Ethiopian distance runner Tirunesh Dibaba made history at the 2008 Beijing Olympics when she became the first woman to win gold in both the 5,000-metre and 10,000-metre races. She defended her gold medal title in the 10,000 metres at the 2012 London Olympics, becoming the first woman to win the event at two consecutive Olympics.
She was inspired by a family of runners. In fact, she and her sisters have excelled in the field of distance running. The Dibaba sisters — Tirunesh, Genzebe, Anna, and Melat — are the only siblings in recorded history to hold concurrent world records, and they are a fiercely competitive family from a humble background. They were raised in a round mud hut in Addis Ababa, without electricity. Their parents were subsistence farmers who grew wheat, barley and teff. The Dibaba siblings are seven in all, and all of them run. Tirunesh, however, is the most decorated, having three Olympic gold medals. Ejegayehu, who is the older sister, is also an Olympian who won silver from Athens. Cousin Derartu Tulu, was the first Black African woman to win Olympic gold in the 1992 games and she won another Olympic gold medal in Sydney in 2000.
In addition to the high altitude the runners’ feat is also attributed to their diet — especially teff rich in iron and calcium — and their “small lightweight frame”. Just like other successful athletes, the Dibabas have invested their winning funds back into their communities. The sisters, alongside their in-laws, are real estate moguls owning several buildings in Addis Ababa.
