Background

Perhaps the greatest female athlete ever to hail from her country, Derartu Tulu is almost certainly the most historic: In 1992, at age 20, she became the first black African woman to win an Olympic gold medal when she flew past Elana Meyer at the bell to win at 10,000 meters. She then invited the South African silver medalist to share her victory lap in a poignant show of post-apartheid harmony. As a tribute to her place in history, Derartu’s portrait was ensconced in the last of the five Olympic rings hanging in the Addis Ababa stadium, where she joined Abebe Bikila, Mamo Wolde, Miruts Yifter and Haile Gebrselassie as the most revered of Ethiopian athletes.

In 1998, Derartu took a break to give birth to her daughter, Tsion. Her second Olympic gold at 10,000 meters, in 2000, offered almost as much excitement as her first, with Derartu (30:17.49) the victor in a breathtaking race in which the first six women all broke the Olympic record. That triumph made her the only woman to win two Olympic gold medals at distances over 1500m.

In September 2006, Derartu gave birth to her second daughter, Ruth, and she is also mother to several adopted children. She is married to Mekonnen Atsege.