Abeba Aregawi
Aregawi at the 2014 European Athletics Championships in Zürich
Personal information
NationalityEthiopian
Swedish (since June 2012)
Born (1990-07-05) 5 July 1990
Adigrat, Ethiopia
Sport
SportAthletics
Event(s)800 metres, 1500 metres
Clubnone
Retired2018[1]
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing  Ethiopia
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place2012 London1500 m
Representing  Sweden
World Championships
Gold medal – first place2013 Moscow1500 m
World Indoor Championships
Gold medal – first place2014 Sopot1500 m
Diamond League
First place20121500 m
First place20131500 m
European Championships
Silver medal – second place2014 Zürich1500 m
European Indoor Championships
Gold medal – first place2013 Gothenburg1500 m

Abeba Aregawi Gebretsadik (Amharic: አበባ አረጋዊ ;born 5 July 1990) is an Ethiopian-Swedish retired middle-distance runner who specialised in the 1,500 metres. She won the bronze medal in the 1,500 m at the 2012 Summer Olympics and a gold medal at the World Championships in 2013. She has represented both Ethiopia and Sweden internationally.

Biography

Abeba Aregawi was born in Adigrat, Ethiopia in the Tigray Region. She represented Ethiopia internationally until December 2012, after she became a naturalized Swedish citizen.[2][3][4] She represented the Stockholm-based club Hammarby IF to January 2016.[5]

Aregawi was married to an Ethiopian man with Swedish citizenship and lived in Stockholm from 2009 to 2012. She is now remarried to Yemane Tsegay and lives in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Athletic career

2009

Aregawi emerged as an 800 metres runner in 2009 by winning the Ethiopian title in the event ahead of three-time champion Mestawet Tadesse.[6] She competed at a number of European meets after this then set a personal best of 2:01.98 minutes in Tangiers. Her season culminated in an 800 m bronze medal at the 2009 African Junior Athletics Championships, where she finished behind Caster Semenya.[7]

2010

She switched to the 1500 metres in the 2010 season and enjoyed success with wins at the Sollentuna Grand Prix and KBC Night of Athletics meetings, setting a personal best of 4:01.96 minutes at the latter race. She also ran on the 2010 Diamond League circuit for the first time, coming fourth at the DN Galan and seventh at the Weltklasse Zurich.

2011

Aregawi had a strong indoor season in 2011, with four straight wins in Düsseldorf, Gent, Birmingham and Stockholm, including a personal best run of 4:01.47 minutes. However, she only made one appearance outdoors as her season was stopped due to injury.[8][9]

2012

She emerged as one of the world's top 1500 m runners on the 2012 IAAF Diamond League circuit, she won also overall title of Diamond league 2012: 1500 m. She was second to Genzebe Dibaba at the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix,[10] running a best of 3:59.23 minutes. However, she defeated her rival at the Golden Gala, breaking the Ethiopian national record with a run of 3:56.54 minutes,[11] literally days before receiving Swedish citizenship, then won again at the Bislett Games.[12] Aregawi won both the 800 m and the 1500 m for Hammarby IF in the Swedish team championships on June 20. Representing Ethiopia at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Aregawi ran the fastest time in the 1500 metres competition. However, that was while winning the second semi-final race. In the slow, strategic final, Aregawi came off the final turn a step behind the eventual winner Aslı Çakır Alptekin, but faded badly with 20 meters to go in the final straight, initially finishing fifth. After the race, both Alptekin and silver medalist Gamze Bulut were disqualified due to doping violations. Aregawi was subsequently re-allocated the bronze medal.[13]

2013

Aregawi (C in yellow) leads the pack in the 1500 m final en route to her first world title at the 2013 World Championships in Moscow.

Aregawi contested her first race representing Sweden at international level during the European Indoor Championships in front of her home crowd in Gothenburg, where she won the gold medal. She won the first five Diamond League events and secured the overall title with two races left. She set the Swedish national record in the 1500 at 3:56.60 (just .06 slower than her Ethiopian record the previous season) at the first Diamond League meet in Doha, Qatar. Four weeks later, she added the Swedish record at 800 metres, taking it down to 1:59.20 at the Fanny Blankers-Koen Games in Hengelo, Netherlands. Both records took down marks by Malin Ewerlöf-Krepp that were almost 15 years old.

