Meskerem Assefa Legesse Wondimagegn (

Amharic Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amhara people, and also serves as a lingua franca for all other metropolitan populati ...

: መስከረም ኣሰፋ ለገሰ ወንድምአገኝ; born 20 September 1985 in Robe, Arsi)Meskerem Assefa
Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2013-02-18. is an Ethiopian

middle Middle or The Middle may refer to: * Centre (geometry), the point equally distant from the outer limits. Places * Middle (sheading), a subdivision of the Isle of Man * Middle Bay (disambiguation) * Middle Brook (disambiguation) * Middle Creek ...

- and

long-distance runner Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely Aerobic exercise, aerobic in nature and requires stamina as well as mental strength. Within endurance ru ...

. She represented Ethiopia at the

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

and

2012 London 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 ...

. She has personal bests including 4:02.12 minutes for 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 ...

, 8:46.37 minutes for the

3000 metres The 3000 metres or 3000-metre run is a track running event, also commonly known as the "3K" or "3K run", where 7.5 laps are run around an outdoor 400 m track, or 15 laps around a 200 m indoor track. It is debated whether the 3000 m sho ...

and 2:25:11 hours for the

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

. Meskerem competes principally in the 1500 m. She is a two-time participant at the

World Championships in Athletics The World Athletics Championships, known as the IAAF World Championships in Athletics until 2019, are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics, formerly International Association of Athletics Federations. Alongside Olympic ...

and was the silver medallist at the

2008 African Championships in Athletics The 16th African Championships in Athletics was held in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia, from April 30 to May 4, 2008. The competition venue was the Addis Ababa Stadium. It is the largest Athletics event held in Ethiopia to date. It was ...

Career

Meskerem started running middle-distance races in 2001 and while in

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

in 2003 she ran an

800 metres The 800 metres, or 800 meters (American and British English spelling differences#-re.2C -er, US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of a ...

best of 2:01.11 minutes and a

best of 4:03.96 minutes. She was mainly based in the United States until 2007.Meskerem Assefa

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

. Retrieved on 2013-02-19. A win at the All-Ethiopian Games 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 ...

and a runner-up finish at the

Ethiopian Athletics Championships The Ethiopian Athletics Championships is an annual outdoor track and field competition organised by the Ethiopian Athletics Federation, which serves as the national championship for the sport in Ethiopia. The competition was first held in 1971.

brought her a place at the

2007 All-Africa Games The 9th All-Africa Games (; ), also known as Algiers 2007 (), took place from 11 to 23 July 2007 in Algiers, the capital city of Algeria. Algiers became the first city to hold All-Africa Games for a second time. The 1978 All-Africa Games were a ...

, where she placed fourth with a run of 4:09.83 minutes. The following year brought her first major senior medal – she was 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 behind

Gelete Burka Gelete Burka Bati (sometimes misspelled ''Burika'', Oromo: Galate Burqaa Baati, Amharic: ገለቴ ቡርቃ; born 23 January 1986) is an Ethiopian middle-distance and long-distance runner. She was born in Kofele in the Arsi Zone of the Oromi ...

in the 1500 m at the

. On the Brazilian athletics circuit she had three straight wins including a personal best of 2:02.12 minutes in the 800 m in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

. Her best run in the 1500 m that season was 4:05.67 minutes, which came at a meeting in

Jerez de la Frontera Jerez de la Frontera () or simply Jerez, also cited in old English-language sources as , is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality in the province of Cádiz in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Sp ...

. She was chosen to represent Ethiopia at the 2008 Summer Olympics, but she was eliminated in the first round of heats. A runner-up finish at the national championships earned her a place at the

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 passed the first round, but did not start in the semi-final. Her best 1500 m that year (4:05.99) was at the

Prefontaine Classic The Prefontaine Classic is a track and field meet held at Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Organized by the Oregon Track Club, it was previously one of the IAAF Grand Prix events, and ...

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lane County, Oregon, United States. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie River (Oregon), McKenzie and Willamette River, Willamette rivers, ...

, and she also set a

personal best of 8:46.37 minutes at the Meeting Lille Metropole. Her major competition of 2010 was the

African Championships An African Championship is a top level international sports competition between Africa, African athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports club, sports clubs. List of championships ;Athletics * African ...

, where she was fifth over 1500 m. In the first half of the year she began to move away from middle-distance towards

long-distance running Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely aerobic in nature and requires stamina as well as mental strength. Within endurance running come two di ...

