Bizunesh Mohammed Urgesa (born 18 June 1989 in Negele Arsi

Negele Arsi

Negele Arsi is a town in southeastern Ethiopia. Located in the Misraq Shewa Zone of the Oromia Region on the paved highway north of Shashamane, this town has a longitude and latitude of and an elevation of 2043 meters above sea level...

, Oromia Region

Oromia Region

Oromia is one of the nine ethnic divisions of Ethiopia...

) is an Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

n long-distance runner who competes in the marathon

Marathon

The marathon is a long-distance running event with an official distance of 42.195 kilometres , that is usually run as a road race...

.

She started out as a 800

800 metres

The 800 meter race is a common track running event. It is the shortest common middle distance track event. The 800 meter is run over two laps of the track and has always been an Olympic event. During indoor track season the event is usually run on a 200 meter track, therefore requiring four laps...

 and 1500 metres

1500 metres

The 1,500-metre run is the premier middle distance track event.Aerobic endurance is the biggest factor contributing to success in the 1500 metres but the athlete also requires significant sprint speed.In modern times, the 1,500-metre run has been run at a pace faster than the average person could...

 runner. She ran in the latter event at the 2005 World Youth Championships in Athletics

2005 World Youth Championships in Athletics

The 2005 World Youth Championships in Athletics is the 2005 version of the World Youth Championships in Athletics. It was held in Marrakesh, Morocco.The host stadium was Stade Sidi Youssef Ben Ali.-Boys:-Girls:-Medals table:...

 and won the bronze medal

Bronze medal

A bronze medal is a medal awarded to the third place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The practice of awarding bronze third place medals began at the 1904 Olympic Games in St...

, setting a personal best of 4:19.34 minutes. At the 2005 African Junior Athletics Championships

African Junior Athletics Championships

The African Junior Athletics Championships is a biennial continental athletics event organized by the Confederation of African Athletics. First held in 1994, only athletes aged 19 or under are allowed to compete.- Summary of Championships :...

, she came fifth over 800 m and was the silver medal

Silver medal

A silver medal is a medal awarded to the second place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, and contests with similar formats....

list in the 1500 m. She made her first international cross country

Cross country running

Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...

 appearance two years later, finishing in 14th place in the junior race at the 2007 IAAF World Cross Country Championships

2007 IAAF World Cross Country Championships

The 35th IAAF World Cross Country Championships were held in Mombasa, Kenya on 24 March, 2007. Four races took place, one for men, women, junior men and junior women respectively. All races encompassed both individual and team competition...

, helping the Ethiopian girls team to a bronze medal alongside Sule Utura

Sule Utura

Gedo Sule Utura is an Ethiopian middle distance and long distance runner. She won the 5000 metres at the 2008 World Junior Championships in Athletics and was third place in the 3000 metres at the World Youth Championships in the previous year.She began competing at road running events: she ran the...

, Genzebe Dibaba

Genzebe Dibaba

Genzebe Dibaba is an Ethiopian long-distance runner. She is the sister of World Champion Tirunesh Dibaba and Olympic silver medallist Ejegayehu Dibaba, and the cousin of former Olympic champion Derartu Tulu....

 and Abebu Gelan.

Turning to the track, she set a 1500 m best for third place at the CAA Grand Prix in Brazzaville

Brazzaville

-Transport:The city is home to Maya-Maya Airport and a railway station on the Congo-Ocean Railway. It is also an important river port, with ferries sailing to Kinshasa and to Bangui via Impfondo...

 in May, but began to focus on longer distances on the European track and field

Track and field

Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...

 circuit in the following months. That July, she set a 5000 metres

5000 metres

The 5000 metres is a popular running distance also known as 5 km or 5K in American English. It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics. "5000 metres" refers to racing on a track and "5K" usually refers to a roadrace or cross country event...

 best of 15:14.90 in Liège

Liège

Liège is a major city and municipality of Belgium located in the province of Liège, of which it is the economic capital, in Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium....

