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.
21 Facts About Derartu Tulu
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Derartu Tulu won 10,000 metres titles at the 1992 Barcelona and 2000 Sydney Olympics, and a bronze in the event at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
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Derartu Tulu was a three-time IAAF World Cross Country champion.
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Derartu Tulu has been serving as President of Ethiopian Athletics Federation since 2018.
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Derartu Tulu comes from a sporting family of several Olympic medalists, which include her cousins Tirunesh, Genzebe and Ejegayehu Dibaba.
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Derartu Tulu grew up tending cattle in the village of Bekoji in the highlands of Arsi Province, the same village as Kenenisa Bekele.
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Derartu Tulu is the aunt of Ejegayehu Dibaba, Tirunesh Dibaba and Genzebe Dibaba.
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Derartu Tulu is the first Ethiopian woman and the first black African woman to win an Olympic gold medal, which she won in the 10,000 m event at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games.
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Derartu Tulu sat out 1993 and 1994 with a knee injury and returned to competition in the 1995 IAAF World Cross Country Championships where she won gold, having arrived at the race only an hour before the start.
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Derartu Tulu was stuck in Athens airport without sleep for 24 hours.
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At the IAAF World Cross Country Championships Derartu Tulu lost her shoe in the race and had to fight back to get fourth place.
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Derartu Tulu finished fourth at the Olympic Games, where she was nursing an injury.
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Derartu Tulu won the 10,000 m Olympic gold for the second time.
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Derartu Tulu won the IAAF World Cross Country Championships title for the third time.
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Derartu Tulu has a total of 5 world and Olympic medals.
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Derartu Tulu finished fourth at the 2005 World Championships, setting her personal best time of 2:23:30.
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Derartu Tulu won the Portugal Half Marathon in 2000 and 2003, and Lisbon Half Marathon in 2003.
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In 2004 Derartu Tulu declined to enter the New York Marathon, where she would have been likely to face marathon World Record holder Paula Radcliffe, whom she has had a great rivalry with over the years, and focused instead on the Olympic Games, where she won the bronze medal in the 10,000 m behind Xing Huina and her cousin Ejegayehu Dibaba.
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Derartu Tulu continued to run competitively in her late thirties, while most of her old rivals retired.
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Derartu Tulu is remembered for her speed and her 60.3 second-last lap at the end of the 10,000 m at the Sydney Olympics was a sprint of note.
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Derartu Tulu was named to the BBC's 100 Women programme in 2017.