suicide for unknown reasons. He left behind his wife and three year old daughter.

Personal bests

  • 3000 m : 8: 06.56 min, June 30, 2002, Sheffield
  • 5000 m: 12: 54.15 min, July 2, 2004, Rome
  • 10,000 m: 27: 12.22 min, May 29, 2005, Palo Alto
  • Marathon: 2:08:46 h, April 9, 2006, Rotterdam

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Universal Sports: Death of Ethiopian runner Berhanu a suicide ( Memento from September 6, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (English), September 2, 2010
personal data
SURNAME Berhanu, Dejene
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Ethiopian athlete
DATE OF BIRTH December 12, 1980
PLACE OF BIRTH Addis Alem
DATE OF DEATH August 29, 2010