Personal information | |
---|---|
Nationality | Swedish |
Born | 22 June 1996 |
Sport | |
Sport | Track and Field |
Event | marathon |
Club | Keep Up RC |
Ebba Tulu Chala (born 22 June 1996) [1] is a Swedish athlete who competes in the marathon. He was born in Ethiopia and emigrated as a child.
Chala is an Oromo from near Bekoji, where the altitude is between 2,500 and 3,000 metres. [2] and although he was not a runner, he walked between one and two hours each way to school. After his father was murdered by Tigre and he himself was imprisoned and tortured, his uncle smuggled him out of Ethiopia to Nairobi, from where he reached Sweden as an unaccompanied minor refugee in 2013; he does not know what happened to his mother and siblings. He found his way to refugee accommodation in Salem, near Stockholm, where he stayed for a year. [2] Two months after his arrival, at Sågbäcksgymnasiet , his school in Huddinge Municipality, he tried running and discovered he was very fast. [3]
Three weeks after his discovery, Chala was entered by his teacher in a 10,000 m race at Nacka, and came third with a time of 32.22. [3] Since 2015, he has won one bronze and four silver medals at the Swedish Athletics Championships, [1] his first for the marathon being silver in 2019. [4]
At the Seville Marathon in February 2020, he reached the international qualifying standard for the Summer Olympics as well as the World Athletics Championships with a personal best time of 2:11:18; [4] [5] however, the Swedish Olympic standard is lower, at 2 hours, 11 minutes. [6] Sidelined by injuries after that, he returned to run the Stockholm Marathon in 2021 and in early 2022 trained in Ethiopia together with the Iranian-Swedish marathoner Mohammad Reza . [4] He was not selected for the 2021 Olympics. [7]
Initially threatened with deportation, [3] Chala became a naturalised Swedish citizen on 15 May 2022. [1]
Kenenisa Bekele Beyecha is an Ethiopian long-distance runner. He was the world record holder in both the 5,000-metre and 10,000-metre from 2004 until 2020. He won the gold medal in both the 5,000 m and 10,000 m events at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. At the 2004 Olympics, he won the gold medal in the 10,000 m and the silver medal in the 5,000 m.
Derartu Tulu NL COL is an Ethiopian former long-distance runner, who competed in track, cross country running, and road running up to the marathon distance.
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The Stockholm Marathon, known as the adidasStockholm Marathon for sponsorship reasons, is an annual marathon arranged in Stockholm, Sweden, since 1979. It serves as the Swedish marathon championship race. At the 2009 Stockholm Marathon more than 18,500 participants were registered. The marathon is categorized as a Bronze Label Road Race by World Athletics.
Abreham Cherkos Feleke is an Ethiopian professional long-distance runner. A former track specialist, he now competes in road running events including the marathon.
The men's marathon was a track and field athletics event held as part of the athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics programme. The distance used was 40.2 kilometres, nearly 2 full kilometres shorter than that used in 1908 and since 1924. The competition was held on Sunday, July 14, 1912. 95 runners entered, but only 68 runners competed. NOCs could enter up to 12 athletes. With conditions described as "very hot", only 36 of the 68 competitors finished. The event was won by Ken McArthur of South Africa, the nation's first Olympic marathon victory.
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Abeba Aregawi Gebretsadik is an Ethiopian-born Swedish retired middle-distance runner who specialised in the 1,500 metres. She won the silver medal in the 1,500 m at the 2012 Summer Olympics and a gold medal at the World Championships in 2013. She represented Ethiopia internationally until December 2012, and afterwards represented Sweden.
Almaz Ayana Eba is an Ethiopian female long-distance runner. She won the gold medal in the 10,000 metres and bronze in the 5,000 metres at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Almaz is a four-time World Athletics Championships medallist earning a bronze for the 5,000m in 2013, gold at the event in 2015 as well as gold in the 10,000m and silver in the 5,000m in 2017.
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Girmaw Amare is an Olympic runner who competes in the 10,000 m, half marathon, marathon, and half marathon team event. Born in Ethiopia, he represented Israel at the 2020 Summer Olympics. In 2022, Amare won a team gold medal in the 2022 European Marathon Cup at the 2022 European Athletics Championships. In 2023 at the Valencia Marathon, Amare ran a personal best 2:05:52. Amare represented Israel at the 2024 Paris Olympics in the Men's marathon, and came in 44th.