Maryam Yusuf Jamal (; ) (born Zenebech Tola) (born 16 September 1984) is an Ethiopian-born Bahraini middle-distance runner. She is the first Bahraini athlete to win an Olympic medal, a gold (originally bronze, but later upgraded after two doping violations by other competitors) in the 1,500m women's race, in the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. This was also the first Olympic medal won by a woman representing a Gulf state. Born in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

, 2005 was her first full season. She gained the national record and ran the fastest 3000 m of the year, with a time of 8:28.87 at a race in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

. Jamal is a two-time world champion in the 1,500 m, having won at the

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

and

2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15 to 23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenbu ...

. She represented Bahrain at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, finishing fifth in the 1,500 m final. Jamal has also had much success at regional competitions: winning two

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

s at the 2006 Asian Games in addition to the Asian Cross Country Championships in both 2007 and 2009.

Early life and transfer

Jamal was born in the

Arsi Zone Arsi () is a Zones of Ethiopia, zone in Oromia Region of Ethiopia, named after a clan of the Oromo people, Oromo, who inhabit in the area. Arsi is bordered on the south by Bale Zone, on the southwest by the West Arsi Zone, on the northwest by Ea ...

in the

Oromia Region Oromia (, ) is a Regions of Ethiopia, regional state in Ethiopia and the homeland of the Oromo people. Under Article 49 of 1995 Constitution of Ethiopia, Ethiopian Constitution, the capital of Oromia is Addis Ababa, also called Finfinne. The ...

, an area famous for distance runners, including Haile Gebrselassie,

Kenenisa Bekele Kenenisa Bekele Beyecha (; ; born 13 June 1982) is an Ethiopian Long-distance running, long-distance runner. He was the world record holder in both the 5000 metres, 5,000-metre and 10000 metres, 10,000-metre from 2004 until 2020. He won the go ...

and Tirunesh Dibaba. She is from a Christian family but it is not certain if she has converted to Islam. She is of Oromo background. Jamal later left Ethiopia with her husband, Tariq Yaqoob, due partially to political and economic problems. She had run a qualifying time for the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

, but was allegedly refused permission to represent her home country by the Ethiopian Athletic Federation due to the competition in the country as well as politics. In 2004, she and her husband sought political asylum in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. She applied for multiple citizenship papers before Bahrain granted them to her that same year. First, she applied for citizenship in the US, Canada and France. Bahrain, eager to gain a sporting image, granted this in exchange that she change her name to an

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

one and that she compete in the

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years for athletes of Asia. The Games were regulated by Asian Games Federation from the 1951 Asian Games, first Games in New Delhi, India in 1951, until ...

Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

in 2006. Based in Lausanne, Jamal often trains at altitude in St. Moritz. She is trained by her husband Tariq Yaqoob (who was Mnashu Taye before being granted Bahraini citizenship with his wife).

Career

She ran at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics, but was obstructed in the final, which resulted in the disqualification of the

silver medal A silver medal, in sports and other similar areas involving competition, is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, ...

list Yuliya Chizhenko. She beat the event winner, Tatyana Tomashova, soon afterwards to take the gold at the 2005 IAAF World Athletics Final. After a

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

performance at the

2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 11th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) was held in Moscow from March 10 to March 12, 2006 in the Olympic Stadium (Moscow arena), Olimpiyski Sport are ...

, Jamal beat Tomashova twice more at major events the following year, bringing Asia victory in the 1500 m at the 2006 IAAF World Cup and winning at the 2006 IAAF World Athletics Final. She closed the year with an 800/1500 m double at the 2006 Asian Games. She turned her skills to

cross country running Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and soil, earth, pass through woodlands and ope ...

at the start of 2007: she took first place at the Cinque Mulini and went on to win the individual and team gold medals at the Asian Cross Country Championships. At the

2007 World Championships in Athletics The 11th World Championships in Athletics, () under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), were held at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan from 24 August to 2 September 2007. 200 of the IAAF's 212 member feder ...