At the World Championships in Moscow Aregawi won the gold medal at 1500 metres, Sweden's eighth gold medal since the first championships in 1983.[14]

2014

On 6 February, Aregawi won the 1500 m race at XL Galan in Ericsson Globe at the time of 3:57.91. The time was a new European indoor record and the second best of all time. During the indoor season she also won the World Indoor Championships and took her third straight gold medal in international championships.

Doping suspension

On February 29, 2016, the Swedish Athletics Federation stated that Aregawi had tested positive for the substance (meldonium) in January 2016.[15] She was provisionally suspended from competing the same day.[15] In July 2016, the Swedish Doping Commission lifted her suspension due to insufficient evidence on how long the drug - which was prohibited only January 2016 - takes to be excreted from the body.[16]

Aregawi was officially struck from the list of active athletes by the Swedish Athletics Association on 28 November 2018. [17]

Achievements

Aregawi celebrates her 1500 m victory at Moscow 2013.

International competitions

YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventTime
Representing  Ethiopia
2012 Olympic Games London, United Kingdom 3rd 1500 m 4:11.03
Representing  Sweden
2013 European Indoor Championships Gothenburg, Sweden 1st 1500 m 4:04.47
World Championships Moscow, Russia 1st 1500 m 4:02:67
2014 World Indoor Championships Sopot, Poland 1st 1500 m 4:00.61
European Championships Zurich, Switzerland 2nd 1500 m 4:05.08
2015 World Championships Beijing, China 6th 1500 m 4:12.16

Circuit wins and titles

= IAAF Diamond League event

2011
2012
2013
2014

Personal bests

EventTime (m:s)VenueCompetitionDateNotes
800 metres1:59.20Hengelo, NetherlandsFBK Games8 June 2013Swedish record
1500 metres (ETH)3:56.54Rome, ItalyGolden Gala31 May 2012Ethiopian record
1500 metres (SWE)3:56.60Doha, QatarAthletic Super GP10 May 2013Swedish record
1500 metres indoor3:57.91Stockholm, SwedenXL Galan6 February 2014Swedish record, 3rd of all time

References

  1. ↑ "Abeba Aregawi har avslutat sin karriär". 28 November 2018.
  2. ↑ http://www.svt.se/sport/friidrott/abeba-aregawi-sveriges-stora-guldhopp "Abeba Aregawi Sveriges stora guldhopp" (in Swedish) SVT. 15 August 2013
  3. ↑ "Här blir hon historisk" (in Swedish) Aftonbladet. 16 August 2013.
  4. ↑ "Aregawis debut nära världsrekordet" (in Swedish) Dagens Nyheter. 16 August 2013.
  5. ↑ "Hammarby IF Friidrott avslutar samarbetet med Abeba Aregawi - Hammarby IF FI - Friidrott - IdrottOnline Klubb". Archived from the original on 2016-09-21. Retrieved 2016-08-08.
  6. ↑ "Ahmed and Kebede sprint for victory". IAAF. 3 May 2009. Archived 25 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ↑ "African Championships 2009" World Junior Athletics History. 10 June 2012. Archived October 23, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  8. ↑ "Abeba Aregawi". Tilastopaja. 10 June 2012.
  9. ↑ "Swedish Runner Aregawi wishes to compete at the Rio". July 15, 2016.
  10. ↑ "Liu Xiang and G. Dibaba the standouts in rainy Shanghai". IAAF. 19 May 2012. Archived 20 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  11. ↑ "Bolt’s blazing 9.76 one of seven world leads on electric night in Rome". IAAF. 31 May 2012 Archived 2 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ↑ "Bolt’s 9.79 victory tops the charts In Oslo". IAAF. 7 June 2012. Archived 10 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ↑ "The reallocation of medals is a minefield". April 2017.
  14. ↑ "Abeba Aregawi: a new champion in new colors" IAAF. 15 August 2013.
  15. 1 2 SI Wire (29 February 2016). "World champion Abeba Aregawi tests positive for banned substance". Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  16. ↑ O'Connor, Philip (14 July 2016). "Aregawi has doping ban lifted, hopes to make Olympics". Reuters.
  17. ↑ "Försvunnen i tre år – nu avslutar hon karriären". 28 November 2018.
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