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.
Gelete Burka Bati is an Ethiopian middle-distance and long-distance runner. She was born in Kofele in the Arsi Zone of the Oromia Region, the same district as double Olympic champion Haile Gebrselassie.
Louis Jacobus van Zyl, better known as L. J. van Zyl, is a South African athlete competing in the 400 metre hurdles. He is the South African record holder in the event with a personal best of 47.66 seconds, which he achieved twice, three months apart. His time ranks him in the all-time top 25. He is a three-time African Champion in the event and competed for his country at the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics.
Souad Aït Salem, also known as Souad Aït Mahour-Bacha is an Algerian long-distance runner who specializes mainly in the half marathon and marathon. She won gold in the 10,000 metres at the 2000 African Championships in Athletics and the 2005 Mediterranean Games. Salem also won the gold in the half marathon at the 2007 All-Africa Games. She holds the Algerian records for every women's event between 3000 metres and the marathon distance.
Sylvia Jebiwott Kibet is a Kenyan professional long-distance runner. She was the silver medallist in the 5000 metres at the World Championships in Athletics in both 2009 and 2011. She also won medals over the distance at the 2006 African Championships in Athletics, the 2007 All-Africa Games and 2010 Commonwealth Games.
Nadia Ejjafini is a Moroccan-born professional long-distance runner. She switched nationality from her birth country to Bahrain in 2003, and later became an Italian citizen by marriage in 2009.
Marina van der Merwe is a former field hockey coach, who was born in Cape Town, South Africa.
Amantle Montsho is a female sprinter from Botswana who specializes in the 400 metres. She represented her country at the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics, reaching the final at the latter edition. She was the first woman to represent Botswana at the Olympics. She has also competed at the World Championships in Athletics and the IAAF World Indoor Championships, and is the former World Champion over the 400m, winning in a personal best time of 49.56 in Daegu.
Halima Hachlaf is a Moroccan runner who specializes in the 800 metres. She is the younger sister of Abdelkader Hachlaf, an international steeplechase athlete. She won silver medals in the 800 m at the Mediterranean Games and Jeux de la Francophonie in 2009. Her personal best for the distance is 1:58.27.
René Kalmer is a South African runner who has competed over distances ranging from 800 metres to the marathon. She represented South Africa at the 2008 Summer Olympics, running in the 1500 metres. She then represented South Africa again at the 2012 Summer Olympics, competing in the marathon.
Roelof Erasmus van der Merwe is a Dutch-South African professional cricketer who has played internationally for both South Africa and the Netherlands, one of the few players to represent more than one international team.
Habiba Ghribi is a Tunisian middle- and long-distance runner who specialises in the 3000 metres steeplechase. She won the gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics, giving her country its first Olympic medal by a woman. She is also the Tunisian record holder in the event, having run 9:05.36 at the Memorial van Damme in Brussels in September 2015.
Seltana Aït Hammou is a Moroccan middle-distance runner who specialises in the 800 metres. She represented her country at the 2004 Summer Olympics and has also competed at the World Championships in Athletics and the IAAF World Indoor Championships. She has also been the gold medallist at number of major events including the 2001 Mediterranean Games, the 2003 Military World Games, the 2007 Pan Arab Games and the 2009 Jeux de la Francophonie.
Gnima Faye is a Senegalese track and field athlete who competes in the 100 metres hurdles. She was the 2012 African champion in the event and has a personal best of 13.17 seconds.
Inés Melchor is a Peruvian long-distance runner. She competed in the marathon at the 2012 Summer Olympics, placing 25th with a time of 2:28:54. In September 2014 she placed 8th at the Berlin Marathon with a time of 2:26.48, new Peruvian national record and the South America area record. Melchor also holds Peruvian records for the 5000 and 10,000 metres on the track.
Marissa Stander Van der Merwe is a retired South African professional road cyclist. She has awarded two South African championship titles each in both road race and time trial, and later represented her nation South Africa at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Marissa also raced for the nation's MTN Cycling team before her official retirement in 2011.
Nagwa Ibrahim Saleh Ali is an Egyptian former racewalker. She is the Egyptian record holder in the 20 kilometres walk with her time of 1:41:08 hours from 2002. She is a three-time African champion and represented Egypt at the IAAF World Race Walking Cup on four occasions.
Sheila Chepkirui Kiprotich is a Kenyan middle- and long-distance runner who competed earlier mainly in the 1500 metres and 5000 metres. She won the bronze medal in the 10,000 metres at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Chepkirui was the 5000 m 2016 African champion, setting the championship record.
Norah Jeruto Tanui is a Kazakhstani long-distance runner specialising in the steeplechase. She won the gold medal in the 3000 metres steeplechase at the 2022 World Championships, becoming the first athlete representing Kazakhstan to win a title at the World Athletics Championships and setting a championship record in the process. Jeruto took gold in the event at the 2016 African Championships in Athletics.
Mariam Ibekwe is a Nigerian former track and field athlete who competed in the shot put. She set her personal best of 16.68 m in 2007.
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