Dire Tune 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

Long-distance track event

Long-distance track event races require runners to balance their energy. These types of races are predominantly aerobic in nature and at the highest level, exceptional levels of aerobic endurance is required more than anything else...

 runner

Running

Running is a means of terrestrial locomotion allowing humans and other animals to move rapidly on foot. It is simply defined in athletics terms as a gait in which at regular points during the running cycle both feet are off the ground...

.

Tune competed 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...

 at the 2005 World Championships

2005 World Championships in Athletics - Women's Marathon

The Women's Marathon race at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics was held on 14 August in the streets of Helsinki with the goal line situated in the Helsinki Olympic Stadium. Paula Radcliffe set the pace of the race, leading all the way from start to finish...

. At the 2006 World Road Running Championships

2006 IAAF World Road Running Championships

The 1st IAAF World Road Running Championships were held in Debrecen, Hungary on 8 October 2006, the women's race starting at 11:00 and the men's race at 13:00. This was the first time the title of World Road Running Champion had been competed for, with this competition replacing the IAAF World Half...

 she finished fourth in the individual competition. This was good enough to help Ethiopia win a 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....

 in the team competition.

On April 21, 2008, Tune won the Boston Marathon

Boston Marathon

The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon hosted by the U.S. city of Boston, Massachusetts, on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897 and inspired by the success of the first modern-day marathon competition in the 1896 Summer Olympics, the Boston Marathon is the world's oldest...

 with a time of 2:25:25. She was then selected to represent her country in the marathon at the 2008 Summer Olympics

2008 Summer Olympics

The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...

, and was the only Ethiopian to finish, placing 15th in a time of 2:31:16. In April 2009, Tune finished second by one second in the Boston Marathon with a time of 2:32:17. After finishing the race, she collapsed and had to be taken to the hospital. Her agent said the problem was due in part to dehydration combined with the cool weather and the fact that she trained for a shorter race.

Dire Tune holds the One Hour

Hour run

The one hour run is an athletics event in which competitors try to cover as much distance as possible within one hour. While officially recognized by the International Association of Athletics Federations as a track event, it is rarely contested apart from occasional world record attempts.The event...

 running world record

World records in athletics

World records in the sport of athletics are ratified by the International Association of Athletics Federations. Athletics records comprise the best performances in the sports of track and field, road running and racewalking....

 of 18.517 kilometres set June 12, 2008 in Ostrava

Ostrava

Ostrava is the third largest city in the Czech Republic and the second largest urban agglomeration after Prague. Located close to the Polish border, it is also the administrative center of the Moravian-Silesian Region and of the Municipality with Extended Competence. Ostrava was candidate for the...

. The previous record (18,340 m) was set by Tegla Loroupe

Tegla Loroupe

Tegla Chepkite Loroupe is a long-distance track and road runner, and a global spokeswoman for peace, women's rights, and education....

 ten years earlier.

Tune won the 2009 Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon

Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon

Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon is an annual half marathon held in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates.The first edition, in 2007, saw Samuel Wanjiru breaking the world record, but Wanjiru himself set a new world record only a month later in another race...

, setting the Ethiopian half marathon

Half marathon

A half marathon is a road running event of . It is half the distance of a marathon and usually run on roads. Participation in half marathons has grown steadily recently. One of the main reasons for this is that it is a challenging distance, but does not require the same level of training that a...

 record of 1:07:18. The previous national record (1:08:07) was set by Bezunesh Bekele

Bezunesh Bekele

Bezunesh Bekele is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who specializes in cross-country running and marathons.She was born in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa...

 in 2007 in Udine

Udine

Udine is a city and comune in northeastern Italy, in the middle of Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic sea and the Alps , less than 40 km from the Slovenian border. Its population was 99,439 in 2009, and that of its urban area was 175,000.- History :Udine is the historical...

.

She won the 2010 Ottawa 10K race in 32:11 in late May, becoming the first woman to finish ahead of the men's winner in the mixed gender race where the men's section begins four minutes after the women. She ran at the Bogota Half Marathon

Bogota Half Marathon

The Bogotá International Half Marathon is an annual road running competition over the half marathon distance which takes place in Bogotá, Colombia in late July or early August. Established in 2000, it holds IAAF Gold Label Road Race status, making it the first and thus far only South American...

 in August and finished as runner-up, some six seconds behind winner Shewarge Amare. The Frankfurt Marathon

Frankfurt Marathon

Frankfurt Marathon is an annual marathon held in Frankfurt, Germany in the month of October. The race, currently sponsored by BMW, is Germany's oldest city marathon.- List of winners :Key:- External links :***...

 followed in November and she improve her personal best by almost a minute, running 2:23:44 for the runner-up spot behind Caroline Kilel

Caroline Kilel

Caroline Cheptanui Kilel is a Kenyan long-distance runner who competes road running competitions, including the marathon. She was the winner at the 2011 Boston Marathon and the 2010 Frankfurt Marathon....