 before running a new 3000 metres

3000 metres

The 3000 metres is a popular amateur middle distance track event where 7.5 laps are completed around a 400 metre track. This event is generally classified as middle distance, but it could be classed as a long distance event in many high schools, since they do not promote races such as the 5000 and...

 best of 9:02.08 in Zaragoza

Zaragoza

Zaragoza , also called Saragossa in English, is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain...

 two days later. An performance at the Memorial van Damme

Memorial Van Damme

Memorial van Damme is an annual athletics event at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, Belgium that takes place in late August or early September...

 preceded her appearance at the 2007 IAAF World Athletics Final

2007 IAAF World Athletics Final

The 5th IAAF World Athletics Final was held at the Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion in Stuttgart, Germany on September 22 and September 23, 2007.-Men:- Women :-External links:*...

, where she came ninth in the 3000 m. In her final year of solely focusing on track performances, she improved her 3000 m best to 8:53.14 at the Rabat Meeting

Meeting International Mohammed VI d'Athlétisme de Rabat

The Meeting International Mohammed VI d'Athlétisme de Rabat is an annual track and field competition at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat, Morocco as part of the IAAF World Challenge Meetings. It was first organized in 2008. Its name honours Mohammed VI of Morocco, the present king of...

 and went on to win the 3000 m silver medal at the 2008 World Junior Championships in Athletics

2008 World Junior Championships in Athletics

The 2008 World Junior Championships in Athletics is the 2008 version of the World Junior Championships in Athletics. It was held in Bydgoszcz in Poland at the Zdzisław Krzyszkowiak Stadium between 8 and 13 July 2008....

, finishing just behind Mercy Cherono

Mercy Cherono

Mercy Cherono is a Kenyan middle distance runner. She is a two-time world junior champion in the 3000 metres and has also won gold medals at the 2007 World Youth Championships in Athletics and 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games...

. She came third in the 10,000 metres at the Ethiopian championships in 2009, but began to make a transition to road running

Road running

Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road . These events would be classified as long distance according to athletics terminology, with distances typically ranging from 5 kilometers to 42.2 kilometers in the marathon. They may involve large numbers of runners...

 thereafter.

She made her road debut at the Dam tot Damloop

Dam tot Damloop

Dam tot Damloop is an annual road running competition held in the Netherlands. It is a 10-mile race from Amsterdam to Zaandam. The event was first held in 1985.-Winners:- External links :**...

 in Zaandam

Zaandam

Zaandam is a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is the main city of the municipality of Zaanstad, and received city rights in 1811...

 that September and came sixth in the ten-mile race. Urgesa made her marathon

Marathon

The marathon is a long-distance running event with an official distance of 42.195 kilometres , that is usually run as a road race...

 debut a month later and defeated Ashu Kasim to take victory on her first attempt at the Istanbul Marathon. She improved her best for the distance to 2:31:09 with a second career win at the Mumbai Marathon

Mumbai Marathon

The Mumbai Marathon is an annual international road running competition over the marathon distance that is held in Mumbai, India, each January. The course records set in 2011 were also the fastest times ever run for the marathon on Indian soil – 2:09:54 by Girma Assefa and 2:26:56 by the women's...

 in January 2010.Krishnan, Ram. Murali (2010-01-17). Ndiso and Urgesa take Mumbai titles. IAAF. Retrieved on 2011-01-15. She finished seventh at the Paris Marathon

Paris Marathon

The Paris International Marathon is an annual marathon which takes place from the Champs-Élysées heading towards the Place de la Concorde and continuing through the city to finish at Foch Avenue....

 and came fourth on her return to the Istanbul race. A second outing at Mumbai also brought disappointment, as she failed to defend her title and ended the race in fifth place. The Beirut Marathon

Beirut Marathon

The Beirut International Marathon is an annual event in Beirut. The first ever BIM was held on October 19, 2003 and attracted over 6,000 runners from 49 different countries and tens of thousands of spectators in Lebanon and around the world...

 in November saw her run faster than the previous course record, although she finished runner-up to Seada Kedir.

External links

• Profile from Elite Sports Management International