16 Facts About Elvan Abeylegesse

Elvan Abeylegesse is an Ethiopian-born Turkish middle and long-distance running athlete who competes over distances from 1500 metres up to the marathon, and in cross country.

Elvan Abeylegesse is the former world record-holder for the 5000 metres, at 14:24.68 minutes.

Elvan Abeylegesse decided to move to Turkey and became a Turkish citizen after marrying a Turkish national.

Elvan Abeylegesse became a world leader with a time of 8:31:94 in the 3000 m in Brussels, Belgium in 2002 and with a time of 3:58.38 in the 1500 m in Moscow, Russia in 2004.

Elvan Abeylegesse has been a scholarship holder with the Olympic Solidarity program since August 2002.

At the Evergood Bergen Bislett Games in Norway on 11 June 2004, the sixth meeting of TDK Golden League, Elvan Abeylegesse broke the women's 5000 m world record, which had belonged to Chinese runner Jiang Bo since 1997, improving the mark by over three seconds to 14:24.68.

Elvan Abeylegesse became the first Turkish athlete ever to set a world record.

Elvan Abeylegesse ran at the inaugural World 10K Bangalore race in 2008 and finished in a dead heat with Grace Momanyi, with both runners eventually being declared joint victors.

Elvan Abeylegesse was the 2010 recipient of the Pierre de Coubertin World Fair Play Trophy, an annual award given by the International Fair Play Committee.

Elvan Abeylegesse had lent a pair of running shoes to competitor Meselech Melkamu just moments before the beginning of the 10,000 metres final at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics.

Elvan Abeylegesse won the 2010 edition of the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon in a time of 1:07:07.

Elvan Abeylegesse played down suggestions of a permanent switch to longer road races saying a marathon debut would have to wait until after the 2012 London Olympics.

At the 2010 European Athletics Championships, Elvan Abeylegesse won gold in the 10,000 m, finishing in 31 minutes, 10.23 seconds On 28 July 2010, and she won the silver medal in 5000m finishing in 14 minutes, 54.44 seconds on 1 August 2010.

Elvan Abeylegesse was runner-up in the 15K section of the Istanbul Eurasia Marathon.

Elvan Abeylegesse won the Nice Half Marathon in April 2013.

Elvan Abeylegesse married her longtime partner Semeneh Debelie in February 2011 and decided to take the season off due to pregnancy.