.

She started the 2011 season with a win at the Ethiopian 15K Championships, beating Atsede Habtamu

Atsede Habtamu

Atsede Habtamu Besuye is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who specialises in road running and the marathon distance.She came to prominence at the IAAF World Road Running Championships in 2007 where, at the age of nineteen, she ran a time of 1:08:29 for the half marathon – a record for a teenage...

 at the line. She ran at the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon a few days later and was the runner-up, albeit some minutes behind a world record-breaking Mary Keitany. She came close to winning the World's Best 10K race in Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

 two weeks later, but was edged into second by Sentayehu Ejigu

Sentayehu Ejigu

Sentayehu Ejigu is an Ethiopian long-distance runner, who specializes in the 3000 and 5000 metres...

. She topped the podium at the World 10K Bangalore

World 10K Bangalore

The World 10K Bangalore is an annual 10 kilometres road running competition which takes place in Bangalore, India. The competition was first held in 2008 and usually takes place in late May...

, pipping Merima Mohammed

Merima Mohammed

Merima Mohammed Hasen is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who competes in road running events, including the marathon. Her personal best of 2:23:06 hours for the distance makes her the second fastest teenager ever over the 42.195 km distance. She has won marathons in Düsseldorf, Nice and...

 at the line. She ran the marathon at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics in Daegu, South Korea. Despite running the first 13 miles in the lead pack, she was disqualified after consuming a drink from a random person in the crowd, which is against IAAF rules.

Personal bests

• 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...
  
   - 9:02.08 min (2003)
• 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...
  
   - 15:47.83 min (2003)
• Half marathon
  Half marathon
  A half marathon is a road running event of . It is half the distance of a marathon and usually run on roads. Participation in half marathons has grown steadily recently. One of the main reasons for this is that it is a challenging distance, but does not require the same level of training that a...
  
   - 1:07:18 hrs (2009)
• Marathon - 2:23:44 hrs (2010)
• Hour run
  Hour run
  The one hour run is an athletics event in which competitors try to cover as much distance as possible within one hour. While officially recognized by the International Association of Athletics Federations as a track event, it is rarely contested apart from occasional world record attempts.The event...
  
   - 18.517 km (2008) WR

Achievements

Representing
2005	World Championships 2005 World Championships in Athletics The 10th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations , were held in the Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland , the site of the first IAAF World Championships in 1983. One theme of the 2005 championships was paralympic sports, some of...	Helsinki, Finland	37th	Marathon	2:39:13
2006	World Road Running Championships 2006 IAAF World Road Running Championships The 1st IAAF World Road Running Championships were held in Debrecen, Hungary on 8 October 2006, the women's race starting at 11:00 and the men's race at 13:00. This was the first time the title of World Road Running Champion had been competed for, with this competition replacing the IAAF World Half...	Debrecen Debrecen Debrecen , is the second largest city in Hungary after Budapest. Debrecen is the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar county.- Name :... , Hungary	4th	20 km	1:05:16
2007	World Championships 2007 World Championships in Athletics The 11th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations , were held at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan from 24 August to 2 September 2007...	Osaka Osaka is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe... , Japan	—	Marathon	DNF
2008	Boston Marathon Boston Marathon The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon hosted by the U.S. city of Boston, Massachusetts, on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897 and inspired by the success of the first modern-day marathon competition in the 1896 Summer Olympics, the Boston Marathon is the world's oldest...	Boston, United States	1st	Marathon	2:25:25
	Olympic Games Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics were held during the last 10 days of the games, from August 15 to August 24, 2008, at the Beijing National Stadium. The Olympic sport of athletics is split into four distinct sets of events: track and field events, road running events, and racewalking...	Beijing Beijing Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's... , PR China	15th	Marathon	2:31:16
2009	World Championships 2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg Gate....	Berlin Berlin Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union... , Germany	23rd	Marathon 2009 World Championships in Athletics – Women's Marathon The Women's Marathon event at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics took place on August 23, 2009 in the streets of Berlin, Germany. The race started at 11:15h local time.-Medalists:-Abbreviations:...	2:32:42
2011	World Championships 2011 World Championships in Athletics The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011....	Daegu, South Korea	--	Marathon	DSQ