Kenenisa Bekele was born on the 13th of June 1982 at Bekoji, Arsi Zone in the Oromia Regional State of Ethiopia. Bekele has represented Ethiopia in multiple competitions over a career spanning over two decades.
Over the course of his lucrative career, he has won multiple medals solidifying his niché as one of the most decorated long-distance runners in the world.
He began his medal-collecting spree at the IAAF World Junior Cross Country in 2001 where he won the title, even breaking the previous record by a whopping 33 seconds. Just five months later, in August 2001, he set a new 3000 metres world Junior record running 7:30.67 minutes in Brussels. This record would be broken by the Kenyan runner, Augustine Choge with a run of 7:28.78 minutes.
In the December of the same year, Bekele won the 15k road race Montferland Run in the Netherlands which he had also won the previous year, 2000. He was only 17 when he won his first medal.
Bekele is perhaps, unarguably, one of IAAF’s greatest champions having collected a total of 19 medals from his participation in the IAAF World Cross Country Championships at various levels. 11 of these are senior individual gold medals, 6 of them for his wins in the long course and 5 in the short course.
IAAF later eliminated the short course in the year 2007 by which time Bekele had already ammassed an additional 1 senior silver medal(2001), 1 junior gold medal(2001), 2 team gold medals(2004, 2005), 3 team silver medals(2002, 2003, & 2008). He also won 1 team bronze medal in 2006.
In 2009, at the World Championships in Athletics held in Berlin, Germany, Bekele won two gold medals. He picked up double victories in 5000m in a time of 13:17.09 minutes and 10,000m(26:46.31-a World Championships Record) which, at the time, were unprecedented.
This achievement made him the first man to win 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,’ says Wikipedia of his ability to turn tables on his opponents especially around the final stages of the races.
During the 10000m race, while he was still running a short distance behind Eritrea’s Zersenay Tadesse, he accelerated on beginning the final lap of the game in such a way that he turned what had been described as an “ostensibly close race” into a blowout. The exhilarated IAAF announcer then concluded by saying “this man is probably the greatest distance runner we will ever see.”
Olympics
Bekele won both the 10000 and 5000m races at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. By achieving an Olympic double, he joined another elite group of athletes namely: Hannes Kolehmainen(1912), Emil Zátopek(1952), Vladimir Kuts(1956), Lasse Virén who won an Olympic double twice(1972 & 1976) and Miruts Yifter(1980).
On 17 August 2008, Bekele won gold in the 10000m finals with a time of 27:01.17 minutes. He set a new Olympic Record in the process. This could have been the most competitive 10000m race in Olympic history at the time as more than 20 runners broke the 28-minute barrier and four of them finished under his 2004 Olympic record of 27:05.10.
This challenge for Kenenisa meant that he needed his renowned finishing kick to pull a victory. He ran the final 400 metres in an incredible time of 53.42 seconds. This figure is also very similar to his 52.02 second final 400-metre sprint he applied to clinch a gold medal in Athens in 2004 over the same distance.
Kenenisa won the gold medal in the 5000m finals at the same Beijing Olympics on the 23rd of August 2008. He shattered Saïd Aouita’s previous Olympic record by a whopping 8 seconds recording a new time of 12:57.82 minutes.
The race was remarkable for his manner of doing most of the pacing himself before accelerating to a scintillating finish. It only took him an incredible time of 7:35.53 minute to finish the last 3000m of the race, his final 2000m took 4:56.97, last 1600m(3:57.01) and the final lap a punishing 53.87 seconds.
Commercial Success
Despite his achievement on the road and track, the same cannot be said of his success in financial and sponsorship aspects. Unlike his peers such as Haile Gebreselasie, Bekele hasn’t benefited as would have been befitting of a multiple world and Olympic champion.
This was partly attributed to his apparent aversion to media interviews. He has remained introverted and generally out of the limelight despite being a thrill on the track to his innumerable number of fans, mostly from his home country of Ethiopia but also a huge chunk of athletics fanatics spread across the world.
So glaring was his lack of recognition that no other than Usain Bolt, the Jamaican sprinter who also held a double Olympic record in the 100 and 200-metre races remarked that “Kenenisa Bekele’s achievements had not received the recognition that they deserved.”
Marathon career
Bekele made his marathon debut at the 2014 Paris Marathon on the 6th of April 2014. His first stab at the marathon title was said to be ‘very successful’. This is because he apparently bettered both the Paris course record and the debut marathon times of past legends including Haile Gebrselassie, Paul Tergat and Samuel Wanjiru. Bekele ran a time of 2:05:04 hours to win.
Bekele competed at the 2014 Chicago Marathon on 12 October 2014 where he finished fourth in a time of 2:05:51 hours. This was a whopping 1min 40s behind Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge. In 2015 he embarked on the Dubai Marathon but had to drop from the race after 30 km.
After finishing third at the 2016 London Marathon in April, Bekele went on to win the Berlin Marathon in September of that year with a time of 2:03:03 which was a personal best for him at the marathon distance and the second fastest marathon of all time.
After a number of marathon streaks that didn’t bore gold, Kenenisa came back to the 2019 Berlin Marathon in September, winning with an incredible time of 2:01:41. This is the second fastest time ever and just two seconds shy of the world record set by Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge on the same course the previous year.
This, in all, brings his marathon gold to three which is a phenomenal number even for an athlete like himself.
Bekele has stated that he still believes he can break the world record and coming from him, you know it’s a result that can be expected. He is yet to retire and doesn’t seem to be hanging up his boots despite being in his forties now.
There is not much that is known in the way of his personal life but a tragic event did happen to him back in the year 2005. This is when his fiancée, Alem Techale, who was only 18-years-old died of what was suspected to be a heart attack. She was reportedly on a training run with Bekele.
It was later reported that an autopsy that was apparently conducted had not revealed any conclusive cause as to her death. She was the 2003 World Youth Champion in the 1500 metres and reportedly in “excellent physical condition.”
Kenenisa married Danawit Gebregziabher on the 18th of November 2007 in Addis Ababa. Danawit is an Ethiopian film actress.
So famous is Kenenisa Bekele in Ethiopia that the legendary artist, Teddy Afro, composed a full song just about him(Bekele). The song is called “Anbessa/Ambessa” and you may listen to it alongside the visuals of Kenenisa Bekele conquering the tracks below:
Judging by the number of medals that he has racked up across his career which spans over two decades which are spread across a variety of long-distances, he can easily fit into the title as ‘the greatest long-distance runner in history.’
What are your thoughts about this publication? Keep up with us on Instagram and Facebook.
Share This Post