: she was runner-up at the Le Mans Cross Country, set a

5000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a sta ...

time of 15:03.49 minutes for third at the GE Galan, won the

Cooper River Bridge Run The Cooper River Bridge Run is a one-way road running event across the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge held in the cities of Mount Pleasant and Charleston in South Carolina, on the first Saturday in April (had been first Sunday of April in 1978, fi ...

with a run of 32:31 minutes for the 10K, and had third-place finishes at the

Carlsbad 5000 The Carlsbad 5000 is an annual 5K run, five kilometer (3.1 mile) road running event that takes place each spring in the city of Carlsbad, California, along the north coast of San Diego County, California, San Diego County. Organization The event i ...

and Crescent City Classic 5K road races. In spite of success in longer races, Meskerem focused on the 1500 m in 2011 and achieved her best results yet. She ran a career best of 4:03.63 minutes for second at the

Colorful Daegu Championships Meeting The Colorful Daegu Championships Meeting was an annual track and field competition at the Daegu Stadium in Daegu, South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half o ...

, then improved this further to 4:02.12 minutes as runner-up at the

Golden Gala Golden Gala is an annual Track and field, track and field event normally held at the Stadio Olimpico, Olympic Stadium in Rome, Italy. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now part of the Diamond League. Following the 2013 deat ...

IAAF 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 ...

meeting. She ran 4:06.32 for another second place at the

Brazzaville Brazzaville () is the capital (political), capital and largest city of the Republic of the Congo. Administratively, it is a Departments of the Republic of the Congo, department and a Communes of the Republic of the Congo, commune. Constituting t ...

meeting and placed seventh with a run of 4:04.48 minutes at the top level

Herculis The Herculis is an annual track and field meet at Stade Louis II in Fontvieille, Monaco. Previously one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix events. Herculis is now part of the Diamond League. Editions World records Over the course of its histo ...

meet. She ranked second to

Kalkidan Gezahegne Kalkidan Gezahegne (born 8 May 1991) is an Ethiopian-born Bahraini middle- and long-distance runner. She is the 10,000 metres 2020 Tokyo Olympics silver medallist. 11 years earlier, at age 18, Gezahegne became the youngest ever female World ind ...

among Ethiopian runners that year. She was again chosen to represent Ethiopia on the global stage, but was eliminated in the heats of the

2011 World Championships in Athletics The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011. The United States topped the medal standings in the ...

. She again placed fourth in the 1500 m at the

2011 All-Africa Games The 10th All-Africa Games (), also known as Maputo 2010, took place between September 3–18, 2011 in Maputo, Mozambique. Maputo's hosting marked the third time the Games was held in the southern part of the continent. Host awarding In April 20 ...

, just finishing off the podium. At the start of 2012 she ran indoor bests of 4:07.65 minutes for the 1500 m and 8:53.18 minutes for the 3000 m. Outdoors, her season's best came in Daegu, where she repeated her placing of the previous year, coming second in 4:06.52 minutes. Meskerem's second Olympic appearance followed at the 2012 London Games, but again she did not progress beyond the heats of the 1500 m. After the Olympics she placed second at the

DécaNation DécaNation is an annual track and field meeting organized by the French Athletics Federation (Fédération Française d'Athlétisme) since 2005. The competition comprises national teams of athletes competing in a decathlon, with each athlete compet ...

competition. Meskerem made a significant, and successful, step up in distance at the beginning of 2013 as she entered the

Houston Marathon The Houston Marathon is an annual marathon usually held every January in Houston, Texas, United States, since 1972. With thousands of runners and spectators, it is the largest single day sporting event in the city. It is run concurrently wit ...

and finished in third place with a time of 2:25:17 hours. Three months later she was runner-up to Flomena Cheyech at the

Vienna Marathon The Vienna City Marathon is an annual marathon race over the classic distance of 42.195 km held in Vienna, Austria since 1984. History The first edition was held on with a total of 794 competitors. It is Austria's largest road running event ...

.Wenig, Jörg (2013-04-14)
Hat trick wins for Sugut and Gebrselassie in Vienna
IAAF. Retrieved on 2013-04-17.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Assefa, Meskerem 1985 births Living people Ethiopian female middle-distance runners Ethiopian female long-distance runners Ethiopian female marathon runners Olympic athletes for Ethiopia Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes from Oromia 21st-century Ethiopian sportswomen