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

, Jamal passed Yelena Soboleva in the last 200 metres to win the women's 1500 metres, winning the only gold medal for Bahrain. She made it a third consecutive World Final victory at the 2007 IAAF World Athletics Final, finishing ahead of Soboleva (who was later disqualified for switching urine samples to avoid drug testing). At the start of the next season, she competed at the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships and ran a close indoor 1500 m against Gelete Burka. Sobeleva set a world record for the victory but was later stripped of the title. Burka was elevated to gold while Jamal gained the silver medal, which she won in an Asian record time of 3:59.79. She did not build on her World Championship success with an Olympic medal as she finished fifth in the

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1500-metre run is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletics since 1983. It is equivalent to 1.5 kilomet ...

at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Another win at the 2008 IAAF World Athletics Final closed the year. Jamal became the first female athlete to win twice at the Asian Cross Country Championships, taking her second gold and competing in Bahrain for the first time. She ran at the 2009 IAAF World Cross Country Championships at finished ninth overall. Making up for her Olympic defeat, she defended her world title on the track with a win at the

, just staying ahead of Lisa Dobriskey at the finish line. A fourth-place finish at the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Final brought an end to a successful season. In 2010, Jamal competed on the inaugural

Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fifteen invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics one-day meet competitions. The inaugural season was ...

circuit, including a second-place finish behind Sentayehu Ejigu at the Herculis meeting. Later that season, she ran at the 2010 Asian Games and managed to retain her title over 1500 m. She later opened her 2011 with a win at the

Eurocross Eurocross is an annual international cross country running competition which takes place in Diekirch, Luxembourg in February. It is one of the IAAF permit meetings which serve as qualifying events for the IAAF World Cross Country Championships. I ...

, following on from compatriot Mimi Belete's win the previous year.

2012: Olympic Games

In the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Jamal placed third in the 1500m race, finishing in 4:10:74, behind Asli Cakir Alptekin and Gamze Bulut, both of

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. Alptekin was later given an eight-year ban for biological passport violations, a doping related offense, and stripped of her gold medal. Gamze Bulut was also later suspended for biological passport irregularities and was stripped of her silver medal on March 29, 2017. Four of the other finishers in the first nine finishers have also been linked to performance-enhancing drugs.

2021: Upgrade to Olympic Gold

In December 2021, Maryam Yusuf Jamal was upgraded to the gold medal after those ahead of her had been disqualified for doping violations in March of 2017.

Controversy

After winning the 3000 m in

on July 14, 2005, her image was published throughout the international sporting press. Her outfit of short shorts and a sleeveless, midriff-baring top caused a minor outrage in

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

led by MP Hamad Al-Muhannadi. In 2004, Bahraini champion Ruqaya Al Ghasra competed in the Athens Olympics fully covered. Bahrain Athletics Association vice-president Mohammed Jamal said the association was already planning to give new sportswear to Jamal, which covered her stomach and her legs down to the knee. However, comments by Mohammed Jamal show that to be unlikely to actually occur.

Personal bests

References

External links

*
Article and picture of Maryam Yusuf Jamal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jamal, Maryam Yusuf 1984 births Living people Athletes from Oromia Ethiopian emigrants to Bahrain Naturalized citizens of Bahrain Bahraini Muslims Ethiopian Muslims Oromo people Bahraini people of Ethiopian descent Bahraini female middle-distance runners Bahraini female long-distance runners Bahraini female cross country runners Ethiopian female middle-distance runners Ethiopian female long-distance runners Ethiopian female cross country runners Olympic female middle-distance runners Olympic athletes for Bahrain Olympic gold medalists for Bahrain Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Asian Games gold medalists for Bahrain Asian Games gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2006 Asian Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2010 Asian Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Asian Games Medalists at the 2006 Asian Games Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Bahrain World Athletics Championships winners World Athletics Championships medalists Asian Cross Country Championships winners Asian Indoor Athletics Championships winners Arab Athletics Championships winners