Kenenisa Bekele Beyecha is an Ethiopian long-distance runner. He was the world record holder in both the 5000-metre and 10000-metre from 2004 until 2020. He won the gold medal in both the 5000 m and 10,000 m events at the 2008 Summer Olympics. At the 2004 Olympics, he won the gold medal in the 10,000 m and the silver medal in the 5000 m.
Tatyana Romanovna Lebedeva is a Russian track and field athlete who competes in both the long jump and triple jump events. She is one of the most successful athletes in the disciplines, having won gold medals at Olympic, world and European levels. She has a long jump best of 7.33 m and held the then indoor world record mark of 15.36 m in the triple jump. In 2017 she was banned for doping.
Meseret Defar Tola is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who competes chiefly in the 3000 metres and 5000 metres events. She has won medals at top-tier international competitions including Olympic and World Championship gold medals over 5000 metres. She broke the world record in the event in 2006, broke it again in 2007 and held it until 2008, when fellow Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba beat her time.
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 federations entered a total of 1,978 athletes, the greatest number of competitors at any World Championships to date. Sarah Brightman, the world's best-selling soprano, performed her single Running at the opening ceremony.
The 13th International Association of Athletics Federations (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 14th IAAF World Championships in Athletics was an international athletics competition held in Moscow, Russia, from 10 to 18 August 2013. Initially, Russia won the most gold medals to top the table for the first time since 2001. It was also the first time ever the host nation took the top of the medal table. However, following the disqualification of Russian sprinter Antonina Krivoshapka for doping and after the redistribution of medals in the Women's 4 × 400 metres relay, the United States moved to the top of the medal table with eight golds. In the overall medal count, the United States won 26 medals in total, followed by Kenya with 12. With 1,784 athletes from 203 countries it was the biggest single sports event of the year. The number of spectators for the evening sessions was 268,548 surpassing Daegu 2011.
Susan Chepkemei is a Kenyan long-distance runner, who competes in the 10,000 metres and marathon. In 2001, she won the Rotterdam Marathon and came first in the Great North Run, as well as winning the silver medal in the World Half Marathon Championships. She won also won the silver medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in the 10,000 m.
Ahmed Ibrahim Baday is a Moroccan long-distance runner who specialized in the 5000 metres and cross-country running but now competes in road running competitions. He is currently banned for doping.
Anna Carmela Incerti is an Italian long-distance runner who specializes in the marathon. She has represented Italy in the marathon at European, World and Olympic-level. She won the bronze in the event at the 2010 European Championships, later upgraded to silver and then to gold.
Asbel Kipruto Kiprop is a Kenyan middle-distance runner, who specialises in the 1500 metres. He was awarded the 1500 m gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics after the original winner, Rashid Ramzi, tested positive for doping. Kiprop has won three World Championship titles in the event, in 2011, 2013 and 2015. Kiprop failed his own doping test in November 2017 and received a four-year doping ban.
Gong Lijiao is a Chinese Olympic shot putter and the 2020 Olympic champion in that event. A three-time Olympic medalist, she holds a record eight medals at the World Athletics Championships, including two World titles.
Genzebe Dibaba Keneni is an Ethiopian middle- and long-distance runner. A 1500 metres 2016 Rio Olympics silver medalist, she won a gold medal in this event and a bronze in the 5000 metres at the 2015 World Championships. Genzebe is the current world record holder for the indoor events of the one mile, 3000m and 5000m.
Mariya Ivanovna Konovalova is a Russian long-distance runner. She has represented Russia in both track running and cross country running and was the silver medallist at the 2006 European Cross Country Championships. She has competed at the World Championships in Athletics on four occasions, and ran for Russia at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The 2009 South American Championships in Athletics was the forty sixth edition of the tournament and was held between 19 and 21 June in Lima, Peru.
Yuliya Mikhailovna Zaripova is a Russian former disgraced middle-distance runner who specialised in the 3000 metres steeplechase event.
The athletics competitions at the 2012 Olympic Games in London were held during the last 10 days of the Games, on 3–12 August. Track and field events took place at the Olympic Stadium in east London. The road events, however, started and finished on The Mall in central London.
Almaz Ayana Eba is an Ethiopian female long-distance runner. She won the gold medal in the 10,000 metres and bronze for the 5000 metres at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Almaz is a four-time World Athletics Championships medallist earning a bronze for the 5000m in 2013, gold at the event in 2015 as well as gold in the 10,000m and silver for the 5000m in 2017.
The 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships was the seventeenth edition of the biennial, global athletics competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), since renamed World Athletics. It was held between 27 September and 6 October 2019 in Doha, Qatar, at the renovated multi-purpose Khalifa International Stadium, but reduced to 21,000 available seats. 1,772 athletes from 206 teams competed in 49 athletics events over the ten-day competition, comprising 24 events each for men and women, plus a mixed relay. There were 43 track and field events, 4 racewalking events, and 2 marathon road running events. The racewalking and marathon events were held in Doha Corniche.
The 1500 metres at the Summer Olympics has been contested since the first edition of the multi-sport event. The men's 1500 m has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since 1896. The women's event was not introduced until over seventy years later, but it has been a permanent fixture since it was first held in 1972. The Olympics final and the World Athletics Championships final are the most prestigious 1500 m races at an elite level. The competition format comprises three rounds: a heats stage, semi-finals, then a final typically between twelve athletes.
Sifan Hassan is an Ethiopian-born Dutch middle- and long-distance runner. She is most recognized for her versatility in running championship and world leading performances in widely disparate distances. She completed an unprecedented triple at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, winning gold medals in both the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres and a bronze medal for the 1500 metres. Hassan is the only athlete in Olympic history to win medals across a middle-distance event and both long-distance races in a single Games. She is only the second woman to complete an Olympic distance double.
