Girma Bekele Gebre (; born 29 December 1992) is an Ethiopian marathon runner who finished third at the 2019 New York City Marathon as a non-elite runner. Gebre also won the 2018 Brooklyn Half Marathon, and came third in the 1,500 metres event at the

2009 World Youth Championships in Athletics The 2009 World Youth Championships in Athletics is the sixth edition of the IAAF World Youth Championships in Athletics. They were held at Brixen-Bressanone Sport Arena in Bressanone, Italy from 8–12 July 2009. Athletes had to be aged 16 or ...

Personal life

Gebre splits his time between living in New York and Ethiopia. In 2019, he moved back to Ethiopia after the death of one of his brothers. His brother Alemu Bekele competed for Bahrain at the

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

and

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

Career

When in New York, Gebre competes for the West Side Runners, and has won multiple club races. Whilst in Ethiopia, he trains at altitude in

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; ,) is the capital city of Ethiopia, as well as the regional state of Oromia. With an estimated population of 2,739,551 inhabitants as of the 2007 census, it is the largest city in the country and the List of cities in Africa b ...

. In 2009, Gebre came third in the 1,500 metres event at the

. In 2016, Gebre came fourth at the Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5-K event in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. In 2018, Gebre won the Brooklyn Half Marathon, in a time of 1:04:56. In the same year, he finished third at the Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5-K event, ninth at the Broad Street Run, and came 19th in the

2018 New York City Marathon The 2018 New York City Marathon was a marathon race held in New York City, New York, which took place on November 4, 2018. It was the 48th edition of the New York City Marathon, which is organised by New York Road Runners. The men's race was won b ...

. He also came third in the 10k event at the Bermuda Marathon Weekend, and competed in a 5k race in

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in Northern Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Washington, D.C., D.C. The city's population of 159,467 at the 2020 ...

. In 2019, Gebre finished the

Pittsburgh Marathon The Pittsburgh Marathon (also known as Dick's Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon for sponsorship reasons) is an annual road marathon usually held on the first Sunday in May in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States, first held in 1 ...

in a time of 2:13:46. Gebre entered the 2019 New York City Marathon as a non-elite runner, and had to pay an entry fee for the event, rather than receiving an appearance fee as elite athletes did. Gebre didn't have a sponsor or an agent, and the night before the race, he stayed with a friend in

The Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

and slept on a couch. In the race, he joined the lead pack in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, where the elite and non-elite courses met. He was in the front group of five runners after of the race, and was in the front four after another runner dropped away from the lead pack. He finished third in the race, and his finishing time of 2:08:38 was 25 seconds behind race winner

Geoffrey Kamworor Geoffrey Kipsang Kamworor (born 22 November 1992) is a Kenyan professional long-distance runner. He won the silver medal in the 10,000 metres at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics. Kamworor claimed victories at the World Half Marathon Ch ...

. He finished ahead of more experienced Ethiopians

Tamirat Tola Tamirat Tola Abera (born 11 August 1991) is an Ethiopian Olympic and world champion long-distance runner. Hailing from the regional state of Oromia, he competes in track, road and cross country events. He won gold medal in the marathon at the ...

and

Shura Kitata Shura Kitata Tola (born 9 June 1996) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who competes in the marathon and half-marathon. He has raced in several World Marathon Majors, including the 2020 London Marathon, where he won the race in a time of 2:0 ...

, and beat his previous

personal best A personal record, or a personal best (abbreviated to PB), is an individual's best performance in a given sporting discipline. It is most commonly found in athletic sports, such as track and field, other forms of running, swimming and weightlifting ...

by over five minutes. Gebre won $40,000 for finishing in third place, $15,000 for finishing in under 2:09:00, and $5,000 for being the highest ranked runner from New York in the race. Gebre said he would use the money to help his family, and it took him 18 months to receive his prize money, as he doesn't have an American bank account. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Gebre worked on a farm in Ethiopia.

Awards

In January 2020, Gebre was awarded the

New York Road Runners New York Road Runners (NYRR) is a non-profit running organization based in New York City whose mission is to help and inspire people through running. It was founded in 1958 by Ted Corbitt with 47 members and has since grown to a membership of more ...

male runner of the year award.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gebre. Girma Bekele 1992 births Living people Ethiopian male marathon runners Ethiopian expatriate sportspeople in the United States