Helalia Johannes represented her country at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, 2012 London Olympics and 2018 Commonwealth Games and has won medals at the World Championships, Military World Games, the All-Africa Games and at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
17 Facts About Helalia Johannes
1.
2.
Helalia Johannes was born in the village of Oshali in the Oshana Region.
3.
Helalia Johannes is a five-time winner of the Two Oceans Half Marathon and holds the current record of 01:10:29.
4.
Helalia Johannes came fifth in the half marathon of the 2007 Summer Universiade and completed the same feat at the 2007 All-Africa Games.
5.
Helalia Johannes ran in the Dublin Marathon that year, coming in fourth place.
6.
Helalia Johannes ran a qualifying time of 2:33:06 hours at the Seoul International Marathon in March 2008, qualifying her for the 2008 Summer Olympics.
7.
Helalia Johannes placed fortieth in the rankings in the Olympic marathon race.
8.
Helalia Johannes again represented her country on the global stage at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics but finished 56th in a slow time of 2:50:19 hours.
9.
Helalia Johannes rebounded at the Dublin Marathon, finishing as the runner-up.
10.
Helalia Johannes was the 2011 winner of the Dublin Marathon in a personal best and Namibian national record run of 2:30:37 hours.
11.
Helalia Johannes knocked more than three minutes off her then personal best at the 2012 Vienna Marathon, taking third place behind Olga Glok.
12.
Helalia Johannes entered the 2013 Tokyo Marathon and finished in under two and a half hours, taking sixth place.
13.
Helalia Johannes was chosen to represent Namibia in the marathon at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics but failed to finish.
14.
Helalia Johannes won Namibia's second gold medal at the Commonwealth Games 2018 when she won the women's marathon.
15.
Helalia Johannes was the first Namibian woman to win a Commonwealth gold medal.
16.
Helalia Johannes broke the Namibian marathon record to win the Nagoya Marathon in a time of 2:22:25.
17.
Helalia Johannes then proceeded to break the 10 km record in Port Elizabeth with a time of 31.50.