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Quick Facts
Represents: Ethiopia
Age:
27 (March 21, 1982)
Hometown: Chefe village, Arsi
Residence: Addis Ababa
Affiliation: adidas
Events:
3000m 8:35.94 PB (2006)
3000m(i) 8:36.59 (2008)
5000m 14:32.74 (2004)
10,000m 30:18.39 (2005) |
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Career Highlights
- 2005 IAAF World Championships bronze medalist,
5000m and 10,000m
- 2004 Olympic Games silver medalist, 10,000m
- 2004 IAAF World Cross Country Championships silver medalist, 8km
- 3rd, 2004 IAAF World Athletics Final, 5000m
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Background
 Ejegayehu was 10 years old (and little sister Tiru just 6) when their cousin Derartu Tulu won her historic gold medal in Barcelona. It took another six years, when a physical education teacher urged her to run the inter-school championships, for “Gigi” to take up the sport herself. She won, and a career was born.
By 2004 she was near the top, winning a silver medal at World Cross Country before going on to take 10,000-meter silver in Athens. It was a race she almost didn’t run: originally set for the 5000m, she was bumped up at the last minute. As it turned out, she ran the third-fastest time in the world for 2004 and the fastest of the year by any Ethiopian woman. She followed that up in 2005 with a double-bronze performance at the World Championships.
Gigi and her sister, Tiru, share a house and are virtually inseparable, often owing their intricately braided hair and ornately painted fingernails to each other. Asked about the best and worst parts of their close relationship, Tiru once said: “We train together, we plan together, we help each other and so many times we destroy together. She is a friend, a sister, and a co-worker. No worst part.” |
